History's Deadliest Sniper - Simo Häyhä "The White Death" - 542 Kills (REACTION)

[@jolyric6441]

Watches were expensive. Some of the parts could be mass-produced, but everything had to be assembled by hand.

[@brothersgt.grauwolff6716]

you could say a pocket watch was the IPhone of the era

[@skyjimmy1971]

Definitely considered a luxury item.

[@aSSGoblin1488]

most logistics during this era was still using horses. ww2 was the first oil resource war. though its crazy that axis powers declared war for diesel and gas when the oil refining process takes almost a year and usa was the biggest exporter. there are large oil fields in ukraine but little refining process. crazy crazy crazy.

[@eerokivisto5103]

I left this comment on the original video but... In case you're wondering how Aarne Juutilainen earned the nickname "The Terror of Morocco", the man actually served in the French foreign legion between 1930 and 1935. Apparently he was planning on returning to France to become an officer but his plans were stopped when the Finnish army was mobilized. Also, his brother Ilmari was a fighter ace with 94 aerial victories

[@kuroeltheog]

To me, as a Finn, sisu is the unwillingness to give up at the face of even absolute defeat. Thanks for the reaction! ☺️

[@UKSkaface]

Simo used iron sights for his military career because he didn't want a glint off his scope (like the Russian he was sent to counter-snipe) to give his position away. Makes the accuracy of the man even more impressive.

[@brothersgt.grauwolff6716]

talk about No Scoping for the Achievement

[@Mazzmaker69]

Yes and no. He also used irons because he grew up hunting with rifles but couldn't afford scopes. It's what he grew up using, it's what he was good with. Secondly, scopes from those era were basically just magnifying glasses on top of your gun. They would constantly fog up or freeze in the kind of weather Finland has during the winter. Third, the scope would cause the shooter to lift up their head just a tiny bit more than if they used irons so the scope made the shooter a bigger targer. With all that in mind, why would Simo use a scope?

[@WurrzagsMorkyMischeif]

When you put Simo on a bicycle, the bicycle instantly becomes a bigger threat than an entire tank battalion

[@JohnFromSC]

St. Petersburg Declaration The 1868 St. Petersburg Declaration prohibits the use of explosive bullets, which are considered to cause unnecessary suffering. The Declaration states that such projectiles "would uselessly aggravate the suffering of disabled men or render their death inevitable". Making war more "civil"... since the 1860s.

[@damiadwalker8464]

Yes pocket watches were a luxury item back in that time period especially for soldiers

[@brothersgt.grauwolff6716]

when the enemy has to resort to committing a literal Warcrime just to take you out that says your a Bad Ass

[@One_foot_in_the_Grave]

Hey bro there's a movie called sisu it's not about this guy but hes from the same area going through a very torturous and painful and uphill battle against the occupiers of his country. The movie is amazing and worth watching.

[@whatitdodave]

I love me a good war movie. I still can’t get over how good the movie “Fury” is. And the soundtrack is AMAZING.

[@UKSkaface]

Seconded - well worth the watch!

[@aeto5810]

@@whatitdodave Basically the whole movie is about a Finnish John Wick killing whole bunch of Nazi soldiers. Pretty good movie

[@mikkohapponen5728]

Legend when i was in army 2005. The respect in voices was huge and real

[@Viroh]

FINLAND AND SISU MENTIONED, TORILLA TAVATAAN VITTU! Happy 2025 btw Dave.

[@Viroh]

This was a very well made video, as a finnish dude who loves history and has read about Häyhä, I learned new things too here! + really entertaining. Gangster video for the White Death.

[@Robert-tj3qq]

I love Simo's story !! He lived a long good life !! ♥️

[@andrewfox5663]

This man is the reason “the trees are speaking Finnish” is a meme right next to “the trees are speaking Vietnamese.”

[@DR_REDACTED]

The trees? Nah its the snow

[@siansaksaajalampaanlatinaa]

You are right. I think that Simo was very aware of where the bombs do drop. He probably wasnt there anymore when the artillery start to sing.

[@maeckknox6535]

Artillery has a much greater range than any sniper a sniper requires a line of sight on a target artillery is miles and miles away with no direct line of sight being called in by radio

[@stephanthomas4410]

Absolute legend, this Simo. Unbelieval aiming, talent, passion and the wish to defend his homeland. My grandfather was also hit by an explosive bullet, but it “only” shot through his hand and ulna( and extremelyshort afert taht explode ), leaving him seriously injured (in Leipzig, Germany) and he was then taken prisoner of war by a faction that was on its way back. That saved his life and both his hands, because another faction from the East would most probably have amputated both his hands or left him to die (this faction didn't even have enough for its own soldiers, so no bad words about them from him). But the other faction said that they would not leave the seriously wounded behind, even if they were enemies. After the war, my grandfather, who had risen from ensign to captain, was able to set up a small construction company with his broken hands and a shortened arm. What certainly helped him was that he was not a member of “the party” and was only a reserve officer (i.e. not a volunteer). P.s. Simo aimed for the upper body, not for the head. Unbelievable accuracy, nonetheless.

