Simo Hayha

January 1940. It is a dark, cold, snowy evening in the bombed-out forests of Kollaa, Finland. Lines of dark figures move through the shattered treeline, pressing forward despite heavy fire from the lines of trenches before them. Artillery, machine guns, and screams of soldiers echo through the night.

On a snowy embankment high above the battlefield, a lone sniper lays a heavily-worn bolt-action rifle into a narrow notch he carved into the position days ago. He is dressed in white from head to toe, including a white hood and a thick white wool ski mask that covers his face. You cannot see his breath, even though temperatures in this icy warzone are well below freezing. He is almost completely motionless – invisible amid the snow that covers everything around him.

He aims down the iron sights of his weapon towards a small squad of armed men maneuvering around the flank of the defenders below. He checks the range and wind, and adjusts accordingly. He takes a deep breath, chambers a round, and squeezes the trigger unleashing a deadly shot.. (GUN SHOT sound.) And then another.. And another. And another. His name is Simo Hiya, the White Death. And he's not only the deadliest man in Finland, he might just be the deadliest sniper in all of history.

"The White Death," Simo Hayha was just an ordinary Finnish farmer that somehow ended up recording more confirmed kills than any other sniper in military history. In this episode Ben and Pat discuss how this ordinary dude from Finland became the deadliest soldier ever recorded.

Badass of the Week is an iHeart radio podcast produced by High Five Content. Executive producers are Andrew Jacobs, Pat Larash, and Ben Thompson. Writing is by Pat and Ben. Story editing is by Ian Jacobs, Brandon Fibbs and Ali Lemer. Mixing and music and Sound Design is by Jude Brewer. Consulting by Michael May. Special thanks to Noel Brown at iHeart. Badass of the Week is based on the website BadassoftheWeek.com, where you can read all sorts of stories about other badasses. If you want to reach out with questions or ideas, you can email us at badasspodcast@badassoftheweek.com. If you like the podcast, subscribe, follow, listen and tell your friends and your enemies if you want, as we'll be back next week with another one. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio App, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.