Somebody brought this story to my attention a while back and I think it is worth sharing. If you haven't heard of Simo_Häyhä, his is a story worth reading. Wikipedia has a good intro: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simo_H%C3%A4yh%C3%A4 This guy had .......well I won't ruin the story, but if you hate commies and like hearing great war stories that are slightly lesser known in the US, check it out! *Edited Link* The previous link had a bunch of gratuitous jokes that I missed when linking. I always prefer linking to more academic resources like the infallible Wikipedia.
There are quite a few factors that make this story so crazy: He was a farmer (and marksman) called back into service for national defense The kills were during a bitter winter with temps in the -20 F All 500 +/- sniper kills were with iron sights Mosan Nagant 200 confirmed kills with a 9mm submachine gun He survived the war, albeit with a serious disfiguring injury. I love the nickname that his enemy gave him, that just tops it off. So wikipedia gives a couple of this hero's words of wisdom: When asked in 1998 how he had become such a good shooter, he answered, "practice." When asked if he regretted killing so many people, he said "I did what I was told to as well as I could.
