Sweden during World War II
Encyclopedia
Sweden during World War II maintained a policy of neutrality
. When the Second World War
began on September 1, 1939, the fate of Sweden was unclear. But by a combination of its geopolitical
location in the Scandinavian Peninsula
, successful realpolitik
maneuvering during an unpredictable course of events, and a dedicated military build-up after 1942, Sweden managed to maintain its official neutrality throughout the war.
At the outbreak of hostilities, Sweden had held a neutral stance in international relations
for more than a century, since the end of the Napoleonic Wars
in 1815. Twenty nations held a policy of neutrality in September 1939, but only seven other Europe
an nations found themselves capable, like Sweden, of officially maintaining this stance throughout the entire war: these were Ireland
, Portugal
, Spain
, Andorra
, Liechtenstein
, Vatican City
and Switzerland
. The Swedish Government made a few concessions, and sometimes breached the nation's neutrality in favor of both Germany
and the Western Allies
. During the German invasion of the Soviet Union, Sweden allowed the Wehrmacht
to use Swedish railways
to transport (June–July 1941) the 163rd Infantry Division along with howitzers, tanks and anti-aircraft weapons and associated ammunition, from Norway
to Finland
. German soldiers traveling on leave between Norway and Germany were allowed passage through Sweden — the so-called permittenttrafik
. Iron ore was sold to Germany throughout the war. And for the Allies, Sweden shared military intelligence and helped to train soldiers made up of refugees from Denmark
and Norway, to be used in the liberation of their home countries.
Sweden also became a refuge for anti-fascist and Jewish refugees from all over the region. In 1943, following an order to deport all of Denmark's Jewish population to concentration camps, nearly all of Denmark's 8,000 Jews were brought to safety in Sweden
. Sweden also became a refuge for Norwegian Jews.
in 1814, a state of war had existed between these two countries for 67 out of those 292 years. In Sweden, Russia was seen as the perpetual enemy. In the peace that followed the Finnish War
in 1809, all of Finland had been ceded to Russia and Sweden reduced to two thirds of its former size.
As the end of the 19th century approached, and the beginning of the 20th began, Sweden, like many other nations, became beset by strikes
and public disorder. Appalling working conditions were no longer tolerated and the working class was rising against the state. In 1908 alone, there were about 300 strikes in Sweden. By 1917, Sweden’s need for a new political system was apparent from these riots. Since the 1880s, the socialist movement in Sweden had been divided into two opposing groups, the revolutionary
socialists, a communist movement, and the reformists, a social democratic movement, the latter being the larger of the two. In 1917, the rules of democracy were changed in Sweden, the electorate’s size grew and in 1921, women were also allowed to vote.
But even these reforms were seen as far too radical by some conservatives. Those on the right wing wanted strong leaders and did not believe in democracy. In the 1920s and 1930s, confrontations between employers and employees in Sweden continued. In 1931, this culminated with the Ådalen shootings
, an incident where the military opened fire on a protest march. In the same year, a secret upper class (borgare in Swedish) militia, the Munckska kåren was exposed. It had recruited about 2000 men and had access to heavy weaponry. It was disbanded the next year.
At the other end of the political spectrum, following the Russian Civil War
the Russian Empire had become the Soviet Union and many Swedish communists were cooperating with this new Soviet regime, seeking to realize a world revolution
. Compromise and a parliamentary system
were thought to stand in the way of a better, more equal society.
A new, stable government, led by the social democrats with Per Albin Hansson
as Prime Minister
, took control in 1932. A policy of cooperation and consensus was pursued, which led to a furthering of the divide between the two socialist factions: the communists and the reformist left. The distance between these two, at least at the ideological level, became so great that the communists often referred to the social democrats as "the social fascists". Apart from a period termed "the vacation government" (Sw: semesterregeringen) between June 19 and September 28, 1936, Per Albin Hansson was to be the Prime Minister of Sweden until his death in 1946.
s in the inter-war era. For a time, the entire armoured corps consisted of ten Stridsvagn mf/21s. This was a design based upon a German First World War tank, a design that had appeared too late to enter that war for Germany but after the Treaty of Versailles
had been secretly purchased by Sweden in the form of tractor
assembly kits.
In the 1936 "Defence resolution" (Försvarsbeslut; a Swedish governmental decision made about every five years, concerning the military's organization and development), it was decided to form two tank battalions. Fale Burman, chief of "Army Procurement" (Arméns utrustningsdetalj) in 1937, commented:
To make sure training at the battalion level would be possible, machine gun
-equipped tanks were purchased as well. By 1939, Sweden had 48 Czechoslovakia
n-built tanks with machine gun armament and about 20 tanks armed with a 37mm cannon, built by Landsverk AB
.
The Swedish army had been organized into four divisions since the 1890s, with the regiments of northern Norrland
and Gotland
standing as separate units. This was outdated, and in 1942, a new military organization was adopted.
, whilst satisfying the vastly increased demand for armaments. Before the war, the annual production of armaments was typically measured in tens of millions of Swedish kronor
, but during the war, output exceeded SEK 1 billion (US$240 million).
and most of Sweden's political energy in the international arena had been directed towards the preservation of the League of Nations.
The Swedish non-aligned policy during this period was founded on the assumption that there were two opposing powers in the Baltic, Germany and the Soviet Union; Because these two powers needed to guard against each other, the hope was that they would only ever be able to deploy minor forces against Sweden or other non-aligned countries. It was this expectation which made the defense of a small country feasible. The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
, signed at the end of August 1939 between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, upset this balance.
Not only was the Swedish government buying material to strengthen its defenses, it began drafting
conscripts. On May 6, 1938, the government called up all those aged 15 for short periods of training. In addition to this, the Swedish Cabinet
ordered that one quarter of those conscripted in 1938 should be retained for further training.
In 1940, the Swedish Home Guard
(Hemvärnet) was created. Its units were small groups of former soldiers who were equipped with rifle
s, machine gun
s, ammunition, medicine and uniforms. They had the option to buy additional materials such as skis
, sweaters and marching boots. The Lottorna
(Swedish Women's Voluntary Defense Service) had already been in existence since 1924.
While arming itself, Sweden felt that it was necessary to articulate and enforce its policy of neutrality. Per Albin Hansson stated shortly before World War II began:
Georg Homin, a captain on the General Staff
, stated:
When, in September 1939, Germany attacked Poland
, and both France
and Britain declared war on Nazi Germany, Sweden declared itself a neutral country
in regard to this escalating situation. On the outbreak of the Winter War
between Finland and the Soviet Union in November 1939, Sweden declared itself to be ”non-belligerent
” in regard to this particular conflict, actively siding with Finland. This allowed Sweden to aid Finland economically, and with armaments. Sweden and Finland also jointly laid minefields in the Sea of Åland
to deter Soviet submarine
s from entering the Gulf of Bothnia
.
and German
Naval blockades and "accidental" bombings from the Soviets on some cities (e.g. Strängnäs
), which led to problems with the supply of food and fuel
s. When Germany invaded Denmark and Norway in April 1940, coupled with a German blockade of the North Sea
, every single shipment had to be negotiated with both British and German authorities, which drastically reduced the volume of trade. Between 1938 and 1944, the Swedish import of petroleum
products and coal
decreased by 88% and 53% respectively, which led to severe shortages. Other critical items were natural rubber, alloy metal
s and food. This situation led to extensive rationing
of fuels and food in Sweden and substitutes were developed and produced. Wood gas
was used as a fuel for motor vehicles and oil shale
as a substitute for bunker oil.
At the beginning of the war, agreements had been signed between Sweden and the United Kingdom and Nazi Germany in order to sustain vital trade; but in spite of this, and the fact that Sweden had declared itself a neutral country
, Swedish shipping began to be attacked. Sweden's trade with Britain was cut by a total of 70%. Within the North Sea blockade, trade with Germany increased, until 37% of Sweden's exports were shipped to Germany. For very important goods such as roller bearings for the British aircraft industry, delivery was made by blockade runner
s, using rebuilt Motor Gun Boat
s, which could use winter darkness and high speed to penetrate the German blockade of the Skagerrak straits between Norway and the northern tip of Denmark.
Before the outbreak of the war, the Swedish Ministry of Defense (Kungl. Flygförvaltningen) had ordered some 300 combat aircraft from the United States
, primarily Seversky P-35
s and P-66 Vanguards. In 1940, however, the US administration halted these exports. Only about 60 aircraft had been delivered. Sweden succeeded subsequently in buying 200 aircraft from Italy
, a fascist ally of Germany at the time; these aircraft were primarily Fiat CR.42
s, Reggiane Re.2000
s, and Caproni Ca.313
s.
. The Communists were openly loyal to the Soviet Union and supported its Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
with Germany. However, when Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, they swung around to a pro-Allied view.
as it advanced during the Winter War
. However, Sweden declared itself "non-belligerent" rather than neutral during the conflict and as many as 8,000 Swedes voluntarily went to Finland
to fight. The Swedish government and public also sent food, clothing, medicine, weapons and ammunition to aid the Finns during this conflict. This military aid included:
Twelve of Sweden's most modern fighter aircraft, British Gloster Gladiator
s, were flown by volunteer Swedish pilots under Finnish insignias. These aircraft constituted one third of Sweden's fighter force at the time. In addition, Sweden received some 70,000 Finnish children who were sent to Sweden to find safety during the 1940s.
It was during the Winter War the previously mentioned "accidental" bombings occurred.
