MILITARY PERSONNEL

Simo Häyhä

1905 - 2002

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Simo Häyhä (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈsimo ˈhæy̯hæ] ; 17 December 1905 – 1 April 2002), often referred to by his nickname The White Death (Finnish: Valkoinen kuolema; Russian: Бе́лая смерть, romanized: Bélaya smert’), was a Finnish military sniper during World War II in the 1939–1940 Winter War between Finland and the Soviet Union. He used a Finnish-produced M/28-30 rifle (a variant of Mosin–Nagant) and a Suomi KP/-31 submachine gun. Häyhä is believed to have killed over 500 enemy soldiers during the conflict, the highest number of sniper kills in any major war. Consequently, he is generally regarded as the deadliest sniper in history. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Simo Häyhä is the 23rd most popular military personnel (up from 36th in 2019), the 3rd most popular biography from Finland and the most popular Finnish Military Personnel.

Simo Häyhä is most famous for his service in the Winter War, where he was credited with killing over 500 Soviet soldiers.

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Among MILITARY PERSONNELS

Among military personnels, Simo Häyhä ranks 23 out of 2,058. Before him are Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, Spartacus, Vasily Zaitsev, Romulus Augustulus, Flavius Aetius, and Jochi. After him are Belisarius, William Wallace, Themistocles, Ptolemy I Soter, Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, and Cao Cao.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1905, Simo Häyhä ranks 4. Before him are Jean-Paul Sartre, Ayn Rand, and Howard Hughes. After him are Nevill Francis Mott, Albert Speer, Dag Hammarskjöld, Viktor Frankl, Elias Canetti, Christian Dior, Henry Fonda, and Greta Garbo. Among people deceased in 2002, Simo Häyhä ranks 4. Before him are Astrid Lindgren, Richard Harris, and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. After him are Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, Pierre Bourdieu, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Thor Heyerdahl, Archer Martin, Billy Wilder, Prince Claus of the Netherlands, and John Rawls.

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In Finland

Among people born in Finland, Simo Häyhä ranks 3 out of 751. Before him are Alvar Aalto (1898), and Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim (1867). After him are Jean Sibelius (1865), Tove Jansson (1914), Frans Eemil Sillanpää (1888), Paavo Nurmi (1897), Tarja Halonen (1943), Elias Lönnrot (1802), Urho Kekkonen (1900), Artturi Ilmari Virtanen (1895), and Sauli Niinistö (1948).

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Among MILITARY PERSONNELS In Finland

Among military personnels born in Finland, Simo Häyhä ranks 1. After him are Ernst Linder (1868), Ilmari Juutilainen (1914), Erik Heinrichs (1890), Hugo Österman (1892), Paavo Talvela (1897), Carl Johan Adlercreutz (1759), Woldemar Hägglund (1893), Ali Aaltonen (1884), Oskar Gripenberg (1838), Kurt Martti Wallenius (1893), and Ruben Lagus (1896).

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