Simo Häyhä (1905-2002) was a Finnish sniper who fought in the Winter War. He was credited with 505 confirmed kills, which makes him the deadliest sniper in military history. He used a standard iron-sighted, bolt-action rifle.

Simo Häyhä was born in Rautjärvi, on the present-day border of Finland and Russia. Before joining the Finnish Army, Häyhä was a farmer and a hunter and his farmhouse was full of trophies for marksmanship. He began his military service in 1925, but it was during the Winter War of 1939–1940 between Finland and the Soviet Union, that he began his duty as a sniper, fighting the invading Soviet forces.

Häyhä was only 5 ft 3 in tall and used a Finnish variant, M/28, of the Soviet Mosin-Nagant rifle, which suited his small frame. Because a sniper must raise his head higher when using a telescopic sight, Häyhä preferred to use iron sights rather than telescopic sights. A telescopic sight’s glass can also fog up easily and the sunlight glare in telescopic sight lenses can reveal a sniper’s position. As a tactic, Häyhä freezed the snow in front of him so that the shot would not raise snowflakes, thus revealing his position. To prevent himself from being spotted by the enemy, he kept snow in his mouth so that he would not exhale steam.

Häyhä was shot in the jaw during combat on March 6, 1940. Nevertheless, he picked up his rifle and fired a round, killing his attacker. He was picked up by fellow soldiers. He regained consciousness on March 13, the day peace was declared. After the war, Häyhä was promoted from corporal to second lieutenant by Field Marshal Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim. It took several years for him to fully recover from his war injury. The Soviet bullet had crushed his jaw and blown off his left cheek. However, he became a successful moose hunter and dog breeder after World War II. Simo Häyhä died on April 1, 2002, at the age of 97 years.

Nazi Germany was the period in the history of Germany under the rule of Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers Party, Nazi, which established a totalitarian regime that was in power from 1933 to 1945. This new Nazi state succeeded the Weimar Republic and was called the Third Reich by Adolf Hitler and his followers. The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, which began in 962 AD with the coronation of Otto I and lasted until 1805, was the First Reich; the Prussian state, under the Hohenzollern dynasty with Emperor William I and William II, which united all the fragmented German semifeudal principalities and estates in one nation after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871, was the Second Reich; and the Nazi government that came to power in 1933 was the Third Reich, according to Hitler.

The Third Reich arose as a consequence of the national anger and resentment against the Treaty of Versailles, the peace treaty signed between Germany and the Allies in 1919, at the end of the Great War, and which was one of the causes of World War II. Germany did not take part in the negotation of the treaty; it was imposed on her. Germany had been forced to accept sole responsability for causing the war and to pay a huge amount of money and millions of tonnes of natural resources from the Rhur area to France and Ingland. This was too heavy a burden to bear and it was the cause the hyperinflation, unemployment, and starvation in Germany during the 1920′s. The Allies also wrenched large chunks of territory away from Germany, creating future geopolitical and territorial problems such as the Polish corridor.

During the 1920′s Germany was ruled by a republican government under the democratic Weimar Constitution. The political party which catapulted Hitler into power was the National Socialist German Workers Party, known by the German acronym NAZI, which grew out of a smaller political group with a nationalist orientation that formed in the last year of World War I. In 1919, Anton Drexler, a locksmith, founded the German Workers’ Party in Munich with Gottfried Feder and Dietrich Eckart. Adolf Hitler, who was a police spy of an intelligence commando, was infiltrated in the German Workers’ Party. In his inspection of the party, Hitler was impressed with Anton Drexler’s nationalist and anti-Marxist ideas, which favored a strong active government, and a non-Jewish version of socialism. And Drexler was also impressed with Hitler’s oratory skills and invited him to join as the party’s 55th member.

On November 8, 1923, in Munich, Adolf Hitler and General Ludendorff attempted to overthrow the Bavarian government, but failed. Hitler was sentenced to five years in prison. The time that Hitler spent in jail changed his view on violent revolution to effect change. From then on, to win the German heart, he had do everything legally, since Germans obviously frowned at not following the rules. This illegal attempt at seizing the Bavarian government is known as the Beer Hall Putsch.

In the elections of 1928, the Nazis gained a meager 12 seats in the German Reichstag. But in 1930, after the American stock market crashed, they obtained 107 seats and became the second-largest parliamentary party. After the July elections of 1932, the Nazis were the largest party in the Reichstag, with 230 seats. Hindenburg was reluctant to give any substantial power to Hitler, who consistently demanded to be appointed chancellor in order for Hindenburg to receive any Nazi Party support of the cabinets appointed under his authority.

On December 2, 1932, Hindenburg’s Chancellor Franz von Papen, who was the leader of the Catholic Center Party, resigned, for he had no longer enough political support in the Reichstag. He was temporarily replaced by Kurt von Schleicher who could not obtain support in parliament, too. Under pressure from businessmen and political leaders, Paul von Hindenburg finally accepted to appoint Hitler Chancellor of Germany. He was sworn in on January 30, 1933.

