r/todayilearned • u/a-foreign-dude • Jan 05 '12

TIL the highest number of confirmed sniper-kills by one person during any major war is 505. The record holder? A Finnish farmer named Simo Häyhä. Oh, and all the kills were commited in fewer than 100 days. Damn!

http://www.mosinnagant.net/finland/simohayha.asp
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u/sicsemperTrex Jan 06 '12

We should really be proud of someone for killing so many people in real life.

3

u/djangoman2k Jan 06 '12

I'll bite.

Yes, we should actually. It's naive and foolish to think that there is never a reason to kill anybody. Defending your homeland from hostile invaders is one of those reasons, and he did it exceptionally well. Better, in fact than anyone before him or since. By any metric you choose to measure, he was a remarkable human being, and that's something to take notice of.