Simo Hayha, "The White Death", Finland, Winter War, 1940
Simo Hayha, "The White Death", Finland, Winter War, 1940
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8mm Mauser Model 98, an old one. Those things make an earth-shattering kaboom. The Germans supplied most of the Finnish equipment in the Winter War.
Nah that's an M96 (or M38) Swedish Mauser. The front sight is wrong, and it has the Swedish Bayonet. Still loud as hell, and 6.5 Swede is still no joke in terms of accuracy and stopping power today.
Obviously, he is just posing for the photo with a different gun than his own.
According to his Wikipedia article:
He used a Finnish-produced M/28-30 rifle (a variant of Mosin–Nagant)
Finnish 7.62 mm rifle M/28-30 with M/28-30 bayonet.
Wiki commons (link doesn't work using some clients, but with a browser it does)
The M28/30 was indeed his main rifle, but he had a Swede too. There's a picture of him after he retired where they're all in a rack behind him in his house.
If I recall correctly, that picture is thought to be of a Swedish volunteer and not Häyhä, although it is often claimed to be him.
Tbf, with the clothing and mask, this could be almost anybody.
It absolutely could be. I think the assumption is based on what's known about the photo, not what's actually in it.
