While perusing the Israel/Arafat page, I saw where u made reference to your grandfather fighting in the Russo-Finnish war (Winter War) in 1939-40. I have read several books by Stephen Hunter in the past who writes about snipers, and I expanded on that to read about Zaitsev which led me to some reading on this conflict that you mentioned. The Finnish sniper, Simo Hayha, was arguably the best ever, and I think he had well over 500 confirmed kills. Sulo Kolkka also had around 400 confirmed kills, and if I'm not mistaken, these were all in the brief 3 month + Winter War. The Finnish people were severely outnumbered too, I believe, and before they were overrun by sheer numbers, I think they took about a quarter of a million Russian soldiers with them while having only 25,000 dead of their own. These snipers that I mentioned fought a guerrilla war on skis quite often and had the Russian soldiers quaking in their boots, and I think they were farmers by trade! Just thought I would let you know that I am very interested in WWII history, particularly lesser reported events. I also didn't realize that Finnish soldiers had been a part of the military activity in the Middle East. Good luck!