German industry was heavily dependent on Swedish iron ore. The Allies
had intended to use the Soviet attack on Finland in November 1939 as cover for seizing the important Swedish iron ore deposits in the north, in addition to the Norwegian harbors through which this ore was shipped to Germany. The plan was to get Norwegian and Swedish permission to send an expeditionary force
to Finland across northern Norway and Sweden, ostensibly to help the Finns. But once in place, they were to proceed to take control of the harbors and the iron ore mines, occupying cities such as Gävle
and Luleå
and denying German access to the Swedish iron ore. In this way, an unsuspecting Norway and Sweden would be presented with a fait accompli. Realizing this danger, however, and the consequent possibility of Allied or German occupation and of the war being waged on their territory, both the Swedes and the Norwegians refused to allow this proposal.
Meanwhile, the Germans having suspected an Allied threat, were making their own plans for an invasion of Norway in order to protect their strategic supply lines. The Altmark Incident
of February 16, 1940, convinced Hitler that the Allies would not respect Norwegian neutrality, so he ordered plans for an invasion.
Scandinavian reluctance to allow Allied troops onto their territory had halted the original Allied plan for using aid to Finland as a pretext for moving in troops, but on March 12, 1940, the Allies decided to try a "semi-peaceful" invasion nonetheless. Troops were to be landed in Norway, and proceed into Sweden to capture the Swedish iron ore mines. However, if serious military resistance was encountered, they were not to press the issue. However, Finland sued for peace on March 12, so this plan had to be abandoned as well. The Germans were partly aware of these Allied intentions, as they had intercepted radio traffic showing that Allied transport groups were being readied. A few days later, they also intercepted messages confirming that the Allies had abandoned their plan and were to redeploy their forces.
German plans for an invasion of Norway continued, since Hitler feared that the Allies were nonetheless intent upon launching their own invasion. April 9 was set as the date of Operation Weserübung
, the German attack on Norway.
Hitler was correct about Allied intentions. The Allied plan had two parts, Operation Wilfred
and Plan R 4
. Operation Wilfred was to take place on April 5 (it was in fact delayed until April 8) when Norwegian territorial waters were to be mined, violating Norwegian neutrality. This would force the ships carrying ore to Germany to travel outside the protection of Norwegian territorial waters and thus become legitimate targets for the Royal Navy
. It was hoped that this would provoke a German military reaction. As soon as the Germans reacted, under "Plan R 4", 18,000 Allied troops were to land in Narvik
, closing the rail link to Sweden. Other cities that the Allies hoped to capture were Trondheim
and Bergen
.
The first ship carrying Allied troops was to start its journey a few hours after the mine-laying. On April 8, a Royal Naval detachment led by HMS Renown
mined Norwegian waters as a part of operation Wilfred, but German troops were already on their way and "Plan R 4" was quickly made obsolete.
On 9 April 1940, Germany launched Operation Weserübung, an operation with the ambitious objective of simultaneously occupying Denmark
and Norway
, and to stage a Coup d'état
in Norway.
This move had several far-reaching consequences for Sweden. Sweden was in effect cut off from trade with the western world and therefore more dependent on German goodwill, ultimately leading to permittenttrafik But it also lessened the immediate risk that Sweden would become a theater of war between the Axis
and the Allies.
When Germany invaded both Denmark and Norway on April 9, 1940, the 100,000 Swedish soldiers who had been deployed along the Finnish border in northern Sweden were in the process of being demobilized, owing to the end of the Winter War there. Before the outbreak of hostilities, Sweden had had no plans for defending Norway or any defense strategy against a German invasion from the direction of Norway. Moreover, an agreement from the Dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden in 1905 stated that no fortification was allowed along this border. One of Germany's demands on Sweden, as Germany's invasion progressed, was that Sweden was not to mobilize. However, Sweden re-organized its system of mobilization to allow for personal order by letter to be made possible as an alternative to official proclamation, so that 320,000 men were able to be raised in a few weeks. Sweden also started to build fortifications at the Norwegian border and along the coast of Scania.
During its invasion of Norway, Germany demanded access to the Swedish telephone and telegraph lines between Germany and Norway. Sweden allowed this, but tapped the lines. In the early summer of that year (1940) the Swedish mathematician Arne Beurling
succeeded in deciphering and discovering the source codes of the Geheimfernschreiber
cypher machine that Germany used, which afforded the Swedes advance knowledge of Germany's military intentions. Although the British Plan R 4 had not been able to be carried out, Allied troops were swiftly sent to Norway and were able to fight alongside the Norwegians quite successfully against the German invaders. However, the success of the German campaign against France and the occupation of the low countries
led to a British troop re-deployment and by June 8, 1940, British troops had been evacuated from Norway.
, the Nazis asked Sweden to allow the transportation of armed German troops, the 163rd Infantry Division, commanded by General Erwin Engelbrecht, along with all its military equipment, through Swedish territory by train from Norway to the eastern front in Finland. The Swedish government granted this permission. In Sweden, the political deliberations surrounding this are known as the "Midsummer Crisis"; however, according to research by Carl-Gustaf Scott there never was a "crisis", he argues that "the crisis was created in historical hindsight in order to protect the political legacy of the Social Democratic Party
and its leader Per Albin Hansson
."
, the Battle of Stalingrad
and elsewhere. Germany was forced into a more defensive position as the Allied forces met with unaccustomed success on the battlefield, such as in North Africa
. It was becoming increasingly apparent to Sweden that Germany was unlikely to win the war. Prior to 1943, Sweden's policy of neutrality had been largely under the close scrutiny of Germany. After August and September 1943, however, Sweden was increasingly able to resist German demands and to soften its stance to Allied pressure. However, despite Germany's new, defensive posture, Sweden's constant fear was that the unexpected would happen, an attitude that continued until the very end of the war. With Germany's weakening position came stronger demands from the Allies. They pushed for Sweden to abandon its trade with Germany and to stop all German troop movements over Swedish soil
. Sweden accepted payments from the Allies to compensate for this loss of income through reduced trade with Germany, but continued to sell steel and machined parts to Nazi Germany at inflated smugglers' rates.
in Småland
and Kjesäter
in Södermanland
. From the summer of 1943 onwards, the military training of Norwegian troops was carried out in Sweden, in cooperation with the Swedish government
and the Norwegian government-in-exile in London
. To prevent protests from Nazi Germany
, this training was ostensibly for the Norwegian police. From the start, the recruits only had light infantry
weapons, but later they were able to train with artillery
. Military exercise
s were held in Dalarna
in December 1944 and in Hälsingland
in spring 1945. 8,000 men took part in this latter exercise.
In all, around 15,000 men were trained and organized into ten battalion
s and at the end of the war, eight of these battalions, about 13,500 men, were ready for action. They entered Norway on May 8, 1945. The number of Danish refugees had been much lower than the 50,000 Norwegians, but a brigade
of about 3,600 Danish men was also trained and they were transferred to Denmark
on May 5, 1945.
On June 13, 1944, a V-2 rocket
under test by the Germans (test rocket V-89, serial number 4089) from Peenemünde
crashed in Sweden after the rocket had flown into cumulus clouds which had strayed into the controller's line of sight, it was supposed to crash in the sea outside Bornholm
in occupied Denmark. V-89 contained "Kehl-Strassburg" joystick radio control equipment that had been designed for the Wasserfall
anti-aircraft missile (code name
d Burgund), a development of that used to guide the Henschel Hs 293
glide bomb. The ground controller appeared to have no trouble manoeuvring the rocket until it disappeared into the high cloud layer. A captured German prisoner later explained to the British that the controller was an expert at steering glider bombs from aircraft, but that the spectacle of a rocket launch had caused him to incorrectly operate the control lever in his astonishment. Peenemünde
guidance and control expert Ernst Steinhoff
explained that the excited operator applied a set of planned corrections (such as that for the Earth's rotation) in the opposite direction to the way he had been instructed. The rocket subsequently exploded in an air burst (a common V-2 malfunction) several thousand feet above the county of Bäckebo
mainly over a farm with no injuries http://www.nyteknik.se/nyheter/fordon_motor/article3208141.ece and the valuable wreckage was exchanged by the Swedes for British Supermarine Spitfire
s. On July 31, 1944, experts at the Royal Aircraft Establishment
at Farnborough
in Hampshire, England, began an attempt to reconstruct the missile.
. With the dissolution of the Danish government in the summer of 1943, the German authorities had decided to deport Denmark's Jewish population to concentration camps. However, the Danes successfully ferried all but 450 of the Jews
across the straits between Copenhagen and the Swedish mainland, across waters that were patrolled by German Schnellboots, in an unprecedented rescue effort
. Once in Sweden, the Danish Jews were granted asylum and taken in by Swedish families. Many stayed in Sweden after the war. Sweden also received refugees from Finland and Norway, including some of Norway's Jews. All this, as well as the protection of Sweden's own Jewish population, was made possible by Sweden's neutrality. During the war, Sweden aided and saved more Jews than any other country.
Neutrality also made it possible for Sweden to have physical access to Germany, which was not only useful to Swedish intelligence but to Allied intelligence as well. Employees at Asea, LM Ericsson and the Swedish Match Factory (Svenska Tändsticksfabriken) acted as couriers for the Polish resistance. King Gustav V of Sweden attempted to use his diplomatic connections with German leaders to convince them to treat Jews more humanely, as evidenced through his correspondence, although to little effect. Count Folke Bernadotte
, a relative of the Swedish royal family, was able to communicate with the German government and relay information back to Sweden, as did other diplomats. He also contributed to saving 15,000 prisoners from concentration camps, as did the famous diplomat Raoul Wallenberg
, who may have saved up to 100,000 Hungarian Jews.
Many Swedish noblemen used their personal connections and wealth to take in and find temporary Swedish homes for children from neighboring countries, mainly Denmark and Finland. Werner Dankwort
served as the first secretary for the German legation in Stockholm during the German Nazi regime and secretly helped Jewish children to escape from Germany into Sweden inside wooden crates.
