I'm talking about snipers like Simo Hayha (who supposedly shot 500+ people) or Lyudmila Pavlichenko (who supposedly killed 300+).
Is there any evidence, at all, backing these claims up? As far as I can tell the only proof is their governments saying they did. Which leads me to believe they were greatly embellished for propaganda purposes.
Hello my friend!
You've unfortunately hit on a very important topic. I can only speak of my personal experiences during the Winter War and my later life, but in my personal case, there was absolutely not any actual 'confirmation' of those who I killed - indeed, contrary to the absurd myths that have built up around me, I wasn't even a 'sniper,' but rather a section leader of an infantry unit. I was not a lone wolf, lurking alone and picking off Soviet soldiers - just an infantryman who fought alongside my comrades in defence of our homeland.
Nobody was keeping count. We were fighting a war, not shooting game - and the people I killed were people, not numbers. Estimations of 500-700 'kills' are wildly inaccurate and completely unsupported by any actual evidence - myself and my comrades had a war to fight, and none of us was keeping count. Less sensationalist estimates place my 'kills' in the range of 200-300, but the obsession with the statistics of those I killed, and the ignorance of why we fought, deeply distresses me.
/u/Mosinista, a Finn, gun enthusiast and valuable contributor here on /r/AskHistorians, has a fantastic understanding of my activities in th Winter War, and might be able to shed more light on the discussion.