It was winter, Finland was covered in snow.
Simo was skiing on the snow.
His rifle was strapped on his back as he moved through the forest.
Simo liked being outside like this.
It was very calm.
As Simo was moving around in the forest, he would sometimes stop to look around for animal tracks. He was hunting.
Simo stopped near a group of trees.
He crouched down and studied the snow.
There were tracks, the tracks looked like they were made recently.
Simo slowly grabbed his rifle and waited quietly.
Minutes passed.
Then he heard a sound in the distance.
Simo raised the rifle and looked through the iron sight.
It was a wild rabbit.
Simo slowed his breathing, and slowly aimed at the rabbit.
Then he fired.
Simo stood up and walked toward the dead rabbit. He picked it up and placed it into his bag.
It would be good food to take back home.
Simo kept hunting some more to fill up his bag. But far away, something had already begun.
On November 30, 1939, the Soviet Union started an invasion of Finland.
Soviet soldiers were crossing the border, and bombs were falling on cities.
But in the forest, Simo didn't know any of this yet.
To him, it was just another normal winter day.
After a while Simo started heading back towards his home.
And once he made it home, he went straight to sleep. Tomorrow, everything would change.