Like in the Winter War, Swedish volunteers were again recruited in the Continuation War in 1941. Although far cooler in its attitude towards Finland than during the Winter War, the Swedish government nonetheless permitted pro-Finnish activities which were
ipso facto also to the advantage of the German war effort. At the beginning of September 1941, the Swedish government made it clear that, apart from the Finnish forces on the eastern front, Swedes were not permitted to volunteer for a foreign force. About 25 percent of the men were Swedish officers on leave. Swedish neutrality during World War II has been much debated and challenged. Relations between Germany and Sweden remained co-operative during World War II. Sweden exported iron ore to supply Germany's war industry via the Norwegian port of Narvik. The Swedish Government gave the Wehrmacht access to the Swedish rail system. Sweden also allowed German naval transports to take shortcuts across Swedish territorial waters in the Baltic Sea. The most controversial transit of German troops through Sweden was that of a fully armed and equipped infantry division under the command of General Erwin Engelbrecht from Norway to Finland during the
German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. Responding to German appeals for volunteers Swedish citizens enlisted in the German Armed Forces (most of them served in the Waffen-SS) and saw combat on the Eastern Front. This was a choice made by individual Swedish citizens, and not Swedish government policy (foreign recruitment of volunteers was banned in Sweden). Credit: Lecturter in European History Christian Leitz. Top image: Field marshal Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim greeting members of the Swedish Volunteer Battalion in Hanko 1941. SA-kuva. FU. Middle image: volunteers of a Jäger unit of the Swedish Volunteer Battalion 1941. The Military Archives of Sweden. FU. Bottom image: a soldier of the Swedish Volunteer Battalion in the trenches on the Hanko front with a Finnish 20 mm anti-tank rifle. The emblem on the Swedes' helmet was used by Captain Harald Bråkenhielm's Heavy Company. Photo by Finnish TK photographer Nils (Niilo) Helander on October 15 1941. Credit: Julius Jääskeläinen. SA-kuva. FU.
The Swedish flag with the Finnish coat of arms :)
ReplyDeleteThe first Finnish flag raised in Hanko was hoisted by a patrol consisting of only Swedish volunteers.
ReplyDeletePhoto of Mannerheim and the Swedes was taken by Second Lieutenant Pentti Ilmari Nikulainen.
ReplyDeleteThe German industrialist, Fritz Thyssen, wrote that without the ore from Sweden it is possible to calculate the date upon which Germany must capitulate. The western powers also recognized Germany's dependence on Swedish iron, and Hitler's conquest of Denmark and Norway in April, 1940, was in part the ultimate result of an Allied attempt to cut off German supplies. The Swedes had in their economy their best weapon against German attack. Had Hitler decided to invade Sweden who was already an indirect ally, the Swedes would have sabotage their own iron mines and render them unworkable. Germany would also have had to expend considerably larger forces than had been necessary in the Danish and Norwegian invasions. Sweden had a large land area and her army was well equipped and would certainly have put up a stout resistance.
ReplyDeleteThere was no such thing as neutral when Stalin was in the Kremlin.
ReplyDelete