03Mar05

"White Death"

Simo H=A4yh=C3=A4 of Finland, in his early thirties when the 1939 Soviet invasion of his country began, had grown up in a remote area on the far north Finnish frontier, just miles from the Russian border. Like most of his peers, Simo , of necessity, became an rugged outdoorsman and an accomplished rifleman at an early age, and, like most of his peers, he harbored deep fear and loathing for Russians, particularly Soviets. He had seen Lenin's and Stalin 's abject cruelty close up, and he knew and understood what a Soviet takeover would m ean to his nation, and he knew the rest of the world would turn their backs, as

they always do..

By the fall of 1939, with Hitler firmly in control of Austria, Czechoslovakia, and most of Poland, Stalin frantically looked for matching conquests in order to knock Hitler off the front page. He turned his attention west to Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Finland was the most sophisticate d nation of the four and was the main objective of Stalin's attention. Stali n demanded that the Finns allow him to put air and navel bases on Finnish soi l. Characteristically duplicitous, Stalin was, of course, planning an invasion

whether they yielded to his demands or not.

Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania had offered no resistance. The Finns, on th e other hand, not only refused to allow Russians on their soil, but had mobilized on a national scale. Stalin was furious, but, like all bullies w ho face the prospect of a real fight, he was startled and a little frightened! Massacring rear-echelon troops and defenseless civilians is one thing. Fac ing a well-armed, well organized, and determined army, even a small one, was something else. Stalin was fearful, but he had no choice. He could not af ford to look "weak" on the world stage. Germans, British, and Americans were all watching. Tolerating an insolent snub from tiny Finland was out of the que stion, even with winter coming on.

The Finnish/Russian border was an immense, rugged forest with only a few roads and logging trails. It was late fall. The soil was slush. The full

blast of winter would come in December, freezing everything solid and reduc ing daylight to only a few hours. Relentless darkness broken only by brief, ti mid, and cloudy twilight would go on until spring. Faced with this predicament, Meretsklov, the Russian general in charge, suggested to Stalin that the invasion be postponed until spring or at least until midwinter when frozen ground would support his tanks. He was contemptuously rebuffed and ordered to proceed without delay. So, the Russian invasion of Finland began on 30 Nov 1939, but bogged down almost immediately. By Christmas, the entire Russian offensive ground to a halt. Most units were out of fuel, out of food, out of ammunition, and freezing to death. Stalin angrily fired Meretsklov and rep laced him with Timoshenko. Timoshenko, with no fewer than twenty-four fresh divisions, renewed the offensive, but fared no better. The war became an e ffective stalemate. The Finns were not strong enough to eject the Russians outright , but the Russians had sustained crippling losses and could no longer generat e forward momentum, so a truce was negotiated.

Stalin knew he was not in a position of strength, but the Finns knew the Soviet assault would begin anew in the spring, and British and American help was unlikely. In the end, Finland ceded several bases, but was not, as a whole , annexed into the Soviet Union. It's citizens were spared the horrors that would have been inflicted by the NKVD (precursor to the KGB). Finland retained its independence. The invasion was (and is to this day) called "The Winter War." One book about the campaign is entitled, "White Hell ," as that is the way invading Soviet forces viewed it.

During this conflict there emerged one man, a short, skinny Finnish infantryman, who arguably holds the title of the most deadly rifleman in hi story. The devastation this one man visited upon hapless Soviet troops has never b een equaled, before or since. The Russians called him, "White Death. "

Simo never thought of himself as a "sniper." He was just a humble infantryman doing his job. He used and liked the Mosin Nagant M28 (bolt ac tion) rifle with open sights. The rifle was short and handy, particularly for th is 5' 2" foot soldier, and it did not feature a detachable magazine. Simo struck

his targets at twenty to five hundred meters. He preferred a sitting position, hunkered down in a fox hole. Nearly all of his shots were in low light. As his reputation grew, Simo probably could have come into the possession o f a telescopic sight, but he had seen them before and had no interest. Years later, he stated that a scoped rifle would have forced him to raise his hea d more than he liked. Besides, in those days he had no access to sophisticat ed maintenance, and he thus considered scopes too delicate for this rugged, co ld, and unforgiving environment. He had grown up using iron sights, and he had

every confidence in his ability with them. He was a warrior, and, like all

true warriors, would not allow himself to be defined by his equipment. He was not "equipment dependant." He was dangerous with any weapo n, even with no weapon!

His most famous exploits took place at the famous Battle on the Kollaa River, where a mere handful of brave Finns brought an entire Soviet army, tw elve divisions, to an all-inclusive halt! In the end, the Russians were forced to withdraw with staggering losses. The Finnish stand at Kollaa is, even today, referred to as "The miracle at Kollaa," and it set the pattern for the entir e War. The Kollaa was, of course, frozen, but its steep banks provided Finns

with a series of strong, defensive positions. They repeatedly channeled ponderous Soviet columns into ambush after ambush until they were forced to

disengage and pull back. When the War ended, the Kollaa river was still in

Finnish hands.

Simo was in continuous enemy contact for one hundred days. During that famous one-hundred-day period, Simo killed five hundred Soviet soldiers, gi ve or take a few, wounded many more, and literally terrified the entire Russian army! His tenure ended when a Soviet bullet struck his face. However, eve n while grievously wounded, he quickly located the sharpshooter who has shot him, mounted his rifle to his bloody face, and killed the Russian with a single shot, passing out himself seconds later. As a testimony to his toughness, Simo recovered from his wound and went on to outlive all his comrades and nearly

everyone else who participated in the War, dying in his nineties in the yea r 2002.

In the native language, "Simo" translates to =80=9Cfearle ssness." When asked, many years later, about his extraordinary contribution to the Finnish Resistance, Simo said humbly, "I was just doing my job."

Comment: Like so many heroes, long forgotten by the mass of humanity, Simo can never be forgotten by us. HE CHOSE EXCELLENCE, DRIVEN BY HONOR OVER MEDIOCRITY, MOTIVATED BY FEAR. He set an example for all of us. Good show , comrade!

/John