page_title: Simo Häyhä
section_title: Firearms and tactics
hierarchical_section_title: Simo Häyhä / Winter War service / Firearms and tactics
caption_attribution_description: English: Second lieutenant Simo Häyhä. Field Marshall C.G.E. Mannerheim promoted Corporal Häyhä to Second lieutenant on 28 August 1940.
context_page_description: Simo "Simuna" Häyhä was a Finnish military sniper. He is believed to have killed over 500 men during the 1939–40 Winter War, the highest number of sniper kills in any major war. He used a Finnish-produced M/28-30 rifle, a variant of the Mosin–Nagant rifle, and a Suomi KP/-31 submachine gun. His unit's captain Antti Rantamaa credited him with 259 confirmed kills by sniper rifle and an equal number of kills by submachine gun during the Winter War. Häyhä never talked about it publicly but estimated in his private war-time diary that he shot around 500.
context_section_description: Häyhä used his issued Civil Guard rifle, an early series SAKO M/28-30, serial number 35281, Civil Guard number S60974. It was a Finnish Civil Guard variant of the Mosin–Nagant rifle known as "Pystykorva" (lit.  'The Spitz' due to the front sight's resemblance to the head of a spitz-type dog) chambered in the Finnish-designed Mosin–Nagant cartridge 7.62×53R. When fighting as a group leader with the rest of his unit, Häyhä used a Suomi KP/-31 submachine gun.
  Häyhä preferred iron sights over telescopic sights, as they enable a sniper to present a smaller target for the enemy (a sniper must raise his head a few centimetres higher when using a telescopic sight), can be relied on even in extreme cold, unlike telescopic sights which tend to cloud up in cold weather, and are easier to conceal; sunlight can reflect off a telescopic sight's lenses and reveal the sniper's position. Häyhä also did not have prior training with scoped rifles, and therefore preferred not to switch to the Soviet scoped rifle (M/91-30 PE or PEM).
  He would frequently pack dense mounds of snow in front of his position to conceal himself, provide padding for his rifle, and reduce the characteristic puff of snow stirred up by the muzzle blast. He was known to keep snow in his mouth while sniping to prevent his breath in the cold air from giving away his position. Häyhä's diary also shares a story by him where they caught a Soviet soldier, blindfolded him, spun him dizzy and took him to a party in the tent of Lieutenant Aarne "The Terror of Morocco" Juutilainen of his company. The Soviet soldier was overjoyed by the carousing and was disgusted when he was sent back.
caption: Häyhä after being promoted to second lieutenant, 1940. Häyhä was disfigured after being shot in the face by a Red Army soldier.
exif: {}