The Swedish public's sentiments were widely published in the Swedish press
, causing many protests from the German government and prompting the Swedish government to censor
some areas of the press on a limited basis. In Sweden during this time, the press fell under the control of several authorities, despite contemporary claims that the Swedish press was free. The Swedish Government War Information Board determined what military information could be released and what information should remain secret. The Swedish Press Council served as a self-regulatory body, promoting "good relations between the press and the public authorities and to serve as an instrument of self-discipline for the press." The Swedish Press Council issued warnings, both public and confidential, to those whom it considered to be abusing the freedom of the press.
The Swedish government was concerned that its neutrality might be compromised should the press become too vocal in its opinions. Both the Swedish Press Council and the Information Board issued advice such as: "As far as the received material permits, attempts should be made not to give prominence to the reports of one side at the expense of the other", or: "Headlines, whether on the billboards or in the newspapers, should be worded in such a way as to avoid favoring one side or the other", and: "Editorials and surveys as well as articles discussing military events or the military situation, should be strictly objective."
During World War II, six newspapers were de facto banned from distribution: Ture Nerman
's Trots Allt!, the Nazi publication Sverige Fritt and Ny Dag
, Arbetar-Tidningen
, Norrskensflamman and Sydsvenska Kuriren
, all of these, organs of the Communist Party. A ban on the transport of these newspapers was imposed, since the printing of newspapers was protected in the Swedish constitution. There were indications that the bans imposed on the communist newspapers had served their political purposes by impressing the Germans, whilst at the same time not really restricting the work of the media.
, reaching ten million tons per year. The Swedish neutrality policy meant that the government could not interfere with the trade. As Germany's preparations for war became more apparent and the risk of another war became obvious, international interest in Swedish iron ore increased. At the time, British intelligence had estimated that German industry relied heavily on Swedish iron ore and a decrease or halt in Swedish ore exports could have a disastrous effect on Germany's military efforts. This is a contentious view that has been debated in the aftermath of the war. Sir Ralph Glyn
, a British Member of Parliament
, claimed that a cessation of Swedish iron ore exports would bring the war to an end within six months.
Given that Britain had been unable to prevent the successful invasion by Nazi Germany of both France and Norway, the Swedish government was not convinced that the British could protect them and opted to continue exports. The iron ore provided much needed gold bullion, food and coal from Germany. The iron ore was transported by sea from the Norwegian town of Narvik and from Luleå
in northern Sweden. These shipments were attacked by British aircraft and submarines in the Atlantic and North Sea and by Soviet submarines in the Baltic. About 70 vessels were sunk and 200 sailors lost their lives.
Responding to German appeals for volunteers to fight the Soviet Union, approximately 180 Swedes enlisted in Germany's Waffen-SS
, and saw combat against Soviet troops on the Eastern Front
. This was a choice made by individual Swedish citizens, contrary to Swedish government policy. Their number was small compared to occupied countries, in which officials encouraged enlisting for the Eastern Front (Norway 10,000; Denmark 6,000; France 11,000; Netherlands 20,000). Many more joined the Allies, which was also contrary to government policy.
With a blockade of the Skagerrak
straits between Norway and the northern tip of Denmark, the Swedish merchant navy found itself physically divided. The vessels that were inside the Baltic Sea
traded goods with Germany during the war, whilst the greater number of vessels was leased to the Allies for convoy shipping. Approximately 1,500 Swedish sailors perished during the war, mostly victims of mines and U-Boat
attacks.
went through Swedish-leased cables which the Swedes intercepted. The traffic was encrypted with Germany's Geheimschreiber device, but the cypher code was broken by Swedish mathematics
professor Arne Beurling
in early summer 1940 and the results from this espionage were sent to the Allies through the Polish resistance movement
. When the German battleship Bismarck
embarked on her voyage to attack the Atlantic convoys, Swedish intelligence informed the British of her departure from port. Swedish businessmen and diplomats were also actively spying for the Allies, in Berlin and in the occupied territories.
In 1945, as the Allies were planning to liberate Denmark and Norway, the United States wanted Sweden to co-operate in this action. Sweden began preparing for "Operation Rädda Danmark" (Operation Save Denmark), in which Sweden was to invade Zealand from Scania. After Denmark had been liberated, Sweden was to assist the Allies in the invasion of Norway. This proved not to be necessary, but US planes were allowed to use Swedish military bases during the liberation of Norway, from spring 1944 to 1945, and the Allies were also collaborating with the Swedish Military Intelligence and Security Service. Sweden allowed Allied spies to listen to German radio signals from a station on Öland
. A location was also established in Malmö
for the British military to lead bombing actions in Germany. Additionally, from 1943 onwards, Norwegian and Danish soldiers (the Den danske Brigade) were trained at Swedish military bases. Sweden had also set up a series of training camps along the Norwegian border for the Norwegian resistance movement
.
of the United Kingdom
during World War II, Winston Churchill
, accused Sweden of ignoring the greater moral issues and playing both sides for profit during the conflict, including its supply of steel and machine parts to Nazi Germany throughout the war. Such claims, however, use a different definition of the word ”neutral” from that defined in the 1907 Hague convention
, which set out the rights and duties of belligerents and neutral countries. The United Kingdom had not signed this convention. Sweden, however, had signed it and its Government was determined to follow it, to avoid any criticism of not being ”neutral”. Ultimately, the Swedish government faced the threat of invasion from both sides, yet still managed to protect its own sovereignty by remaining out of the conflict.
In January 1946, Sweden handed over 146 Baltic and 2,364 German soldiers who had been interned in Swedish prison camps to the Soviet Union. At least seven of the internees committed suicide during the process.
In 1970, film director Johan Bergenstråhle
made a documentary, Baltutlämningen (English title: A Baltic Tragedy), about the Latvian soldiers who were given to the Soviets to be sentenced to hard labor in prison camps.
Swedish neutrality
Swedish neutrality refers to Sweden's policy of neutrality in armed conflicts, which has been in effect since the early 19th century. The policy originated largely as a result of Sweden's involvement in the Napoleonic Wars during which over a third of the country's territory was lost, including the...
. When the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
began on September 1, 1939, the fate of Sweden was unclear. But by a combination of its geopolitical
Geopolitics
Geopolitics, from Greek Γη and Πολιτική in broad terms, is a theory that describes the relation between politics and territory whether on local or international scale....
location in the Scandinavian Peninsula
Scandinavian Peninsula
The Scandinavian Peninsula is a peninsula in Northern Europe, which today covers Norway, Sweden, and most of northern Finland. Prior to the 17th and 18th centuries, large parts of the southern peninsula—including the core region of Scania from which the peninsula takes its name—were part of...
, successful realpolitik
Realpolitik
Realpolitik refers to politics or diplomacy based primarily on power and on practical and material factors and considerations, rather than ideological notions or moralistic or ethical premises...
maneuvering during an unpredictable course of events, and a dedicated military build-up after 1942, Sweden managed to maintain its official neutrality throughout the war.
At the outbreak of hostilities, Sweden had held a neutral stance in international relations
International relations
International relations is the study of relationships between countries, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations , international nongovernmental organizations , non-governmental organizations and multinational corporations...
for more than a century, since the end of the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
in 1815. Twenty nations held a policy of neutrality in September 1939, but only seven other Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an nations found themselves capable, like Sweden, of officially maintaining this stance throughout the entire war: these were Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
, Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, Andorra
Andorra
Andorra , officially the Principality of Andorra , also called the Principality of the Valleys of Andorra, , is a small landlocked country in southwestern Europe, located in the eastern Pyrenees mountains and bordered by Spain and France. It is the sixth smallest nation in Europe having an area of...
, Liechtenstein
Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein is a doubly landlocked alpine country in Central Europe, bordered by Switzerland to the west and south and by Austria to the east. Its area is just over , and it has an estimated population of 35,000. Its capital is Vaduz. The biggest town is Schaan...
, Vatican City
Vatican City
Vatican City , or Vatican City State, in Italian officially Stato della Città del Vaticano , which translates literally as State of the City of the Vatican, is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. It has an area of...
and Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. The Swedish Government made a few concessions, and sometimes breached the nation's neutrality in favor of both Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
and the Western Allies
Western Allies
The Western Allies were a political and geographic grouping among the Allied Powers of the Second World War. It generally includes the United Kingdom and British Commonwealth, the United States, France and various other European and Latin American countries, but excludes China, the Soviet Union,...
. During the German invasion of the Soviet Union, Sweden allowed the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
to use Swedish railways
Rail transport in Sweden
Rail transport in Sweden uses a network of 13,000 km of track, the 20th largest in the world. Construction of the first railway line in Sweden began in 1855. The major operator is the state-owned SJ AB....
to transport (June–July 1941) the 163rd Infantry Division along with howitzers, tanks and anti-aircraft weapons and associated ammunition, from Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
to Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
. German soldiers traveling on leave between Norway and Germany were allowed passage through Sweden — the so-called permittenttrafik
Transit of German troops through Scandinavia (WWII)
The matter of German troop transfer through Finland and Sweden during World War II was one of the more controversial aspects of modern Scandinavian history beside Finland's co-belligerence with Nazi Germany in the Continuation War, and the export of Swedish iron ore during World War II.The Swedish...
. Iron ore was sold to Germany throughout the war. And for the Allies, Sweden shared military intelligence and helped to train soldiers made up of refugees from Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
and Norway, to be used in the liberation of their home countries.
Sweden also became a refuge for anti-fascist and Jewish refugees from all over the region. In 1943, following an order to deport all of Denmark's Jewish population to concentration camps, nearly all of Denmark's 8,000 Jews were brought to safety in Sweden
Rescue of the Danish Jews
The rescue of the Danish Jews occurred during Nazi Germany's occupation of Denmark during World War II. On October 1st 1943 Nazi leader Adolf Hitler ordered Danish Jews to be arrested and deported...
