History's Deadliest Sniper - Simo Häyhä "The White Death" from Fat Electrician - Reaction

[@HistoryNerd808]

"I only did my duty and what I was told to as well as I could" -Simo Häyhä, "White Death"

[@JediKnight19852002]

It is 1939 and a Soviet army is marching on Finland As they pass the border, they hear a Finnish voice over the hill - "One Finnish soldier is better than 10 Soviet soldiers!" The Soviet general laughs, as he sends 10 men on the hill to capture it. There is gunfire for a minute and then everything goes silent for a moment, and they then hear the same voice - "One Finnish soldier is better than a hundred of yours!" Annoyed, the Soviet general sends hundred men to capture the hill. There is gunfire and bombs going for ten minutes, and everything goes silent again. Suddenly, the same voice yells out - "One Finnish soldier is better than thousand of Soviet soldiers!" Enraged, the general sends a thousand men, accompanied with tanks, artillery, mortar teams, and tells them to not return until the hill is theirs. For half an hour hell breaks loose, bombs and explosions, gunfire, screams and death all around, and then it goes silent again. One Soviet soldier crawls back, severely wounded and battered. Before the general could say anything, the soldier says - "Do not send more troops, comrade general, it's a trap! There is two of them."

[@Cobalt_Dragon0716]

Journalist: "And what did you feel when the rifle fired?" Simo Häyhä: "The recoil."

[@edim108]

Man was born full 7 years before the Bolsheviks took power in Russia and he outlived the Soviet Union by another 11 years, killing over half a thousand Soviet invaders inbetween.

[@Arkticus]

There's a few things I'd like to correct/add to the story. 1) The rifle - This was not just a Mosin-Nagant, but a heavily modified Civil Guard version m28/30 (also nicknamed "Pystykorva" or "Spitzer"). And it wasn't just given to him, he had to buy it with his own money. 2) Aarne Juutilainen - Brother of Ilmari "Illu" Juutilainen who was Finland's premier ace pilot. This man is a whole character in and of himself, from his days in the French Foreign Legion (hence the "Terror of Morroco" nickname) through both the Winter and Continuation War. And for the rocking chair story, I think might a slightly corrupted version of something that he actually did say on a radio interview (you can even find it on KZbin, though I don't know if there's a translated version anywhere). And basically Juutilainen had been wounded by shrapnel some time before the interview, and he told the reporter that they'd captured Soviet scoped rifle. So his idea was that, since he wouldn't be able to walk around, he'd told "the boys" to put his in the chair, carry him to a little high ground nearby and he'd start laying supporting fire with scoped rifle. You can't from his tone if he's joking or not... He also commented that "me and the boys were wondering when's the war going to start and these exercises to be over". The interview was recorded on December 19th, and the war officially started on November 30th. There was a destroyed Soviet tank just meter away from them. 3) After the bullet hit - First off, the pile of bodies that they would have put Simo into first would have been for the purposes of sending the cadavers back to their home towns or families for burial. And as a matter of fact, the notice of his death had already reached his family while he was in the coma. So when Simo woke up and became aware of that, he immediately sent a message to his brother that stated "Stop the funeral, you're missing the cadaver!" 4) The Mannerheim Cross - Yeah, sadly, even we can't escape the curse of politicians and bureaucrats...

[@dickdanger6945]

I'd always heard that Simo purchased his service weapon from the military at the end of his mandatory enlistment years before and had modified it, then brought it with him when he was called to war.

[@pepper-0ni-t1m]

Simo was the purest definition of how terrifying a sniper is in the warfare. Unseen death, so well hidden, or so far away, you can't see them or hear them until you see a buddy drop from the shot. If you're lucky, this threat sends a shiver down your spine. But if you're not, well... you might not hear the shot until it's lights out for you.

[@Egg-noodles]

Unfortunately, if the US ever goes to war again with a near peer adversary, the advent of thermal drones severely hampers the effectiveness of snipers on the battlefield. There is very little, if anything, that can be done to hide from thermals. All that an OpFor has to do when they diagnose a sniper is in the area is send a drone up to scan for heat signatures and they are compromised.

[@pepper-0ni-t1m]

@@Egg-noodles Mayhaps, but in an overall sense, both are the idea of "sudden, unexpected death" that can kill you without you knowing. Both are terrifying, even if both go about setting that terror into you in different ways entirely.

