From Wikipedia:

He was born in the municipality of Rautjärvi near the present-day border with Russia, and started his military service in 1925. During the Winter War (1939–1940) between Finland and the Soviet Union, he began his duty as a sniper against the Red Army. Working in temperatures between −20 and −40 degrees Celsius (−4 and −40 degrees Fahrenheit), and dressed completely in a white camouflage suit, Häyhä was credited with 542 confirmed kills against Soviet soldiers.
The unofficial Finnish frontline figure from the battlefield of Kollaa places the number of Häyhä's sniper kills at 542. A daily account of the kills at Kollaa was conducted for the Finnish snipers. Häyhä used a Finnish variant, M28, of the Soviet Mosin-Nagant rifle (known as "Pystykorva" rifle), because it suited his small frame (5 ft 3 in/1.60 m). He preferred to use iron sights rather than telescopic sights to present a smaller target (the sniper must raise his head higher when using a telescopic sight) and aid concealment (sunlight glare in telescopic sight lenses can reveal a sniper's position).
Besides his sniper kills, Simo Häyhä was also credited with as many as two hundred kills with a Suomi M-31 SMG, thus bringing his credited kills to at least 705. However, the latter claim has never been substantiated. All of Häyhä's kills were accomplished within 100 days prior to injuries caused by an enemy bullet. Häyhä's record of an average of 5 kills a day, almost one kill per daylight hour of the short winter day, is unique.
Before his injury, the Russians tried several plans to get rid of him, including counter snipers and artillery strikes. Their best result was tearing the back of his coat away with shrapnel, but leaving Häyhä himself unscratched.
On March 6, 1940, Häyhä was shot in the jaw during close combat. The bullet tumbled upon impact and left his head. He was picked up by fellow soldiers who said "half his head was missing". He regained consciousness on March 13, the day peace was declared. Shortly after the war, Häyhä was promoted straight from corporal to second lieutenant by Field Marshal Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim. No one else has ever gained rank in such a dramatic fashion in Finland's military history.



Direct link w/picture:



Simo Häyhä - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Are you searching for the best sniper or the sniper with the most kills?

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This thread may fill in more details.....

http://www.ww2f.com/wwii-general/965...-1-sniper.html

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

Major Konig

There was a female sniper by the name of Liudmila Pavlichenko I read about. She finished the war with 309 kills including 78 enemy snipers. She did her work in Odessa and Sevastopol. This is a great site BTW.

http://www.snipersparadise.com/history/pavlichenk.htm

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For the first time I have seen "History" at close quarters,and I know that its actual process is very different from what is presented to Posterity. - WWI General Max Hoffman

Vasiliy Grigorievich Zaytsev (1047th rifle regiment) killed 242 [inc. 11 snipers] exactly. The sniper with the most kills in WW2 is Mihail Ilyich Surkov (4th rifle division) who got 702. But the best sniper is one of two either the Finninsh sniper Simo Hayha who had 500+ kills or Vasiliy Ivanovich Golosov (81st Guards rifle regiment) with 422 kills.

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For the first time I have seen "History" at close quarters,and I know that its actual process is very different from what is presented to Posterity. - WWI General Max Hoffman

Here's a site...


WW2 Snipers

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The war against Russia will be such that it cannot be conducted in a knightly fashion. This struggle is one of ideologies and racial differences and will have to be conducted with unprecedented, unmerciful and unrelenting harshness. -Adolf Hitler

first a Major König never existed, second what is this 70 snipers thing killed meaning ? soldiers having small scale and low receptive scopes should not be considered as true marksmen.............must be more propaganda ploy from the war to prove how great the masters really were I suppose

OPPPSSSS. I was going to leave out the 70 snipers quote LOL. Ill fix that now .

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For the first time I have seen "History" at close quarters,and I know that its actual process is very different from what is presented to Posterity. - WWI General Max Hoffman

thats not true, according to the documentary of Enemy At the Gates they said the Germans put fake documents in his uniform so if he did get killed it wouldn't affect the German soldiers hearts and minds/morale as much.

There is still a debate as to whether Major Erwin Konig or Heinz Thorvald existed.