. Sweden also became a refuge for Norwegian Jews.
Political
Between 1523 and Sweden's final war with RussiaRussia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
in 1814, a state of war had existed between these two countries for 67 out of those 292 years. In Sweden, Russia was seen as the perpetual enemy. In the peace that followed the Finnish War
Finnish War
The Finnish War was fought between Sweden and the Russian Empire from February 1808 to September 1809. As a result of the war, the eastern third of Sweden was established as the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland within the Russian Empire...
in 1809, all of Finland had been ceded to Russia and Sweden reduced to two thirds of its former size.
As the end of the 19th century approached, and the beginning of the 20th began, Sweden, like many other nations, became beset by strikes
Strike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...
and public disorder. Appalling working conditions were no longer tolerated and the working class was rising against the state. In 1908 alone, there were about 300 strikes in Sweden. By 1917, Sweden’s need for a new political system was apparent from these riots. Since the 1880s, the socialist movement in Sweden had been divided into two opposing groups, the revolutionary
Revolutionary
A revolutionary is a person who either actively participates in, or advocates revolution. Also, when used as an adjective, the term revolutionary refers to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor.-Definition:...
socialists, a communist movement, and the reformists, a social democratic movement, the latter being the larger of the two. In 1917, the rules of democracy were changed in Sweden, the electorate’s size grew and in 1921, women were also allowed to vote.
Ådalen shootings
The Ådalen shootings , was a series of events in and around the sawmill district of Ådalen, Kramfors Municipality, Ångermanland, Sweden, in May 1931...
, an incident where the military opened fire on a protest march. In the same year, a secret upper class (borgare in Swedish) militia, the Munckska kåren was exposed. It had recruited about 2000 men and had access to heavy weaponry. It was disbanded the next year.
At the other end of the political spectrum, following the Russian Civil War
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
the Russian Empire had become the Soviet Union and many Swedish communists were cooperating with this new Soviet regime, seeking to realize a world revolution
World revolution
World revolution is the Marxist concept of overthrowing capitalism in all countries through the conscious revolutionary action of the organized working class...
. Compromise and a parliamentary system
Parliamentary system
A parliamentary system is a system of government in which the ministers of the executive branch get their democratic legitimacy from the legislature and are accountable to that body, such that the executive and legislative branches are intertwined....
were thought to stand in the way of a better, more equal society.
A new, stable government, led by the social democrats with Per Albin Hansson
Per Albin Hansson
Per Albin Hansson , was a Swedish politician, chairman of the Social Democrats from 1925 and two-time Prime Minister in four governments between 1932 and 1946, governing all that period save for a short-lived crisis in the summer of 1936, which he ended by forming a coalition government with his...
as Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Sweden
The Prime Minister is the head of government in the Kingdom of Sweden. Before the creation of the office of a Prime Minister in 1876, Sweden did not have a head of government separate from its head of state, namely the King, in whom the executive authority was vested...
, took control in 1932. A policy of cooperation and consensus was pursued, which led to a furthering of the divide between the two socialist factions: the communists and the reformist left. The distance between these two, at least at the ideological level, became so great that the communists often referred to the social democrats as "the social fascists". Apart from a period termed "the vacation government" (Sw: semesterregeringen) between June 19 and September 28, 1936, Per Albin Hansson was to be the Prime Minister of Sweden until his death in 1946.
Military
Sweden had very few tankTank
A tank is a tracked, armoured fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat which combines operational mobility, tactical offensive, and defensive capabilities...
s in the inter-war era. For a time, the entire armoured corps consisted of ten Stridsvagn mf/21s. This was a design based upon a German First World War tank, a design that had appeared too late to enter that war for Germany but after the Treaty of Versailles
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...
had been secretly purchased by Sweden in the form of tractor
Tractor
A tractor is a vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery used in agriculture or construction...
assembly kits.
In the 1936 "Defence resolution" (Försvarsbeslut; a Swedish governmental decision made about every five years, concerning the military's organization and development), it was decided to form two tank battalions. Fale Burman, chief of "Army Procurement" (Arméns utrustningsdetalj) in 1937, commented:
To make sure training at the battalion level would be possible, machine gun
Machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....
-equipped tanks were purchased as well. By 1939, Sweden had 48 Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
n-built tanks with machine gun armament and about 20 tanks armed with a 37mm cannon, built by Landsverk AB
Landsverk L-120
The Landsverk L-120 was a light tank designed in Sweden. One tank and one tank chassis was ordered for tests by the Swedish Army in 1936, and one chassis was ordered by the Norwegian Army the same year...
.
The Swedish army had been organized into four divisions since the 1890s, with the regiments of northern Norrland
Norrland
Norrland is one of the three lands of Sweden , the northern part, consisting of nine provinces. The term Norrland is not used for any administrative purpose, but it is common in everyday language, e.g...
and Gotland
Gotland
Gotland is a county, province, municipality and diocese of Sweden; it is Sweden's largest island and the largest island in the Baltic Sea. At 3,140 square kilometers in area, the region makes up less than one percent of Sweden's total land area...
standing as separate units. This was outdated, and in 1942, a new military organization was adopted.
Pre-war trade
During World War II, Swedish industry had to supply an increased share of its own domestic goods owing to the German blockade of the North SeaNorth Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
, whilst satisfying the vastly increased demand for armaments. Before the war, the annual production of armaments was typically measured in tens of millions of Swedish kronor
Swedish krona
The krona has been the currency of Sweden since 1873. Both the ISO code "SEK" and currency sign "kr" are in common use; the former precedes or follows the value, the latter usually follows it, but especially in the past, it sometimes preceded the value...
, but during the war, output exceeded SEK 1 billion (US$240 million).
Military balance
Sweden's long-standing policy of neutrality was tested on many occasions during the 1930s. The challenges came from a strongly rejuvenated, nationalistic Germany. From 1919 until 1935, Sweden had been an active supporter of the League of NationsLeague of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
and most of Sweden's political energy in the international arena had been directed towards the preservation of the League of Nations.
The Swedish non-aligned policy during this period was founded on the assumption that there were two opposing powers in the Baltic, Germany and the Soviet Union; Because these two powers needed to guard against each other, the hope was that they would only ever be able to deploy minor forces against Sweden or other non-aligned countries. It was this expectation which made the defense of a small country feasible. The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, named after the Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and the German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, was an agreement officially titled the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Soviet Union and signed in Moscow in the late hours of 23 August 1939...
, signed at the end of August 1939 between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, upset this balance.
Pre-war preparations
In 1936, the Swedish government started to heighten its military preparedness as the international situation worsened. Military spending in Sweden went from US$37 million in 1936, to $50 million in 1937, to $58.6 million in 1938, and then increased over fivefold to $322.3 million in 1939. During World War II itself, military spending peaked at $527.6 million in 1942.Not only was the Swedish government buying material to strengthen its defenses, it began drafting
Conscription
Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
conscripts. On May 6, 1938, the government called up all those aged 15 for short periods of training. In addition to this, the Swedish Cabinet
Cabinet (government)
A Cabinet is a body of high ranking government officials, typically representing the executive branch. It can also sometimes be referred to as the Council of Ministers, an Executive Council, or an Executive Committee.- Overview :...
ordered that one quarter of those conscripted in 1938 should be retained for further training.
In 1940, the Swedish Home Guard
Swedish Home Guard
The Swedish Home Guard is a part of the Swedish Armed Forces. The Home Guard consists of local defence units under the leadership of the armed forces, as well as 23 national auxiliary defence organizations.-History:...
(Hemvärnet) was created. Its units were small groups of former soldiers who were equipped with rifle
Rifle
A rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called "lands," which make contact with the projectile , imparting spin around an axis corresponding to the...
s, machine gun
Machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....
s, ammunition, medicine and uniforms. They had the option to buy additional materials such as skis
Ski warfare
Ski warfare, the use of ski-equipped troops in war, is first recorded by the Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus in the 13th century. The speed and distance that ski troops are able to cover is comparable to that of light cavalry.-History:...
, sweaters and marching boots. The Lottorna
Lottorna
The Swedish Women's Voluntary Defence Service is an auxiliary defence organization of the Swedish Home Guard, a part of the Swedish Armed Forces. It was created in 1924 inspired by the Finnish women's auxiliary organization, Lotta Svärd founded in 1920...
(Swedish Women's Voluntary Defense Service) had already been in existence since 1924.
While arming itself, Sweden felt that it was necessary to articulate and enforce its policy of neutrality. Per Albin Hansson stated shortly before World War II began:
Georg Homin, a captain on the General Staff
General Staff
A military staff, often referred to as General Staff, Army Staff, Navy Staff or Air Staff within the individual services, is a group of officers and enlisted personnel that provides a bi-directional flow of information between a commanding officer and subordinate military units...
, stated:
War
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, and both France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and Britain declared war on Nazi Germany, Sweden declared itself a neutral country
Neutral country
A neutral power in a particular war is a sovereign state which declares itself to be neutral towards the belligerents. A non-belligerent state does not need to be neutral. The rights and duties of a neutral power are defined in Sections 5 and 13 of the Hague Convention of 1907...
in regard to this escalating situation. On the outbreak of the Winter War
Winter War
The Winter War was a military conflict between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet offensive on 30 November 1939 – three months after the start of World War II and the Soviet invasion of Poland – and ended on 13 March 1940 with the Moscow Peace Treaty...
between Finland and the Soviet Union in November 1939, Sweden declared itself to be ”non-belligerent
Non-belligerent
A non-belligerent is a person, a state, or other organization that does not fight in a given conflict. The term is often used to describe a country that does not take part militarily in a war...