[@eerokivisto5103]

I left this comment on the original video as well 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

[@TheDarkstormy]

According to rumours The Ukrainian Sniper School sent a a contingent of their men to learn how to in Winter Sniper Nato Style in Finland in late 2022, they also took a votive icon to be given to the church where Simo's buried. Votive Icons are used in Orthodoxy to ask for intercession of Saints on your behalf. Basically Ukrainian Army Snipers after doing winter equipment training in Finland gave a Votive Icon to Simo's Church asking for Simo if he'd mind stepping down from Heaven and coming for another round against the Russkijs.

[@Taistelukalkkuna]

When Simo was asked secret of his skill. "Practice" was answer.

[@ForgottenHonor0]

There are so many crazy stories from the Winter War, alone. My favorite is how the Finns would occasionally go out onto battlefields to recover dead Soviets then prop their frozen bodies up like macabre statues for their buddies to see when they came back.

[@brigidtheirish]

Vlad the Impaler approved tactics.

[@Zabiru-]

I have seen black and white pictures of this owned by a Finno-Swedish guy who got his hands on them after the war. So they are not just stories. There were other pictures that at first looked like someone had been out hunting and skinned an animal with the skin hung up to dry. Until you saw the conspicuously human shaped very dark thing lying close by.

[@centric3125]

​@@Zabiru- I forget sometimes that Finland and the other Northern countries used to produce Vikings who would go pillage half of Europe before discovering islands nobody knew about and then accidentally finding an entire continent. And that these people would occasionally do truly vile things to their 'enemies' , such as the infamous 'Blood Eagle'.

[@danielseelye6005]

_Please_ tell me there's at least one image of those Commie Corpses going at it Doggie style. Communism f'n Communism. 😆

[@j3mixa]

​@@centric3125It was actually the other way round. Finns were not Vkings but attacked by Vikings. Vikings were Scandinavian, Swedish, Norwegians, and Danish. Finns were living in small tribes back then and were vulnerable to outside attacks. Although there are some stories about the Vikings being afraid of Finnish magic and also about them trading with Finns.

[@igot100degrees9]

14:06-14:16 I just love the phrasing of Simo being 'activated' as if the terminator had just come from the future which, given his reputation, is a pretty fair comparison.

[@E33Tpro]

One thing many people don't realize is that Simo did all that in less than 100 days while most known and talked about "records" are based on a career with several tours of duty which makes this story even more incredible with what he managed to accomplish.

[@DenisMendina]

fun fact: there's a Game of Thrones fanfic called "Three Badasses of Westeros" in which Simo and Juutilainen (the commanding officer this video mentioned) wake up on the titular fantasy world alongside Lt. Audie Murphy shortly before the events of the books. you can pretty much guess what happens next...

[@rebel11201991]

I don't even like Game of Thrones but I may have to read that

[@DenisMendina]

@ frankly, neither am I…

[@carbonwolf3865]

Oh dear goodness, Simo and Audie Murphy in the same room at the same time is a recipe for a bad time for the enemy.

[@billpaine6241]

I knew a guy who had been an officer in a Swedish Guards regiment that “volunteered” to fight for the Finns in the Winter War. He said one of their tactics was to attack at sunset, then ski all night to a different position and attack again at dawn, tricking the Soviets into thinking there were two different regiments out there. A very brutal war.

[@carbonwolf3865]

"It's so everywhere you don't need a "where," you don't even need a "when." That's how "every" it gets."

[@DavidRichardson153]

I wrote a character who works as a sniper, and she has the reputation of shooting a bolt-action so fast that some think that she is shooting a semi-auto or even a full-auto, all while never missing any of her shots. Then lo and behold, it turns out that I was hardly original with my character with the existence of Simo. I do not mind not actually being original, but it is kind of terrifying to know that such a feat and accompanying reputation was less fantastical than I initially thought. EDIT: Just to clarify, by "fantastical," I mean "unbelievable" or "unrealistic" and not "amazing," because it was undoubtedly amazing yet also more realistic than I had assumed.

[@FandomChronicle]

Sometimes, reality is stranger then fiction

[@9Godslayer]

At least your character is extraordinarily rare.

