The “legend” of Simo Häyhä is a product of Finnish nationalist myth-making. There is no evidence to suggest that he killed that many people—the absurdly high “542 kill count” is war propaganda that was never confirmed by even Hayha himself, as shown by the historian F. Marjomaa
These superhero-like sniper legends endure today as highly sensational pop history in service of nationalism. In reality, it was not at all possible (or desirable) for snipers to accurately keep track of kills, and stories of bravado were grossly exaggerated over time
It’s also worth noting that the “RuSSians” Häyhä did kill would have included a significant number of Ukrainians and Central Asians, so it’s strange to see someone with a Ukraine flag emoji in their name gloating over Ukrainians being killed.
There is this tendency to project the current russia and Ukraine conflict back into history, which really makes zero sense in the Soviet context given that Ukrainians were Soviets who by and large earnestly believed in and fought for the Soviet project.
Anyways, this is not to say Häyhä was not a talented soldier (he was), but that these narratives are a highly distorted, and unhelpful way of understanding history prone to exaggeration, essentially treating war like a Call of Duty game scoreboard.
One should also hesitate to treat Häyhä as a hero. While he did not serve in the continuation war when Finland was allied with the Nazis, this was not out of any kind of protest. He wished to participate but was unable to do so due to the injuries from fighting the Soviets.
SS from this article. Every researcher who has seriously studied Hayha’s “count”
using archival evidence has concluded it’s been grossly exaggerated. Also, see the work of Hannu Narsakka or Oleg Kiselev. Nothing really in English though, unfortunately
https://twitter.com/After__History/status/1698068265699086806
The “legend” of Simo Häyhä is a product of Finnish nationalist myth-making. There is no evidence to suggest that he killed that many people—the absurdly high “542 kill count” is war propaganda that was never confirmed by even Hayha himself, as shown by the historian F. Marjomaa
These superhero-like sniper legends endure today as highly sensational pop history in service of nationalism. In reality, it was not at all possible (or desirable) for snipers to accurately keep track of kills, and stories of bravado were grossly exaggerated over time
It’s also worth noting that the “RuSSians” Häyhä did kill would have included a significant number of Ukrainians and Central Asians, so it’s strange to see someone with a Ukraine flag emoji in their name gloating over Ukrainians being killed.
There is this tendency to project the current russia and Ukraine conflict back into history, which really makes zero sense in the Soviet context given that Ukrainians were Soviets who by and large earnestly believed in and fought for the Soviet project.
Anyways, this is not to say Häyhä was not a talented soldier (he was), but that these narratives are a highly distorted, and unhelpful way of understanding history prone to exaggeration, essentially treating war like a Call of Duty game scoreboard.
One should also hesitate to treat Häyhä as a hero. While he did not serve in the continuation war when Finland was allied with the Nazis, this was not out of any kind of protest. He wished to participate but was unable to do so due to the injuries from fighting the Soviets.
https://www.mtvuutiset.fi/artikkeli/talvisodan-tarkka-ampujasta-tuli-sankari-liioiteltiinko-valkoista-kuolemaa/3124576
SS from this article. Every researcher who has seriously studied Hayha’s “count” using archival evidence has concluded it’s been grossly exaggerated. Also, see the work of Hannu Narsakka or Oleg Kiselev. Nothing really in English though, unfortunately