” in regard to this particular conflict, actively siding with Finland. This allowed Sweden to aid Finland economically, and with armaments. Sweden and Finland also jointly laid minefields in the Sea of Åland
Sea of Åland
The Sea of Åland is the waters located in the southern Gulf of Bothnia, between the Åland islands and the Swedish mainland. The sea connects Kvarken and the Bothnian Sea with the Baltic Sea proper. The seas are often choppy here. The narrowest part is named Södra Kvarken or South Kvarken....
to deter Soviet submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
s from entering the Gulf of Bothnia
Gulf of Bothnia
The Gulf of Bothnia is the northernmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It is situated between Finland's west coast and Sweden's east coast. In the south of the gulf lie the Åland Islands, between the Sea of Åland and the Archipelago Sea.-Name:...
.
Foreign trade
Sweden was not directly attacked during World War II. It was, however, subject to BritishUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and German
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
Naval blockades and "accidental" bombings from the Soviets on some cities (e.g. Strängnäs
Strängnäs
Strängnäs is a locality and the seat of Strängnäs Municipality, Södermanland County, Sweden with 12,296 inhabitants in 2005. It is located by Lake Mälaren and is the episcopal see of the Diocese of Strängnäs, a former Roman Catholic and present Lutheran Diocese, with the Strängnäs Cathedral, built...
), which led to problems with the supply of food and fuel
Fuel
Fuel is any material that stores energy that can later be extracted to perform mechanical work in a controlled manner. Most fuels used by humans undergo combustion, a redox reaction in which a combustible substance releases energy after it ignites and reacts with the oxygen in the air...
s. When Germany invaded Denmark and Norway in April 1940, coupled with a German blockade of the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
, every single shipment had to be negotiated with both British and German authorities, which drastically reduced the volume of trade. Between 1938 and 1944, the Swedish import of petroleum
Petroleum
Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...
products and coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
decreased by 88% and 53% respectively, which led to severe shortages. Other critical items were natural rubber, alloy metal
Alloy
An alloy is a mixture or metallic solid solution composed of two or more elements. Complete solid solution alloys give single solid phase microstructure, while partial solutions give two or more phases that may or may not be homogeneous in distribution, depending on thermal history...
s and food. This situation led to extensive rationing
Rationing
Rationing is the controlled distribution of scarce resources, goods, or services. Rationing controls the size of the ration, one's allotted portion of the resources being distributed on a particular day or at a particular time.- In economics :...
of fuels and food in Sweden and substitutes were developed and produced. Wood gas
Wood gas
Wood gas is a syngas fuel which can be used as a fuel for furnaces, stoves and vehicles in place of petrol, diesel or other fuels. During the production process biomass or other carbon-containing materials is gasified within the oxygen-limited environment of a wood gas generator to produce hydrogen...
was used as a fuel for motor vehicles and oil shale
Oil shale
Oil shale, an organic-rich fine-grained sedimentary rock, contains significant amounts of kerogen from which liquid hydrocarbons called shale oil can be produced...
as a substitute for bunker oil.
Neutral country
A neutral power in a particular war is a sovereign state which declares itself to be neutral towards the belligerents. A non-belligerent state does not need to be neutral. The rights and duties of a neutral power are defined in Sections 5 and 13 of the Hague Convention of 1907...
, Swedish shipping began to be attacked. Sweden's trade with Britain was cut by a total of 70%. Within the North Sea blockade, trade with Germany increased, until 37% of Sweden's exports were shipped to Germany. For very important goods such as roller bearings for the British aircraft industry, delivery was made by blockade runner
Blockade runner
A blockade runner is usually a lighter weight ship used for evading a naval blockade of a port or strait, as opposed to confronting the blockaders to break the blockade. Very often blockade running is done in order to transport cargo, for example to bring food or arms to a blockaded city...
s, using rebuilt Motor Gun Boat
Motor Gun Boat
Motor Gun Boat was a Royal Navy term for a small military vessel of the Second World War. They were physically similar to the Motor Torpedo Boats but equipped with a mix of guns instead of torpedoes. Their small size and high speed made them difficult targets for E-boats or torpedo bombers, but...
s, which could use winter darkness and high speed to penetrate the German blockade of the Skagerrak straits between Norway and the northern tip of Denmark.
Before the outbreak of the war, the Swedish Ministry of Defense (Kungl. Flygförvaltningen) had ordered some 300 combat aircraft from the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, primarily Seversky P-35
Seversky P-35
The Seversky P-35 was a fighter aircraft built in the United States by the Seversky Aircraft Company in the late 1930s. A contemporary of the Hawker Hurricane and Messerschmitt Bf 109, the P-35 was the first single-seat fighter in U.S...
s and P-66 Vanguards. In 1940, however, the US administration halted these exports. Only about 60 aircraft had been delivered. Sweden succeeded subsequently in buying 200 aircraft from Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, a fascist ally of Germany at the time; these aircraft were primarily Fiat CR.42
Fiat CR.42
The Fiat CR.42 Falco was a single-seat sesquiplane fighter which served primarily in Italy's Regia Aeronautica before and during World War II. The aircraft was produced by the Turin firm, and entered service, in smaller numbers, with the air forces of Belgium, Sweden and Hungary...
s, Reggiane Re.2000
Reggiane Re.2000
The Caproni-Reggiane Re.2000 Falco I was an Italian all metal, low-wing, monoplane with a Curtiss-style retractable undercarriage, used in the first part of World War II. This lightly built and highly manoeuvrable interceptor/fighter, similar to the Seversky P-35, flew for the first time in 1939...
s, and Caproni Ca.313
Caproni Ca.313
|-See also:-References:NotesBibliography*Alonzo, F.S, Il Caproni Ca.313 in Svezia, Storia militare magazine n.64 page 15.* Neulen, Hans Werner. In the Skies of Europe. Ramsbury, Marlborough, UK: The Crowood Press, 2000. ISBN 1-86126-799-1....
s.
Impact on domestic politics
War broke out between Finland and the Soviet Union in November 1939. In Sweden, the Liberal, Conservative and Agrarian parties were concerned about a perceived threat from the Soviet Union and were more favorably disposed towards Finland than were the Social Democrats, for whom there still lingered a certain wariness from Sweden's experience of the Finnish Civil WarFinnish Civil War
The Finnish Civil War was a part of the national, political and social turmoil caused by World War I in Europe. The Civil War concerned control and leadership of The Grand Duchy of Finland as it achieved independence from Russia after the October Revolution in Petrograd...
. The Communists were openly loyal to the Soviet Union and supported its Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, named after the Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and the German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, was an agreement officially titled the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Soviet Union and signed in Moscow in the late hours of 23 August 1939...
with Germany. However, when Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, they swung around to a pro-Allied view.
Defense of Finland
When the Soviet Union invaded Finland in November 1939, many Swedes favored some sort of involvement in the conflict, both on a humanitarian and on a military basis. Sweden's interest in Finland lay in the fact that Finland had been an integrated part of Sweden for more than six hundred years, with Sweden losing control of its eastern provinces in 1809. Despite several pleas from the Finnish government, the Swedish government declined to engage militarily with the Red ArmyRed Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
as it advanced during the Winter War
Winter War
The Winter War was a military conflict between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet offensive on 30 November 1939 – three months after the start of World War II and the Soviet invasion of Poland – and ended on 13 March 1940 with the Moscow Peace Treaty...
. However, Sweden declared itself "non-belligerent" rather than neutral during the conflict and as many as 8,000 Swedes voluntarily went to Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
to fight. The Swedish government and public also sent food, clothing, medicine, weapons and ammunition to aid the Finns during this conflict. This military aid included:
- 135,402 rifles, 347 machine guns, 450 light machine guns with 50,013,300 rounds of small arms ammunition;
- 144 field guns, 100 anti-aircraft guns and 92 anti-armor guns with 301,846 shells;
- 300 sea mines and 500 depth charges;
- 17 fighter aircraft, 5 light bombers, 1 DC-2 transport aircraft turned into bomber, and 3 reconnaissance aircraft.
Twelve of Sweden's most modern fighter aircraft, British Gloster Gladiator
Gloster Gladiator
The Gloster Gladiator was a British-built biplane fighter. It was used by the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy and was exported to a number of other air forces during the late 1930s. It was the RAF's last biplane fighter aircraft and was rendered obsolete by newer monoplane designs even as it...
s, were flown by volunteer Swedish pilots under Finnish insignias. These aircraft constituted one third of Sweden's fighter force at the time. In addition, Sweden received some 70,000 Finnish children who were sent to Sweden to find safety during the 1940s.
It was during the Winter War the previously mentioned "accidental" bombings occurred.
Possible Allied invasion
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
had intended to use the Soviet attack on Finland in November 1939 as cover for seizing the important Swedish iron ore deposits in the north, in addition to the Norwegian harbors through which this ore was shipped to Germany. The plan was to get Norwegian and Swedish permission to send an expeditionary force
Expeditionary warfare
Expeditionary warfare is used to describe the organization of a state's military to fight abroad, especially when deployed to fight away from its established bases at home or abroad. Expeditionary forces were in part the antecedent of the modern concept of Rapid Deployment Forces...
to Finland across northern Norway and Sweden, ostensibly to help the Finns. But once in place, they were to proceed to take control of the harbors and the iron ore mines, occupying cities such as Gävle
Gävle
Gävle is a city in Sweden, the seat of Gävle Municipality and the capital of Gävleborg County. It had 71,033 inhabitants in 12/31 2010. It is the oldest city in the historical Norrland , having received its charter in 1446 from Christopher of Bavaria.-History:It is believed that the name Gävle...
and Luleå
Luleå
- Transportation :Local buses are run by .A passenger train service is available from Luleå Centralstation on Sweden's national SJ railway service northbound to Narvik on the Norwegian coast, or southbound to Stockholm. See Rail transport in Sweden....
and denying German access to the Swedish iron ore. In this way, an unsuspecting Norway and Sweden would be presented with a fait accompli. Realizing this danger, however, and the consequent possibility of Allied or German occupation and of the war being waged on their territory, both the Swedes and the Norwegians refused to allow this proposal.