[@radioactiveassassin5218]

I wouldn't put the full auto part in that, because doesn't matter how fast he's shooting, even with a semi auto you can't match the fire rate with a full auto, let alone bolt action.

[@thesarcasticliberal]

Could you imagine being somebody in that new area who is just walking around the forest, hunting, and you run into him on one of his hunting trips? You'd go from "that guy looks kinda familiar" to "holy shit" in a matter of seconds.

[@brennanhearn6342]

And not for nothing, even the Russians to this day insist that he got at LEAST 507 kills, the man was beyond next level superhuman badass.

[@OrdemDoGraveto]

The thing is, NOBODY bought that Finland really shot artilary at the russian city... But everybody saw a big empire and said "Yeah, whatever, go invade, we don't care". Simo is a legend. But he wasn't the only fin beast against the URSS. The Winter War produced quite a few badasses soldiers against the commies.

[@sillerbarly4927]

I remember that the Fins would blast Polka over the radios to disrupt, and I think also set off, the mines the Soviet's would lay. It worked I think based off of the frequency of Polka being able to interfere the radio frequency the Soviet's used for the mines.

[@Myomer104]

Specifically, the Finnish recaptured a town the Soviets had taken earlier on. Out of spite, the Soviets laid thousands of radio-command detonated mines to blow up the town whenever they wanted. Knowing that they would never be able to get all the mines before the Russians would set them off, the Finnish blasted the Sakkijarven Polka on every radio frequency. On an all-day loop. *For a year.* Until the batteries in the mines ran out and died.

[@MizterTonik]

Modern problems, modern solutions lol

[@anneliseppanen9105]

@@Myomer104 1941 Finns taking back Viipuri Town.

[@Historyfrek4ever]

Simo was a real Finnish Cincinnatus. Not a soldier, just a hunter and farmer.

[@CJ-jo6do]

The guy prestige using the Finnish starting loadout, no weapons mods, and still got a 500+ k/d.💀

[@JamesSmith-cd6rf]

Imagine if you will, your ordered to invade a country and it becomes the most glaring example of hubris ever seen in human history, that a guy like Simo was made a legend due to the circumstances of the time, and the guy manages to outlive the country he fought, and his country didnt kill it (which is the truly rare part about history).

[@XtreemAlan]

There’s a reason I like to call the Mosin Nagant the White Death’s Scythe

[@iron_side5674]

I actually think that Simo was one of the few Finn that DID KNOW how to quit. Very Different from "Larry Thorne" aka Lauri Törni, the Soldier of Three Armies. A LOT of Finn joined other countries in war against the Russians, just to be able to kill more Russians. Some even joined the Nazis, just for that purpose.

[@carbonwolf3865]

I can appreciate the dedication to fight the soviets. A literal "I hate you, but I hate them more. Let me at 'em" moment

[@carbonwolf3865]

The man hated the soviets, lauri törni basically acted like "I hate your ideals, but I hate the soviets more. Let me at em!"

[@blacknorthwind93]

10:26 Well when there is no snow around, a bicycle becomes the new best thing to sneak around the enemy.

[@LukasJampen]

I mean finnland still has summers and isn't snow covered all year. Otherwise being a farmer wouldn't work.

[@rolkflameraven1483]

The most terrifying thing about his kill count is that was just the confirmed ones. Is there any tally on his probable's? That SMG could have gotten him a few more vs the human wave tactics if nothing else. He put up a 500+ to 0 K/D and that is just insane.

[@Myomer104]

The most reliable tally I had read before this video was 505 confirmed kills... and about 250 unconfirmed.

[@zeanyt2372]

The term "ice them" comes to mind.

[@lindaackerman4412]

I don't think I stopped saying "holy shit!" The entire time I watched this video

[@blazingflarereactsplays3033]

7:12 don't remember if he was part of any conflict/war, unfortunately he passed before I could really get to know him, but my great grandfather actually had the equipment and showed me and a few of my cousins how it worked, even got to make our own .22 rounds. Sounds nice, but this was done when I was about six or seven XD.

[@jayallen7790]

What makes his story even more amazing is that he accomplished all this in just over 100 days.