On February 27, 1933, a fire broke out in the Reichstag building and Dutch council communist Marinus van der Lubbe was found in the building. He charged with starting the fire and was put in prison. As the unnerved German public feared that the blaze had been a signal meant to initiate the communist revolution, the Nazis saw this event as an opportunity to get rid of potential insurgents. Many communists, anarchists, and socialists throughout the Reich were sent to the Dachau concentration camp. The event was quickly followed by the Reichstag Fire Decree, abolishing habeas corpus and other civil liberties. Then Enabling Act was passed in March 1933, with 444 votes, against the 94 of the remaining Social Democrats. The act gave Hitler legislative powers, authorizing him to deviate from the constitution for four years. Thus, Hitler had seized dictatorial powers.

The Nazis ruthlessly eliminated all opposition. The Social Democrats were banned in June. In June and July, 1933, the Nationalists Party, People’s Party, and State Party were all forced to disband. The remaining Catholic Center Party, at Papen’s urging, disbanded itself on July 5, 1933, after guarantees over Catholic education and youth groups. On July 14, 1933, Germany was declared a one-party state. On January 30, 1934, further consolidation of power was achieved  with the Act to rebuild the Reich. This act changed the highly decentralized federal Germany of the Weimar Republic period into a centralized state. It transferred sovereign rights of the federal states to the Reich central government, disbanding local parliaments and putting the states administrations under the control of the Reich administration.

The black-red-gold flag of the Weimar Republic was abolished by the new regime which adopted the old imperial black-white-red tricolour, which had been completely abandoned during the Weimar Republic, was restored as one of Germany’s two officially national flags. The other official national flag was the swastika flag of the Nazi party. But, in 1935, it became the only national flag. The national anthem continued to be "Deutschland über Alles."

By the spring of 1934, the German army still remained independent from Nazi control. The army had traditionally been separated from the government. The Nazi paramilitary SA expected top positions in the new power structure and wanted the regime to abide by its promise of enacting socialist legislation for Aryan Germans. But many top-ranking army officers hated the SA members and their violent and inmoral behavior, specially their leader Ernst Röhm, who was known to be a homosexual who led a life of total debauchery. Wanting to preserve good relations with the army and most of the businessmen who were wary of more political violence erupting from the SA, Hitler began what is known as the "Night of the Long Knives", on the night of June 30, 1934. It was a purge of the leadership ranks of Röhm’s SA as well as hard-left Nazis carried out by another rightist and more elitist, Nazi organization, the SS, which was Hitler’s personal guard created by Heinrich Himmler.

Upon the death of Paul von Hindenburg on August 2, 1934, the Nazi-controlled Reichstag merged the offices of President and Chancellor of the Reich, reinstalling Hitler with the new title Führer und Reichskanzler. Until the death of Hindenburg, the army did not follow Hitler. But the execution of Ernst Röhm, leader of the SA, in the Night of the Long Knives, the death of Hindenburg, the merger of the SA into the Army and the promise of other expansions of the German military wrought friendlier relations between Hitler and the Army. This resulted in a unanimous oath of allegiance by all army officers and soldiers to obey Hitler.

To detect any secret political activity against the Nazi regime, Herman Göring created the Gestapo, a state secret police which acted outside of any civil authority. It consisted of about 100,000 spies and informants who operated throughout Germany, reporting to Nazi officials the activities of any dissenters. Although many political opponents, such as Marxist communists or international socialists, were reported by spies and put in prison camps, most ordinary German citizens, happy with the improving economy and better standard of living, remained obedient and quiet.

The Panther tank was a German armored vehicle used in World War II. The Panther entered service with the German Army from the mid-1943. It was intended to counter the Soviet tank T-34, and to replace the Panzer III and IV. The Panther had excellent combination of firepower, mobility, and protection as it is frequently regarded, along the Tiger tank, as the best tank design of World War II. It was officially designated  Panzerkampfwagen V, and the ordnance inventory designation was Sd.Kfz. It was in service until 1945.

The Panther was designed in 1942 by Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg AG (MAN), based on a captured Soviet T-34. This new German tank was armed with a powerful, high-velocity 75mm gun, and a 7.92mm MG34 machine gun. This new high-velocity gun was capable of piercing both the Soviet and Allied tank armors at a distance of 1,000 meters (1,150 yards). The Panther Sd.Kfz weighed 44.8 tonnes and was powered by a V-12 petrol Maybach engine with 690 hp. It could reach a speed of 55 km/h and had a maximum range of 250 km. It was protected by a 100mm-thick steel armor on the front of the turret, which was made in the shape of a transverse half-cylinder; the frontal hull was made of an 80mm-thick steel glacis plate which sloped back at 55 degrees. The side armor was 50mm-thick. The Panther was 6.87-meter long, 3.42-meter wide, and 2.99-meter tall.