[@wavysqwaud]

im glad i recommended this one thanks dave

[@Pterodactylus548]

Psychological effect - you are a squaddy, not NCO of officer and used to think:"sniper targets those with tin buttons on their collar...". Not in this case you think:"I may be the next one..." it certainly affects your will to keep patrolling.

[@udaranayana8305]

imagine having to send artillery to take out a sniper multiple times, then commit a warcrime but still fail the objective

[@irystocrattakodachithatmooms]

I'd expect his final kill count to be closer to 600 with unconfirmed included.

[@MalusTmcraeensis]

His last name is pronounced How-ha, btw. A lot of people who aren't finnish don't know how to pronounce it, so I'd figure I'd help.

[@Finkele1]

if you are from usa Ä isn't that hard, It's like you can't. Ö is bit difficult to ppl it seems...like wedding night intetion: "hääyöaie" lol

[@Finkele1]

can't bc britts pronounce it with a and you do with a. Innit?

[@siansaksaajalampaanlatinaa]

It's Häyhä. Learn to say his name right. ❤From 🇫🇮

[@MalusTmcraeensis]

@siansaksaajalampaanlatinaa I'm not saying how it's spelled. I'm just saying how it's pronounced.

[@MalusTmcraeensis]

@siansaksaajalampaanlatinaa you see, there's a difference in writing how something is spelled and how it's pronounced. Example: Stalagmite, how it's spelled. Stuh-lag-mite how it's pronounced. And as I said earlier. How his name is spelled, Häyhä. How would it be pronounced (to English speakers with American dialect) How-ha.

[@moser502]

to be fair the Finnish Mosin-Nagant was/is a far superior version of the design if you can find one that wasn't pulled around the Gaza strip for 50 years you got a good one. Though if you find a good one its a 1/100,000 chance.

[@TheBigDawg8]

Need a video of Aarne Juutilainen also, dude was a menace 😂

[@DR_REDACTED]

FAX

[@duckgoesquack4514]

24:12 Back then, watches had gears and put together by hand and lathe

[@janizzkar]

So a little bit of the information is represented wrongly. He was born and lived in rautjärvi in south karelia. Kola is north finland. So he was not fighting in his home area, which makes it even more impressive

[@IHaveASpork]

Watches at the time were status symbols. Often, the rich and elite had watches.

[@Stevarooni]

"A gold watch" was also a gift of esteem to a long-serving employee retiring.

[@UKSkaface]

Last name is pronounced more like "How-hah" - that's as close as I can get with the English-sounding alphabet. My wife has been trying to get me to pronounce 'äy' properly for about 14 years now...

[@clashof6d]

Well, the ä is like the a from last and y is similar to something, i cant think of any currently😂 So not exactly like that😊

[@UKSkaface]

@clashof6d But closer than how it was pronounced in the video. The English langauge is not capable of making that sound with the letters it has available....

[@clashof6d]

The finns gave him a nickname too, taika ampuja "magic shooter" but "the white death" nickname came from the soviets. They didn't know who it was so they called him that to refer to him, hot gossip😂

[@PamBanFromChilis]

Simo commander got his nickname from being in the French foreign legion

[@snake4450]

Great reaction!

[@blafonovision4342]

A quality mechanical pocket watch had to be made by hand one at a time. They were *very* expensive.

[@brandonmercer499]

I don't have much time to reply as I'm at work, but here's a quick copy and paste answer about Exploding Bullets Exploding bullets are considered a war crime because they cause unnecessary suffering to combatants: Origin of the prohibition The St. Petersburg Declaration of 1868 prohibited the use of explosive bullets, which were considered to cause unnecessary suffering. The declaration was motivated by the desire to avoid inflicting more suffering than was necessary to render a combatant hors de combat.

[@tarjaikola]

Greetings from Finland🇫🇮🇫🇮🇫🇮 Thanks for the reaction and happy 2025!

[@aSSGoblin1488]

most logistics during this era was still using horses. ww2 was the first oil resource war. though its crazy that axis powers declared war for diesel and gas when the oil refining process takes almost a year and usa was the biggest exporter. there are large oil fields in ukraine but little refining process. crazy crazy crazy.

[@Finkele1]

There are so many books about winter was and continuation war and absolutely no Odin, Zeus, god, Ukko involved. There are 180 + Mannerheim cross ppl. All did remarkable things. It's your purple heart.

[@GhostWatcher2024]

Simo was a real-life final boss.

[@Peter_Aranyos_Jr]

Another thing that helped Simo was that the Russians or most of them weren't wearing proper camouflage or white clothes. They were a darker green color. Which helped Simo see them in the snow.