This from Sniper Central,

"There is great debate over wether the legendary WWII German sniper that was sent to Stalingrad to dispatch of Vasili Zaitzev was Konig, Thorvald, or even wether he existed at all. In fact in the actual Soviet war records, it originally showed up as a Maj. Erwin Konig, which is in fact a very basic and plain German Name at the time. In Vasili Zaitsev's war memoirs, he later refers to him as Heinz Thorvald, which was yet another popular German name in that time period. Thorvald seems to be the name that is used more now, and its confusing as to which it was, and if they were the same person, or one was a mistake, or wether the German Super Sniper was fabricated by the Soviet press to represent the German army, or German snipers on a "whole", and that the story was just a means of providing morale for the Soviet troops. The two names are on official Soviet war records, but there is no record of either name in the German record books (not to say they couldn't have removed the name to save grace). Any way you look at it, its confusing and debatable. Since both names appear in Soviet propaganda and war records, Konig in early war records and Thorvald in Zaitsevs memoirs and in later war records, I have included them both on the list until there is concrete proof that one or the other, or both, did not exist.
In regards to Vasili Zaitsev, there is no doubt he existed, and was a very accomplished and successful sniper."

Sniper - Thorvald and/or Konig

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For the first time I have seen "History" at close quarters,and I know that its actual process is very different from what is presented to Posterity. - WWI General Max Hoffman

Also don't believe everything in a "documentary "LOL .

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For the first time I have seen "History" at close quarters,and I know that its actual process is very different from what is presented to Posterity. - WWI General Max Hoffman

neither German so called sniper existed film or not, I have discussed with several Soviet experten and German experten on the Stalingrad affair, all of them said it is pure media hype

I have seen this History Channel episode I believe you are referring to....

Not exactly the most reliable source.

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The war against Russia will be such that it cannot be conducted in a knightly fashion. This struggle is one of ideologies and racial differences and will have to be conducted with unprecedented, unmerciful and unrelenting harshness. -Adolf Hitler

I even sent the History channel editors of that clueless episode 2 emails with facts............. ~ no response, which was not surprising

LOL THC!! Thats what I was referring to. I take whatever is shown by them with a grain of salt. They buy the programs with out checking the facts. Its just for entertainment value for them. And good luck in getting a response. I have e-mailed them quite a few times with not even 1 response from them. And I had been on the THC discussion site for over 4 years. The Mods there are even worse. No contact with them at all either. It is sort of like quoting Wiki. Like the creator of it says. Its a good place to start but don't use it as a primary source LOL.

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For the first time I have seen "History" at close quarters,and I know that its actual process is very different from what is presented to Posterity. - WWI General Max Hoffman

how could you say the HISTORY channel is not a accurate source?

I can say it too.... The HISTORY CHANNEL is not an accurate source.....


Too much bias and propaganda.. Like others have said, it is entertaining though. Like when the history channel showed clips from the Battle of Kursk and panzers rolling through snow!

Now if you want to know the history of tractors, then perhaps the history channel would be more accurate.

More books and less TV

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The war against Russia will be such that it cannot be conducted in a knightly fashion. This struggle is one of ideologies and racial differences and will have to be conducted with unprecedented, unmerciful and unrelenting harshness. -Adolf Hitler

lets get back to the film shall we a major or higher in rank as an acting sniper hunting down a non-com or less in rank..........sorry that was a big no-no, the SS sniper school was not even created before Stalingrad anyone so here are two very important points that de-bunk right there and that was also what I sent the History channel chaps. I've seen enough LW facing the US 9th, heavy 8th and 15th AF storeis to go completely off my crackers with laughter..........

even some of the latest dogfights have been a total screw up two of my friends one German the other an 15th AF fighter ace stories were so full of muck I turned off the TV, lets face it the H.C. is like any other supposed documentary channel they say and will do what they want to sell visual points no matter truth or fiction

A "sniper" who held the rank of MAJOR?! Yea, sure. Riiigggghhhhtttt..... PFBS Majors command battalions in most armies or are serious players on command staffs at regiment or division level. They don't go grabbing a rifle with a scope and bother to go out hunting privates in the front lines.......except maybe in Hollywood.

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Truth is stranger than bullshit!