The Panther tank saw action for the first time at Kursk on July 5, 1943. At the beginning they were had some mechanical problems as the track and suspension often broke. Heinz Guderian stated, however, that the firepower and frontal armor were good. Although many of the Panthers used at Kursk were damaged or suffered from mechanical difficulties, this tank achieved success, with 263 Soviet tanks claimed destroyed. The Panthers which suffered from damage or mechanical breakdowns were repaired and the design problems of the early Ausf. D models were fixed, making the Panther a formidable tank.

The Leichter Panzerspähwagen was a type of light 4×4 armored vehicle which was manufactured by Germany from 1935 to 1944. It was designed and produced by Eisenwerk Weserhütte of Bad Oeynhausen, Germany, in a series of different models.

The Leichter Panzerspähwagen was propelled by a rear-mounted Horch 3.5 petrol engine, which was capable of reaching a speed 50 mph on road, and 25 mph cross-country. It had a maximum range of 185 miles. Its armor at the front and sides were made of 8 mm steel. 5 mm plates protected the top, rear, and bottom. Cast vision ports later replaced ports cut into the armor.

The Leichter Panzerspähwagen 221 was armed with a 7.92 mm machine gun 34, MG34, manned by a two man crew, and had 4-wheel drive. The Leichter Panzerspähwagen 222 was equipped with a 28 mm armored piercing cannon.

This series of light armored vehicles was used by reconnaissance battalions of the Panzer divisions. They performed well in countries with good road networks, like those in Western Europe. Nevertheless, this class of vehicles was hampered by bad roads and rough terrains on the Eastern Front and North Africa. In those theaters, it was gradually replaced by the Sonderkraftfahrzeug 250 half-track.

The Battle of Fort Eben Emael was a World War II battle fought between the Belgian Army and the German forces from May 10 to May 11, 1940. It took place during Operation Fall Gelb, the German invasion of the Low Countries and France. Fort Eben-Emael was a Belgian fortress on the Albert Canal, near the city of Masstricht, Belgium. The fort artillery pieces dominated several important bridges over the Albert Canal. German paratroopers were assigned the job of assaulting and capturing this fortification which stood in the way of the German advance towards France.

Fort Eben Emael had been built during the 1930s by blasting the required space out of granite. It measured 200 by 400 yards and had walls and roofs that were composed of 5 feet thick reinforced concrete, as well as four casemates and sixty-four strongpoints. The fortification was fitted out with six 120mm artillery pieces that had a range of ten miles, sixteen 75mm artillery pieces, twenty-five twin-mounted machine-guns, twelve 60mm high-velocity anti-tank guns, and a number of anti-aircraft guns. One side of the fort faced the canal. The other three sides faced land and were defended by minefields, deep ditches, a 20feet-high wall, and concrete pillboxes equipped with machine-guns.

Airborne troops and engineer units of the German 7th Air Division and the 22nd Airlanding Division were ordered to storm the Fort and capture the three bridges. This elite force was called Assault Detachment Koch after the leader of the force, Hauptmann Walter Koch. To achieve a surprise attack, Adolf Hitler ordered the first landings be made by gliders, because they are silent. Hauptmann Koch divided his force into four assault groups. Group Granite, under Oberleutnant Rudolf Witzig, composed of eighty-five men whose task would be to assault and capture Fort Eben Emael; Group Steel, which was made up of ninety-two men commanded by Oberleutnant Gustav Altmann,  would capture the Veldwezelt bridge; Group Concrete, which consisted of ninety-six men commanded by Leutnant Gerhard Schächt, would capture the Vroenhoven bridge; and Group Iron, under Leutnant Martin Schächter, would capture the Cannes bridge.

At 04:30 of May 10, 1940, forty-two gliders carrying the 493 airborne troops that made up the assault force were towed off aloft from two airfields in Cologne. Then the gliders and transport aircraft turned south towards their objectives. Nine gliders transporting the airborne troops assigned to Group Granite successfully landed on the roof of Fort Eben-Emael. The Fallschirmjägger rapidly emerged from the gliders and began attaching explosive charges to those emplacements on the top of the Fort which housed the artillery pieces that could target the three captured bridges. In the southern part of the Fort three 75mm artillery pieces were permanently destroyed with a heavy demolition charge. The casemates observation dome and part of the roof of the Fort itself collapsed.

A traversing turret holding two more artillery pieces was also destroyed by airborne troops, who then moved to a turret holding another three 75mm weapons, which was destroyed after two attempts. Another pair of 75mm guns in a cupola were disabled, as was a barracks known to house Belgian troops after a fierce fight. Twin turrets, with heavy-caliber guns mounted on a rotating cupola, were too large for airborne troops from a single glider to destroy on their own, so other airborne troops were called. They climbed the turrets and smash the gun barrels with heavy demolition charge.

While this group of German Fallschirmjäggers (paratroopers) attacked and destroyed the Belgian stronghold, disabling the garrison and the artillery pieces inside it, the other three groups of German storm troops captured the three bridges over the Canal. Having successfully accomplished their mission, the paratroopers were then ordered to protect the bridges from Belgian counter-attacks until the arrival of the German 18th Army.