Who is the Deadliest Sniper in History? – Check Here!

There are a lot of people who used rifles and guns to kill people during wars. Some of them are big names in history and some are not even known. There were a lot of snipers all over the world who were very deadly and could kill their enemy in one shot. Sniper refers to a trained sharpshooter. But, do you know who is considered the deadliest sniper in history? In this article, you will get to know about the deadliest sniper till now.

World’s Deadliest Sniper – Simo Hayha

Simo Hayha is considered the deadliest sniper in the world. He was born on 17 December 1905 in Viipuri Province, Grand Duchy of Finland, Russian Empire. He was often known by his nickname The White Death. 

Simo Hayha was a Finnish military sniper in World War II during the 1939–1940 Winter War against the Soviet Union. He is the best sharpshooter and deadliest sniper in history as he killed over 500 men during the war. He used to carry Finnish-produced M/28-30 and Suomi KP/-31 submachine guns.

Simo Hayha: Early Life and Military Service

Simo Hayha was born on 17 December 1905 in Viipuri Province, Grand Duchy of Finland, Russian Empire. He was born in a Lutheran family of farmers and had eight siblings where he was the seventh one. He attended school in the village of Miettila in Kivennapa Paris. He used to do his family farming work as well together with his brothers and father.

At the age of 17, he joined the Finnish voluntary militia Civil Guard. He was a very talented student and shooter. Simo Hayha was able to win different championships and filled his house with a lot of trophies. He never showed off his talent and always stayed down-to-earth. After that, when he was the age of 19 he joined compulsory military service in the Bicycle Battalion 2 in Raiola.

He attended the Non-Commissioned Officer School and did work as a conscript officer in the Bicycle Battalion 1 in Terijoki. He received his formal sniper training in 1938 in a training center in Utti. According to some research, he was able to estimate distances with an accuracy of 3.3 ft to 500ft. He once shot a target 16 times from 500 ft away in one minute at the Civil Guard training.

Simo Hayha: War Service and achievements

Simo Hayha was a sniper in the Finnish Army during 1939- 1940 called Winter War between Finland and the Soviet Union. According to a Finnish source, he was named The White Death by the Red Army. He first appeared as White Death in the Finnish Winter War literature of the late 1980s. It was one of the leading themes of Finnish propaganda. Simo Hayha was also known as The Magic shooter among Finns. 

Simo Hayha shooted all his targets in less than 100 days with few daylight hours. His kills were confirmed by his own comrades and only the dead bodies were counted as accomplishments. Targets killed with the submachine gun were not counted. His division commander Antero Svensson credited him with 219 verified kills with rifles and 219 kills by submachine gun. He was also awarded an honorary rifle on 17 February 1940. 

His highest number of daily kills was 25 registered on 21 December 1939. In 1940 at the beginning of the war, he killed 259 targets with the rifle and 259 targets with the submachine gun. But, unfortunately, he was seriously injured the next day. In his memoir, it was estimated that he killed around 500 people. The memoir was written by himself.

Simo Hayha was also awarded by First and Second class Medals of Liberty and Third, and Fourth class Crosses of Liberty. After that war in 1941, he was nominated as a Knight of the Mannerheim Cross which is distinguished Finnish military honor.