Meanwhile, the Germans having suspected an Allied threat, were making their own plans for an invasion of Norway in order to protect their strategic supply lines. The Altmark Incident
Altmark Incident
The Altmark Incident was a naval skirmish of World War II between the United Kingdom and Nazi Germany, which happened on 16 February 1940. It took place in what were, at that time, neutral Norwegian waters...
of February 16, 1940, convinced Hitler that the Allies would not respect Norwegian neutrality, so he ordered plans for an invasion.
Scandinavian reluctance to allow Allied troops onto their territory had halted the original Allied plan for using aid to Finland as a pretext for moving in troops, but on March 12, 1940, the Allies decided to try a "semi-peaceful" invasion nonetheless. Troops were to be landed in Norway, and proceed into Sweden to capture the Swedish iron ore mines. However, if serious military resistance was encountered, they were not to press the issue. However, Finland sued for peace on March 12, so this plan had to be abandoned as well. The Germans were partly aware of these Allied intentions, as they had intercepted radio traffic showing that Allied transport groups were being readied. A few days later, they also intercepted messages confirming that the Allies had abandoned their plan and were to redeploy their forces.
German plans for an invasion of Norway continued, since Hitler feared that the Allies were nonetheless intent upon launching their own invasion. April 9 was set as the date of Operation Weserübung
Operation Weserübung
Operation Weserübung was the code name for Germany's assault on Denmark and Norway during the Second World War and the opening operation of the Norwegian Campaign...
, the German attack on Norway.
Hitler was correct about Allied intentions. The Allied plan had two parts, Operation Wilfred
Operation Wilfred
Operation Wilfred was a British naval operation during World War II that involved the mining of the channel between Norway and her offshore islands in order to prevent the transport of swedish iron ore through neutral Norwegian waters to be used to sustain the German war effort...
and Plan R 4
Plan R 4
Plan R 4 was the World War II British plan for an invasion of the neutral state of Norway in April 1940. Earlier the British had planned a similar intervention with France during the Winter War.-Background:...
. Operation Wilfred was to take place on April 5 (it was in fact delayed until April 8) when Norwegian territorial waters were to be mined, violating Norwegian neutrality. This would force the ships carrying ore to Germany to travel outside the protection of Norwegian territorial waters and thus become legitimate targets for the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
. It was hoped that this would provoke a German military reaction. As soon as the Germans reacted, under "Plan R 4", 18,000 Allied troops were to land in Narvik
Narvik
is the third largest city and municipality in Nordland county, Norway by population. Narvik is located on the shores of the Narvik Fjord . The municipality is part of the Ofoten traditional region of North Norway, inside the arctic circle...
, closing the rail link to Sweden. Other cities that the Allies hoped to capture were Trondheim
Trondheim
Trondheim , historically, Nidaros and Trondhjem, is a city and municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. With a population of 173,486, it is the third most populous municipality and city in the country, although the fourth largest metropolitan area. It is the administrative centre of...
and Bergen
Bergen
Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....
.
The first ship carrying Allied troops was to start its journey a few hours after the mine-laying. On April 8, a Royal Naval detachment led by HMS Renown
HMS Renown (1916)
HMS Renown was the lead ship of her class of battlecruisers of the Royal Navy built during the First World War. She was originally laid down as an improved version of the s. Her construction was suspended on the outbreak of war on the grounds she would not be ready in a timely manner...
mined Norwegian waters as a part of operation Wilfred, but German troops were already on their way and "Plan R 4" was quickly made obsolete.
Occupation of Denmark and Norway
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
and Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, and to stage a Coup d'état
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
in Norway.
This move had several far-reaching consequences for Sweden. Sweden was in effect cut off from trade with the western world and therefore more dependent on German goodwill, ultimately leading to permittenttrafik But it also lessened the immediate risk that Sweden would become a theater of war between the Axis
Axis Powers
The Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...
and the Allies.
When Germany invaded both Denmark and Norway on April 9, 1940, the 100,000 Swedish soldiers who had been deployed along the Finnish border in northern Sweden were in the process of being demobilized, owing to the end of the Winter War there. Before the outbreak of hostilities, Sweden had had no plans for defending Norway or any defense strategy against a German invasion from the direction of Norway. Moreover, an agreement from the Dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden in 1905 stated that no fortification was allowed along this border. One of Germany's demands on Sweden, as Germany's invasion progressed, was that Sweden was not to mobilize. However, Sweden re-organized its system of mobilization to allow for personal order by letter to be made possible as an alternative to official proclamation, so that 320,000 men were able to be raised in a few weeks. Sweden also started to build fortifications at the Norwegian border and along the coast of Scania.
During its invasion of Norway, Germany demanded access to the Swedish telephone and telegraph lines between Germany and Norway. Sweden allowed this, but tapped the lines. In the early summer of that year (1940) the Swedish mathematician Arne Beurling
Arne Beurling
Arne Carl-August Beurling was a Swedish mathematician and professor of mathematics at Uppsala University and later at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey....
succeeded in deciphering and discovering the source codes of the Geheimfernschreiber
Siemens and Halske T52
The Siemens and Halske T52, also known as the Geheimfernschreiber , or Schlüsselfernschreibmaschine , was a World War II German teleprinter cipher machine...
cypher machine that Germany used, which afforded the Swedes advance knowledge of Germany's military intentions. Although the British Plan R 4 had not been able to be carried out, Allied troops were swiftly sent to Norway and were able to fight alongside the Norwegians quite successfully against the German invaders. However, the success of the German campaign against France and the occupation of the low countries
Low Countries
The Low Countries are the historical lands around the low-lying delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse rivers, including the modern countries of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and parts of northern France and western Germany....
led to a British troop re-deployment and by June 8, 1940, British troops had been evacuated from Norway.
Midsummer Crisis
At the start of the German invasion of the Soviet Union in the early summer of 1941, codenamed Operation BarbarossaOperation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
, the Nazis asked Sweden to allow the transportation of armed German troops, the 163rd Infantry Division, commanded by General Erwin Engelbrecht, along with all its military equipment, through Swedish territory by train from Norway to the eastern front in Finland. The Swedish government granted this permission. In Sweden, the political deliberations surrounding this are known as the "Midsummer Crisis"; however, according to research by Carl-Gustaf Scott there never was a "crisis", he argues that "the crisis was created in historical hindsight in order to protect the political legacy of the Social Democratic Party
Swedish Social Democratic Party
The Swedish Social Democratic Workers' Party, , contesting elections as 'the Workers' Party – the Social Democrats' , or sometimes referred to just as 'the Social Democrats' and most commonly as Sossarna ; is the oldest and largest political party in Sweden. The party was founded in 1889...
and its leader Per Albin Hansson
Per Albin Hansson
Per Albin Hansson , was a Swedish politician, chairman of the Social Democrats from 1925 and two-time Prime Minister in four governments between 1932 and 1946, governing all that period save for a short-lived crisis in the summer of 1936, which he ended by forming a coalition government with his...
."
1943 onwards
From late 1942 and into 1943, Germany began to meet with a series of military reverses after its losses at the Second Battle of El AlameinSecond Battle of El Alamein
The Second Battle of El Alamein marked a major turning point in the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War. The battle took place over 20 days from 23 October – 11 November 1942. The First Battle of El Alamein had stalled the Axis advance. Thereafter, Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery...
, the Battle of Stalingrad
Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad was a major battle of World War II in which Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in southwestern Russia. The battle took place between 23 August 1942 and 2 February 1943...
and elsewhere. Germany was forced into a more defensive position as the Allied forces met with unaccustomed success on the battlefield, such as in North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
. It was becoming increasingly apparent to Sweden that Germany was unlikely to win the war. Prior to 1943, Sweden's policy of neutrality had been largely under the close scrutiny of Germany. After August and September 1943, however, Sweden was increasingly able to resist German demands and to soften its stance to Allied pressure. However, despite Germany's new, defensive posture, Sweden's constant fear was that the unexpected would happen, an attitude that continued until the very end of the war. With Germany's weakening position came stronger demands from the Allies. They pushed for Sweden to abandon its trade with Germany and to stop all German troop movements over Swedish soil
Transit of German troops through Scandinavia (WWII)
The matter of German troop transfer through Finland and Sweden during World War II was one of the more controversial aspects of modern Scandinavian history beside Finland's co-belligerence with Nazi Germany in the Continuation War, and the export of Swedish iron ore during World War II.The Swedish...
. Sweden accepted payments from the Allies to compensate for this loss of income through reduced trade with Germany, but continued to sell steel and machined parts to Nazi Germany at inflated smugglers' rates.
Training of Norwegian and Danish troops
During the war, more than 50,000 Norwegians fled to Sweden. These refugees were sent to camps at ÖrerydÖreryd
Öreryd is a village and parish in Småland, Sweden, in the county of Jönköping. During World War II, Öreryd hosted a refugee camp and transit center for refugees fleeing Nazi persecution in occupied Norway, from March 1941 until June 1942, when it was replaced by the camp Kjesäter...
in Småland
Småland
' is a historical province in southern Sweden.Småland borders Blekinge, Scania or Skåne, Halland, Västergötland, Östergötland and the island Öland in the Baltic Sea. The name Småland literally means Small Lands. . The latinized form Smolandia has been used in other languages...
and Kjesäter
Kjesäter
Kjesäter is a manor in the municipality of Vingåker in the county of Södermanland that now serves as a folkhögskola and youth hostel. During World War II, it served as a refugee camp and transit center for refugees fleeing Nazi persecution in Norway....
in Södermanland
Södermanland
', sometimes referred to under its Latin form Sudermannia or Sudermania, is a historical province or landskap on the south eastern coast of Sweden. It borders Östergötland, Närke, Västmanland and Uppland. It is also bounded by lake Mälaren and the Baltic sea.In Swedish, the province name is...
