Day after day, in temperatures plunging to minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit, Simo lay motionless for hours, waiting for the enemy. The Soviet soldiers began to whisper terrified stories of an invisible ghost picking them off one by one. They gave him the nickname "Belaya Smert"—the .

Instead, Simo relied purely on his iron sights, his sharp eyes, and his absolute stillness. Becoming the "White Death"

Simo was called to serve in the Kollaa region. While many soldiers used the latest scoped rifles, Simo chose his old civil guard rifle, an M/28-30. He refused to use a telescopic sight for two brilliant reasons:

The story of , known as the "White Death," is one of the most legendary tales of military history and individual endurance.

He was dragged from the battlefield by his fellow soldiers, who noted that "half his head was missing." He fell into a deep coma.