[@brigidtheirish]

Yeah. Life nowadays is *good.* My paternal grandpa remembered when his family didn't have indoor plumbing. My maternal grandma spoke fondly of walking to school with no shoes because they had to save money for winter boots. My paternal grandma was born a premmie at a time when the only person making a public effort to save such babies in America was a guy running a sideshow. She survived due to stubborn nuns and being, as my dad described her, "concentrated essence of viking." Her first bed was a *shoe box behind the wood stove.*

[@anneliseppanen9105]

My mother told me that American Finns send to children of Finland boots and mittens in Winter War.

[@brigidtheirish]

@@anneliseppanen9105 I believe it. Folks probably still had family they were in contact with over there.

[@markoruotsalainen1161]

Simo also knew the gentleman by name ,Lauri Allan Törni (28 May 1919 - 18 October 1965), later known as Larry Alan Thorne, was a Finnish-born soldier who fought under three flags.

[@blacknorthwind93]

21:55 HoHoHo The Santa sent the while death to get rid off naughty Soviet soldiers. Also Finland has the worlds official Santa village.

[@EiraAimo]

People think this is impressive....but they will fall from their chairs when realizing that time of the year its 18 hours of darkness per day. No thermal, no IR, just 5-6 hours per day to do your job. Measured by daylight, it makes rate of 1 k*ll / hour for 3 months. Moontlight helped at some clear nights, but its marginal factor in this case.

[@Jawmax]

Simo was so good that a Manga, Record of Ragnarok had him as one of the fighters to go up against the Gods of Myth. Looking forward to when they gat to him in the Anime.

[@dravensanders6157]

Considering he's gonna be in the next round in 2025 then we're gonna get some serious shit.

[@FandomChronicle]

Glad to see another fan of Record of Ragnarok

[@spartana1116]

Kills a god via the power of gun and warcrimes XD

[@reverendnorse]

So he is a comming fighter? How they gonna make that fight? A sniper in an arena? 😅

[@supersaiyandiclonius3056]

Ya beat me to it.

[@Levi_Amongst_the_Watchers]

Lol I thought you were going to say "Can't even ask me how far I am away from like, myself" lol. I was actually a little disappointed when you said "my sink."

[@brothersgt.grauwolff6716]

When The Snow Starts Speaking Finnish 😱💩

[@ShawnBaker-d3h]

When you go in thinking a guy is badass and leave thinking oh he's actually terrifying.

[@ArrowstormGaming]

I just finished the video and thought, "I wonder if Old Man has reacted to this, let me check." and sure enough, public 2 minutes ago. Let's goooo lol.

[@annina134]

5:31 in summer time we have sun and high temperatures in Finland. So you really can get a heat stroke.

[@blacknorthwind93]

18:49 That sniper did not know that someone else had sights set on him.

[@js0988]

No no no no no! He got 542 with his rifle, he got an additional 250ish with the SMG! Totaling over 800!

[@TheAKgunner]

I read that Soviet soldiers started piling snow in the firing slits of their bunkers, for fear of Simo shooting them through that tiny gap. And as if that wasn’t enough, when Commissars threatened to execute people who refused to go on patrol because they knew he was in the area, the soldiers would beg the Commissar to shoot them, because at least they’d be able to see death coming, instead of the White Death shooting them from an invisible location. Keep in mind, I have no idea if these stories are true, but I choose to believe that they are. Why? Because they sound believable.

[@devilfanmik]

Imagine what would happen if Simo was given a railgun.

[@nickschnider9191]

I was just thinking an M14... 20 rnd semi auto and almost the same round as his Mosin.

[@annina134]

I don't think he would want any other guns. He was familiar and good with what he had.

[@MaliciousMollusc]

13:45 Correction, the Gurkhas are Nepalese, not Filipinos.

[@windwalker5765]

Don't laugh at bicycle soldiers. If the roads are decent, men on bikes can carry far more than they can on foot. Over multi-day marches, they're faster than horse cavalry (horses tire out much faster than humans do). And keep in mind that most infantry in WWI and WWII moved on foot, with trucks and railroads mostly used to move supplies.

[@ramiromaia592]

Simo was the cheat code before cheat code existed

[@PolskiRycerz1410]

That's why you should never mess with Finnish. There is a joke about that war. It goes something like this: "100 Russians soldiers were on a patrol and then shoot one of them is dead, it goes for awhile but they managed to spot position of a sniper so commander ordered an attack and when they rushed and were gettting closer to position one of the Russians is screaming "It's a trap there's two of them". (Sorry for bad English, it is not my native language, and it's pretty late when I'm writing this comment. 7.15 I don't know if this information will make you feel better but a lot of people from Central Europe who survived communism that has been force on them, they're not taking stuff for granted. Those were the hard times.