. From the summer of 1943 onwards, the military training of Norwegian troops was carried out in Sweden, in cooperation with the Swedish government
Third cabinet of Per Albin Hansson
The third cabinet of Per Albin Hansson was the cabinet of Sweden between 13 December 1939 and 31 July 1945. It consisted of members from the Social Democratic Party, the Farmers' League, the People's Party and the National Organization of the Right....
and the Norwegian government-in-exile in London
Cabinet Nygaardsvold
Nygaardsvold's Cabinet was appointed on 20 March 1935, the second Labour cabinet in Norway. It closed the brought to an end the non-socialist, minority Governments that had been dominating politics since the introduction of the parliamentary system in 1884, and replaced it with stable, Labour...
. To prevent protests from Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
, this training was ostensibly for the Norwegian police. From the start, the recruits only had light infantry
Infantry
Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...
weapons, but later they were able to train with artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
. Military exercise
Military exercise
A military exercise is the employment of military resources in training for military operations, either exploring the effects of warfare or testing strategies without actual combat...
s were held in Dalarna
Dalarna
', English exonym: Dalecarlia, is a historical province or landskap in central Sweden. Another English language form established in literature is the Dales. Places involving the element Dalecarlia exist in the United States....
in December 1944 and in Hälsingland
Hälsingland
' is a historical province or landskap in central Sweden. It borders to Gästrikland, Dalarna, Härjedalen, Medelpad and to the Gulf of Bothnia...
in spring 1945. 8,000 men took part in this latter exercise.
In all, around 15,000 men were trained and organized into ten battalion
Battalion
A battalion is a military unit of around 300–1,200 soldiers usually consisting of between two and seven companies and typically commanded by either a Lieutenant Colonel or a Colonel...
s and at the end of the war, eight of these battalions, about 13,500 men, were ready for action. They entered Norway on May 8, 1945. The number of Danish refugees had been much lower than the 50,000 Norwegians, but a brigade
Brigade
A brigade is a major tactical military formation that is typically composed of two to five battalions, plus supporting elements depending on the era and nationality of a given army and could be perceived as an enlarged/reinforced regiment...
of about 3,600 Danish men was also trained and they were transferred to Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
on May 5, 1945.
The Bäckebo rocket
V-2 rocket
The V-2 rocket , technical name Aggregat-4 , was a ballistic missile that was developed at the beginning of the Second World War in Germany, specifically targeted at London and later Antwerp. The liquid-propellant rocket was the world's first long-range combat-ballistic missile and first known...
under test by the Germans (test rocket V-89, serial number 4089) from Peenemünde
Test Stand VII
Test Stand VII was the principal V-2 rocket testing facility at Peenemünde Airfield and was capable of static firing of rocket motors up to 200 tons thrust...
crashed in Sweden after the rocket had flown into cumulus clouds which had strayed into the controller's line of sight, it was supposed to crash in the sea outside Bornholm
Bornholm
Bornholm is a Danish island in the Baltic Sea located to the east of the rest of Denmark, the south of Sweden, and the north of Poland. The main industries on the island include fishing, arts and crafts like glass making and pottery using locally worked clay, and dairy farming. Tourism is...
in occupied Denmark. V-89 contained "Kehl-Strassburg" joystick radio control equipment that had been designed for the Wasserfall
Wasserfall
The Wasserfall Ferngelenkte Flakrakete , was a World War II guided surface-to-air missile developed at Peenemünde, Germany.-Technical characteristics:...
anti-aircraft missile (code name
Code name
A code name or cryptonym is a word or name used clandestinely to refer to another name or word. Code names are often used for military purposes, or in espionage...
d Burgund), a development of that used to guide the Henschel Hs 293
Henschel Hs 293
The Henschel Hs 293 was a World War II German anti-ship guided missile: a radio-controlled glide bomb with a rocket engine slung underneath it. It was designed by Herbert A. Wagner.- History :...
glide bomb. The ground controller appeared to have no trouble manoeuvring the rocket until it disappeared into the high cloud layer. A captured German prisoner later explained to the British that the controller was an expert at steering glider bombs from aircraft, but that the spectacle of a rocket launch had caused him to incorrectly operate the control lever in his astonishment. Peenemünde
Peenemünde
The Peenemünde Army Research Center was founded in 1937 as one of five military proving grounds under the Army Weapons Office ....
guidance and control expert Ernst Steinhoff
Ernst Steinhoff
Ernst August Wilhelm Steinhoff was a rocket scientist and member of the "von Braun rocket group", at Peenemünde . He was among the scientists to surrender and travel to the United States to provide rocketry expertise via Operation Paperclip. He came to the United States on the first boat,...
explained that the excited operator applied a set of planned corrections (such as that for the Earth's rotation) in the opposite direction to the way he had been instructed. The rocket subsequently exploded in an air burst (a common V-2 malfunction) several thousand feet above the county of Bäckebo
Nybro Municipality
Nybro Municipality is a municipality in Kalmar County, south-eastern Sweden, with its seat in the town Nybro.The amalgamation of the City of Nybro with its surrounding municipalities took place in 1969....
mainly over a farm with no injuries http://www.nyteknik.se/nyheter/fordon_motor/article3208141.ece and the valuable wreckage was exchanged by the Swedes for British Supermarine Spitfire
Supermarine Spitfire
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and many other Allied countries throughout the Second World War. The Spitfire continued to be used as a front line fighter and in secondary roles into the 1950s...
s. On July 31, 1944, experts at the Royal Aircraft Establishment
Royal Aircraft Establishment
The Royal Aircraft Establishment , was a British research establishment, known by several different names during its history, that eventually came under the aegis of the UK Ministry of Defence , before finally losing its identity in mergers with other institutions.The first site was at Farnborough...
at Farnborough
Farnborough Airfield
Farnborough Airport or TAG London Farnborough Airport is an airport situated in Farnborough, Rushmoor, Hampshire, England...
in Hampshire, England, began an attempt to reconstruct the missile.
Humanitarian effort
In 1943, Sweden received nearly all of Denmark's 8,000 JewsRescue of the Danish Jews
The rescue of the Danish Jews occurred during Nazi Germany's occupation of Denmark during World War II. On October 1st 1943 Nazi leader Adolf Hitler ordered Danish Jews to be arrested and deported...
. With the dissolution of the Danish government in the summer of 1943, the German authorities had decided to deport Denmark's Jewish population to concentration camps. However, the Danes successfully ferried all but 450 of the Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
across the straits between Copenhagen and the Swedish mainland, across waters that were patrolled by German Schnellboots, in an unprecedented rescue effort
Rescue of the Danish Jews
The rescue of the Danish Jews occurred during Nazi Germany's occupation of Denmark during World War II. On October 1st 1943 Nazi leader Adolf Hitler ordered Danish Jews to be arrested and deported...
. Once in Sweden, the Danish Jews were granted asylum and taken in by Swedish families. Many stayed in Sweden after the war. Sweden also received refugees from Finland and Norway, including some of Norway's Jews. All this, as well as the protection of Sweden's own Jewish population, was made possible by Sweden's neutrality. During the war, Sweden aided and saved more Jews than any other country.
Neutrality also made it possible for Sweden to have physical access to Germany, which was not only useful to Swedish intelligence but to Allied intelligence as well. Employees at Asea, LM Ericsson and the Swedish Match Factory (Svenska Tändsticksfabriken) acted as couriers for the Polish resistance. King Gustav V of Sweden attempted to use his diplomatic connections with German leaders to convince them to treat Jews more humanely, as evidenced through his correspondence, although to little effect. Count Folke Bernadotte
Folke Bernadotte
Folke Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg was a Swedish diplomat and nobleman noted for his negotiation of the release of about 31,000 prisoners from German concentration camps during World War II, including 450 Danish Jews from Theresienstadt released on 14 April 1945...
, a relative of the Swedish royal family, was able to communicate with the German government and relay information back to Sweden, as did other diplomats. He also contributed to saving 15,000 prisoners from concentration camps, as did the famous diplomat Raoul Wallenberg
Raoul Wallenberg
Raoul Wallenberg was a Swedish businessman, diplomat and humanitarian. He is widely celebrated for his successful efforts to rescue thousands of Jews in Nazi-occupied Hungary from the Holocaust, during the later stages of World War II...
, who may have saved up to 100,000 Hungarian Jews.
Many Swedish noblemen used their personal connections and wealth to take in and find temporary Swedish homes for children from neighboring countries, mainly Denmark and Finland. Werner Dankwort
Werner Dankwort
Dr. Carl Werner Dankwort born in Gumbinnen, Germany, was a German diplomat who served a major role in bringing Germany into the League of Nations in 1926 prior to representing the German contingent in the Organization for European Economic Cooperation, the post-World War II effort known as the...
served as the first secretary for the German legation in Stockholm during the German Nazi regime and secretly helped Jewish children to escape from Germany into Sweden inside wooden crates.
Press freedom
Media in Sweden
Swedish media has a long tradition going back to the 1776 law enacting freedom of the press.The press is subsidized by the government and is owned by many actors, the dominant owner being Bonnier AB. Swedish TV and Radio was until the mid 1980s a government monopoly, which slowly has been eroded...
