Sulo Kolkka
Sulo Kolkka is the nickname given to the unidentified sniper of the Finnish army. This is a man who is said to have over 400 confirmed kills during the Winter War with Russia.
Deeds
Kolkka is often reported to have killed over 400[1][2] Red army soldiers and officers during 105 days of the Winter War. As such, he would be the second deadliest sniper of the Finnish army in World War II, after Simo Häyhä.
Identity
No further information is known of him. This would imply that either he was part of a secret unit of the army, or that he is a fictional character. His name is not mentioned in Finnish Defence Forces archives, newspapers or magazines of the era. His name is hard to find even in post-war fictional war literature, and there exist no photographs of him. When compared to legendary real-life sniper Häyhä, whose name was used excessively for promotional purposes, it is reasonable to presume that there was no sniper named Sulo Kolkka. In addition, Häyhä's actions and Kolkka's described deeds during the war carry a great resemblance.
However, there was a nationally fairly well-known war correspondent, Sulo "Simeoni" Kolkka, who sometimes reported on Simo Häyhä's deeds to other domestic and foreign war correspondents. It has been assumed that a foreign journalist mixed the names of the sniper and the reporter, thus giving birth to a story without a base in reality. This led to Kolkka becoming an apocryphal sniper similarly to Erwin König/Heinz Thorvald.
References
- ↑ Powers, Scott. "Snipers in History". Retrieved May 13, 2016.
- ↑ Bowser, Doug (1998). Rifles of the White Death: A Collector's and Shooter's Guide to Finnish Military Rifles, 1918–1944. Camellia City Military Publications (1998)
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