[@Finkele1]

Suomi is name of Finland in our own language....

[@johncostello6006]

Vid actually starts at 4:25 Also, let's be completely fair with the bike battalion... Lol You just need to pay for the materials needed ONCE (minus repairs), you don't need to spend money on fuel, it's quicker and saves more energy compared to running, you can put "saddle bags" on the bikes so you can carry more equipment than normal, AND a quicker target is a target that's less likely to be hit. So.. Point is... I mean.. I understand why it was at least tried lol

[@tarjaikola]

Also you can bike on paths in the woods! No proper roads needed. There have been bicycle troops from the 1920s. Another interesting fact: the carriages for horses were two wheeled carriages. Again: you can drive them through woods, no need for actual roads. There were 7 200 horses that lost their lives during the Winter War.

[@tobaobokoomi1693]

We're about to have the Winter War 2.0 soon, too...

[@douglascampbell9809]

They knew the first sniper he shot was killed because the problem he was causing stopped happening. Normally snipers work in two person teams so conformations are easy to get.

[@WurrzagsMorkyMischeif]

I remember a really cold line that Simo dropped on a repporter that was interviewing him who asked what he felt when he shot all those Russians. Simo simply said "The recoil"

[@PAT8888-is2pd]

Check his story about Carlos 'white feather " Hathcock. Amerca's greatest sniper.

[@seattanf2348]

About the artillery and Simo's ability to estimate distance from it. Simo would not have been able to judge where artillery could or could not hit. Modern artillery can hit targets 13+ miles away. I don't know what the range for WW2 artillery was but it would have been measured in miles not meters. You don't put artillery on the front lines. It's likely Simo never even saw the cannons that were firing on him unless he was going behind enemy lines. A forward observer is a soldier with specialized training to call back to the artillery and tell them where to fire. I served 4 years from 2006-2010 in the US army as an artilleryman.

[@tulsaviolet]

Sabaton did a Song on it.

[@KingKoopa0331]

More Fat Electrician, please

[@craidiefin]

Having a watch was a big deal. Having a clock on the wall wasn't a big deal. Well, atleast pre WW2. WW2 popularized wristwatches on soldiers, practically all who wanted one sooner rather than later. Before WW2 a watch was a luxury item only after the war with allied soldiers popularizing them, watches were rare. And Finland wasn't part of the allies who had more manufacturing capacity than what they knew to do with. So acquiring a watch was not nearly as easy as any and all resources went to the war effort and luxury items just weren't on the table.

[@LVUnown]

React to the Big Juicy shelf tour he’s juicy from The Boys

[@TheObscureRambler]

It wasn't 1935, and that reindeer sled is... a bit much :D Otherwise, a good video, a good reaction.

[@jansdavisbelerts1196]

What i hate about these reactions is that everyone pauses video 10x in a minute, luckily it wasn't the case here

[@rileytheflamingwookiecooki5646]

Epic.

[@arnoldwinkler395]

Fat Electrician's video Bat Bomb

[@KeybladeKnight14]

Im here from Record of Ragnarok

[@SteveKaye-yl7te]

Not sure if people actually grasp how incredibly difficult it is to hit your target at distance with just iron sights, it’s hard to put Into words, don’t believe me. Get a solid accurate bolt action rifle and about a 1000 rounds and let me know how that works out, yes it it possible of course to get hits, of course, but how we was so accurate in combat in freezing temperatures, with a entire Soviet army to kill you by all means necessary is beyond comprehension

[@Ray_Barajas]

Need to watch TFE on Carlos Hathcock aka White Feather. Thats the sniper that TFE says is better then Simu

[@Hyri3L]

its 1939!!!!!!!

[@jackweston7530]

you should look at women snipers russian

[@Viroh]

oh wow the american math skills... he said 450,000 troops is 25% of the finnish people of a 4,000,000 people like bruh how u mix up ~10% and 25%?

[@Koutsinmatkassa]

Soviet army started with 450 000 soldiers and during the war it totalled about one million Soviet soldiers, so 25% is valid percentage.

[@MizterTonik]

Plus, you have to keep in mind that Nic is only human and does a ton of research for these videos. Sometimes his math is off, sometimes he misspeaks. The man is only human, after all, so chill the fuck out.

[@SQuiD_HiMSeLF]

Crazy how some people make mistakes eh? Wild.

[@MizterTonik]

@@SQuiD_HiMSeLF yeah, people act like perfection is the only acceptable standard. Perfection isn't even possible. At least Nic is doing his best to bring history to all of us in a way that can both educate and entertain. He's incredible for what he does.

[@SQuiD_HiMSeLF]

@@MizterTonik i say it on almost every channel i watch, i feel bad for these channels, reactors and original creators alike, the scrutiny is unreal.