, causing many protests from the German government and prompting the Swedish government to censor
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
some areas of the press on a limited basis. In Sweden during this time, the press fell under the control of several authorities, despite contemporary claims that the Swedish press was free. The Swedish Government War Information Board determined what military information could be released and what information should remain secret. The Swedish Press Council served as a self-regulatory body, promoting "good relations between the press and the public authorities and to serve as an instrument of self-discipline for the press." The Swedish Press Council issued warnings, both public and confidential, to those whom it considered to be abusing the freedom of the press.
The Swedish government was concerned that its neutrality might be compromised should the press become too vocal in its opinions. Both the Swedish Press Council and the Information Board issued advice such as: "As far as the received material permits, attempts should be made not to give prominence to the reports of one side at the expense of the other", or: "Headlines, whether on the billboards or in the newspapers, should be worded in such a way as to avoid favoring one side or the other", and: "Editorials and surveys as well as articles discussing military events or the military situation, should be strictly objective."
During World War II, six newspapers were de facto banned from distribution: Ture Nerman
Ture Nerman
Ture Nerman was a Swedish socialist. As a journalist and author, he was a well-known political activist in his time. He also wrote poems and songs.Nerman was a vegetarian and a strict teetotaler...
's Trots Allt!, the Nazi publication Sverige Fritt and Ny Dag
Ny Dag
Ny Dag was a Swedish communist newspaper. It became the main organ of the Communist Party of Sweden on January 2, 1930....
, Arbetar-Tidningen
Arbetar-Tidningen
Arbetar-Tidningen was a communist newspaper from Göteborg, Sweden, published 1929-1974. AT was started directly after the 1929 split of the Communist Party of Sweden , when the Kilbom faction took the regional SKP publication Väst-Svenska Kuriren with them. At functioned as the regional...
, Norrskensflamman and Sydsvenska Kuriren
Sydsvenska Kuriren
Sydsvenska Kuriren was a communist newspaper in Sweden. The publication was an organ of the Communist Party of Sweden. The first issue appearedon October 24, 1925. Sydsvenska Kurirern was launched in the fall of 1925, as an edition of Kalmar Läns-Kuriren. It was published on Wednesdays and...
, all of these, organs of the Communist Party. A ban on the transport of these newspapers was imposed, since the printing of newspapers was protected in the Swedish constitution. There were indications that the bans imposed on the communist newspapers had served their political purposes by impressing the Germans, whilst at the same time not really restricting the work of the media.
To Nazi Germany
Perhaps the most important aspect of Sweden's concessions to Germany during the Second World War was the extensive export of iron ore for use in the German weapons industryArms industry
The arms industry is a global industry and business which manufactures and sells weapons and military technology and equipment. It comprises government and commercial industry involved in research, development, production, and service of military material, equipment and facilities...
, reaching ten million tons per year. The Swedish neutrality policy meant that the government could not interfere with the trade. As Germany's preparations for war became more apparent and the risk of another war became obvious, international interest in Swedish iron ore increased. At the time, British intelligence had estimated that German industry relied heavily on Swedish iron ore and a decrease or halt in Swedish ore exports could have a disastrous effect on Germany's military efforts. This is a contentious view that has been debated in the aftermath of the war. Sir Ralph Glyn
Ralph Glyn, 1st Baron Glyn
Major Ralph George Campbell Glyn, 1st Baron Glyn MC DL , known as Sir Ralph Glyn, Bt, from 1934 to 1953, was a soldier and Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. He was a Member of Parliament from 1918 to 1922, and from 1924 to 1953.-Background and education:Glyn was the son of the...
, a British Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
, claimed that a cessation of Swedish iron ore exports would bring the war to an end within six months.
Given that Britain had been unable to prevent the successful invasion by Nazi Germany of both France and Norway, the Swedish government was not convinced that the British could protect them and opted to continue exports. The iron ore provided much needed gold bullion, food and coal from Germany. The iron ore was transported by sea from the Norwegian town of Narvik and from Luleå
Luleå
- Transportation :Local buses are run by .A passenger train service is available from Luleå Centralstation on Sweden's national SJ railway service northbound to Narvik on the Norwegian coast, or southbound to Stockholm. See Rail transport in Sweden....
in northern Sweden. These shipments were attacked by British aircraft and submarines in the Atlantic and North Sea and by Soviet submarines in the Baltic. About 70 vessels were sunk and 200 sailors lost their lives.
Responding to German appeals for volunteers to fight the Soviet Union, approximately 180 Swedes enlisted in Germany's Waffen-SS
Waffen-SS
The Waffen-SS was a multi-ethnic and multi-national military force of the Third Reich. It constituted the armed wing of the Schutzstaffel or SS, an organ of the Nazi Party. The Waffen-SS saw action throughout World War II and grew from three regiments to over 38 divisions, and served alongside...
, and saw combat against Soviet troops on the Eastern Front
Eastern Front (World War II)
The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945...
. This was a choice made by individual Swedish citizens, contrary to Swedish government policy. Their number was small compared to occupied countries, in which officials encouraged enlisting for the Eastern Front (Norway 10,000; Denmark 6,000; France 11,000; Netherlands 20,000). Many more joined the Allies, which was also contrary to government policy.
With a blockade of the Skagerrak
Skagerrak
The Skagerrak is a strait running between Norway and the southwest coast of Sweden and the Jutland peninsula of Denmark, connecting the North Sea and the Kattegat sea area, which leads to the Baltic Sea.-Name:...
straits between Norway and the northern tip of Denmark, the Swedish merchant navy found itself physically divided. The vessels that were inside the Baltic Sea
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
traded goods with Germany during the war, whilst the greater number of vessels was leased to the Allies for convoy shipping. Approximately 1,500 Swedish sailors perished during the war, mostly victims of mines and U-Boat
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
attacks.
To the Allies
Sweden made efforts to help the Allied Forces. From May 1940, a large part of the Swedish merchant navy that found itself outside the Baltic, totalling about 8,000 seamen, was leased to Britain. 100–200 Swedes traveled to Norway to fight the German invasion. German telegraph traffic to occupied OsloOslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
went through Swedish-leased cables which the Swedes intercepted. The traffic was encrypted with Germany's Geheimschreiber device, but the cypher code was broken by Swedish mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
professor Arne Beurling
Arne Beurling
Arne Carl-August Beurling was a Swedish mathematician and professor of mathematics at Uppsala University and later at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey....
in early summer 1940 and the results from this espionage were sent to the Allies through the Polish resistance movement
Polish resistance movement in World War II
The Polish resistance movement in World War II, with the Home Army at its forefront, was the largest underground resistance in all of Nazi-occupied Europe, covering both German and Soviet zones of occupation. The Polish defence against the Nazi occupation was an important part of the European...
. When the German battleship Bismarck
German battleship Bismarck
Bismarck was the first of two s built for the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. Named after Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the primary force behind the German unification in 1871, the ship was laid down at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg in July 1936 and launched nearly three years later...
embarked on her voyage to attack the Atlantic convoys, Swedish intelligence informed the British of her departure from port. Swedish businessmen and diplomats were also actively spying for the Allies, in Berlin and in the occupied territories.
In 1945, as the Allies were planning to liberate Denmark and Norway, the United States wanted Sweden to co-operate in this action. Sweden began preparing for "Operation Rädda Danmark" (Operation Save Denmark), in which Sweden was to invade Zealand from Scania. After Denmark had been liberated, Sweden was to assist the Allies in the invasion of Norway. This proved not to be necessary, but US planes were allowed to use Swedish military bases during the liberation of Norway, from spring 1944 to 1945, and the Allies were also collaborating with the Swedish Military Intelligence and Security Service. Sweden allowed Allied spies to listen to German radio signals from a station on Öland
Öland
' is the second largest Swedish island and the smallest of the traditional provinces of Sweden. Öland has an area of 1,342 km² and is located in the Baltic Sea just off the coast of Småland. The island has 25,000 inhabitants, but during Swedish Midsummer it is visited by up to 500,000 people...
. A location was also established in Malmö
Malmö
Malmö , in the southernmost province of Scania, is the third most populous city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg.Malmö is the seat of Malmö Municipality and the capital of Skåne County...
for the British military to lead bombing actions in Germany. Additionally, from 1943 onwards, Norwegian and Danish soldiers (the Den danske Brigade) were trained at Swedish military bases. Sweden had also set up a series of training camps along the Norwegian border for the Norwegian resistance movement
Norwegian resistance movement
The Norwegian resistance to the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany began after Operation Weserübung in 1940 and ended in 1945. It took several forms:...
.
Aftermath
The Prime MinisterPrime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
of the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
during World War II, Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
, accused Sweden of ignoring the greater moral issues and playing both sides for profit during the conflict, including its supply of steel and machine parts to Nazi Germany throughout the war. Such claims, however, use a different definition of the word ”neutral” from that defined in the 1907 Hague convention
Hague Conventions (1899 and 1907)
The Hague Conventions were two international treaties negotiated at international peace conferences at The Hague in the Netherlands: The First Hague Conference in 1899 and the Second Hague Conference in 1907...
, which set out the rights and duties of belligerents and neutral countries. The United Kingdom had not signed this convention. Sweden, however, had signed it and its Government was determined to follow it, to avoid any criticism of not being ”neutral”. Ultimately, the Swedish government faced the threat of invasion from both sides, yet still managed to protect its own sovereignty by remaining out of the conflict.
Forced repatriation
In 1970, film director Johan Bergenstråhle
Johan Bergenstråhle (director)
Johan Bergenstråhle was a Swedish film director and screenwriter. He directed 14 films between 1965 and 1994. His 1969 film Made in Sweden was entered into the 19th Berlin International Film Festival, where it won a Silver Bear award.-Selected filmography:* Made in Sweden * A Baltic Tragedy...
made a documentary, Baltutlämningen (English title: A Baltic Tragedy), about the Latvian soldiers who were given to the Soviets to be sentenced to hard labor in prison camps.