[@mrlizardtx]

My knowledge of Simo came from Sabaton.

[@blacknorthwind93]

Germany before the Winter War: Ok the USSR can have Finland and the Baltic countries, while take over Scandinavia. Germany after the Winter War: Ok can take over Scandinavia, but Finland MUST become our ally and NOT our enemy.

[@karlwikman3874]

1900s Finland brought us some of the finest vintage psychopaths the world has ever seen

[@NorthonBruce]

And today we have media approved glorification of psychopathy. Insane.

[@rkfan101]

We all need to know why you haven't reacted to his Eugene Bullard video. Hands down my favorite video of his to date.

[@supersaiyandiclonius3056]

I had a dog whose favorite toy was a water bottle.

[@richardpickett3882]

3:03 You are learning young one. Tax write offs.

[@collageboi3040]

they most likely had a spy that was about to kill him but he got caught then the higher ups said screw this im out 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@merjakotisaari9046]

greetings from Finland, there is also another one, a soldier with meth

[@paulakuljunlahti]

4:47 We are not communists. In fact, Finland had a civil war between the Red Guards (backed by the Russians) and the White forces of the Senate (backed by the German Empire) a few years before the Winter War (part of World War II). The Reds were defeated and Finland became part of the German sphere of influence until 1918. The Finnish civil war tore the nation in two, but when the Soviet Union attacked Finland, the nation united. Finland is a democratic country, but at that time it was poor.

[@c0dy85]

Simo vs Wilis Lee shooting compitision

[@TheAKgunner]

I’d pay money to watch that contest!

[@GryLi]

He was famous all over the north. Hi from Denmark

[@superdrummergaming]

I'm good with my Mosin, but this is insanity. I can go 99% at 100 yards. Half the time I can even do it at 200 yards. But 16 for 16 at 150 would be very hard to do reliably. I'm near 50% at 300 yards. Pretty proud of that with an 80+ year old rifle and iron sights. With my new rifles and optics, it's 100% at 300 yards. Almost no effort. I struggle to imagine what his body count would be with a modern rifle and optic. He would go 1000 meters consistently.

[@ryumaroku43]

Check out his video on "Burger King vs McDonald's patty rivalry" it's hilarious. On the fat files of course.

[@nickschnider9191]

Can any shed light on the 6 rounds at first? With a bolt action it would push a round from the mag into the chamber. I never tried it but can you load the mosin mag from the drop door?

[@Buffington916]

You hand load the one into the chamber, and you push down the rounds in the magazine with your thumb as you start to bring the bolt forward so it doesn't grab a round.

[@nickschnider9191]

@Buffington916 fair enough. Seems obvious now. Any idea on loading the mag from below with the bolt closed? I'm just curious about that now. Haven't seen 7.62x54 around here for a while or I'd just try it.

[@JThomas1174]

I would expect electricians to know that 450k is not 25% of 4M... Still a cool video.

[@aku896]

the info that i have read is 505 kills with rifle and 200 kills with submachine gun

[@js0988]

Yup!

[@Puma1Sunfire1]

Sorta hoping it snows soon so I can watch the original with proper setting & mood

[@wyattfrye8262]

We skipped the flying tigers video I’m sad

[@gfwinn]

Not a single movie about Simo yet Netflix is making up crap about postal workers in WW2 band claiming they’re hero because they happens to be black women. MAKE IT MAKE SENSE!!!!

[@annina134]

Häyhä's family didn't want to make a movie about Simo. But now there have been information that they' re going to make one maybe in the future.

[@AussieRose76]

Hi, you should check out the song White Death by Sabaton 😊 they are my favourite band 😊

[@angelosmortis3081]

Filipino we are Filipino sir not ghurka.... Ghurkas are not Filipino... Believe me many men think they are tough until you step in the jungles of asia and specially the Philippines... Ghurkas are tough no doubt they are great soldiers love them...

[@Zerotonothing]

Dude. 1939 was not more than 100 years ago. You are either time traveller from 2040's, confusing that this happened during ww1 instead of ww2 OR you are terrible bad in math.