This week's badass is so kickass, he earned the nickname “White Death” for his skills. This Finnish sniper killed an astounding 505 enemy soldiers during the Winter War of 1939. That's the highest recorded number of sniper kills in any major war. Simo Hayha was born in a small farming community in Finland, where he learned how to hunt in the Finnish wilderness. He had a passion for target shooting and was a hard worker who learned to master the traits of patience, accurate shooting and more. These skills came in handy for him when in 1925 he served his mandatory year in the Army then enlisted in the Civil Guard, the Finnish version of the National Guard. Even then, his higher ranking officers knew they had something special with Hayha and decided to train him to be a sniper. His unit was mobilized in 1939 and the numbers definitely weren't in the Finns favor. While the Soviets had more soldiers, they were seriously lacking experienced officers in their ranks. The Finnish soldiers were better trained and knew their local terrain better than the foreign invaders. They also had more to fight for, since they were there protecting their homes and families. Simo Hayha got the nickname "White Death" from his uniform choice and his skill at taking down enemy soldiers. He wore white camouflage to blend in with the surrounding snow and would burrow himself into it for better cover. He would then wait for the perfect moment to take down the enemy soldiers. He even opted to not use a scope, for fear that the enemy would notice the glare of the scope from sunlight. Check out the video above to learn more about White Death.

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Sources:

http://www.badassoftheweek.com/hayha.html

https://historycollection.co/10-historys-biggest-badasses/3/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simo_H%C3%A4yh%C3%A4

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