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“… Here in Sweden, people are very eager to help Finland. Clothes and money are collected and everything is sent there. I myself went up to the attic yesterday and took out everything I could …” – The December 7, 1939, Astrida Lindgren, author of All the Beloved Karlson and Pepe Leggings, wrote in her diary.
The start of the Winter War came unexpectedly in the Scandinavian country and was taken in person. After all, the Finns were almost considered “their own”, even though independent Finland appeared on the maps only two decades ago, he says. diletant.media.
A characteristic of Scandinavian politics is Swedish neutrality.
Following Sweden’s failed attempt to regain its great power status in the 18th century, following the defeat of the war with Russia, state actors decided that neutrality in future European conflicts would be worthwhile. After a brief confrontation with Norway in 1814, Sweden no longer participated in any war: special attention was paid to the internal development of the country and integration with other Scandinavian countries.
During World War I, Sweden limited itself to trading with the warring states, although at certain stages of the conflict it seemed that it would soon join the Union of Central States: the war in the Baltic Sea did great damage to the Swedish economy. However, despite the aggressive stance of some politicians and part of the military, the government managed to stay out of this adventure, and in the future this had a positive impact on the international position of the country.
However, there were Swedes who participated in the military conflicts that erupted in the ruins of the Russian Empire; We will find volunteers from Sweden both among Finnish whites and Estonian national units who fought against the communists in 1918-1920.
Photo from Wikipedia.org / The Swedish Brigade fought on the side of the Finnish whites.
Finland and Sweden, at the latter’s initiative, became closer during the interwar period, although Stockholm regarded Helsinki as a “little brother” based on a common history and the fact that the Finns had gained independence not long ago. In addition, the country combined common dangers, according to right-wing politicians, emanating from the Soviet Union: the “red threat” encouraged a more rapid unification of the political strata close to the army. Finnish artillery, for example, turned to Swedish military factories to start buying ammunition of the caliber required in the event of war.
The “Red Menace”: the start of the war and the gathering of volunteers
The incident in the town of Mainila on the then Finnish border on November 26, 1939, when Soviet artillery fired on its own territory but announced to the world that artillery shells had flown from the other side of the border, was a unpleasant surprise for Stockholm. On November 30, A. Lindgren wrote in his diary: “And suddenly, the Russians unexpectedly [suomių delegacijai išvykus iš Maskvos] He claims that the Finns have opened fire on the border, the Finns deny it. But the Russians want to fight, and now they have started, even though world opinion is against them. “
Photo from Wikipedia.org / Helsinki bombed by Soviet aviation (November 30, 1939)
The Helsinki attacks sparked massive anti-Soviet demonstrations in Sweden. Alexander Kolontai, the USSR envoy to Stockholm, left testimonies of the mood in the city at that time: “Those screams of rage -” Aggressive Bolsheviks, get out of here! “- emanating from the darkness. An angry crowd tried to break through the embassy building, but the police blocked the way from both sides of the street. The crowd made noise, shouted, but the police gradually dispersed it.”
Right-wing Swedish public figures immediately began preparing to provide assistance to their neighbors, not only materially, but also by sending volunteers. As early as the first day of the war, a committee was established under the leadership of the Finnish Civil War veteran, Swedish Colonel Carl August Ehrensvärd, to begin recruiting volunteers. Advertisements in public places and newspapers helped gather and send the first groups of volunteers to the USSR and the Finnish Front as early as December 1939.
Photo from Wikipedia.org/ One of the Swedish volunteer recruitment posters. The inscription reads: “It’s Finnish Business – Join the Volunteer Corps!”
In all, some 8,000 Swedes expressed their desire to defend Finland from the Bolsheviks during the war. About 60 percent. of them, the age did not exceed 30 years and a fifth of them had no experience with weapons. However, the corps officers had experience from previous campaigns in Estonia and Finland, including the corps commander, General Ernst Linder, who had already retired in 1939.
Photo from Wikipedia.org / Ernst Linder (right) and Carl August Ehrensvärd
Contemporaries were amazed at the speed with which the volunteers rallied under the committee’s banner. One of the veterans of the Winter War, the Swede Orvar Nilsson, later recalled: “… the most surprising thing was that the Volunteer Corps came out of nowhere. It started its activities as an ephemeral organization. They had no cord. “
War in the sky: Swedish aviators against Soviet pilots
The volunteer was driven not only by the desire to help the neighboring country, but also by fear of a “red threat.” For many soldiers in the existing army, the conflict on the Soviet-Finnish border became a real opportunity to gain real combat experience, which was neutral for the Swedish army in terms of gold. Therefore, one of the first military units immediately dispatched to the battlefields of the Winter War was the fleet of F 19 aircraft, consisting of 12 Gloster Gladiator fighters, four Hawker Hart bombers, one Junkers F- transport aircraft. 13 and a couple more planes.
Photo from Wikipedia.org / Swedish volunteer pilots with Gloster Gladiator
The pilots and service personnel arrived in Finland in January 1940 and stayed near Rovaniemi in Lapland. The combat flights began immediately after their arrival in Finland. About the first one, pilot Martin Wennerström later said: “I dived low and dropped bombs at the last minute. After that I flew up to the hills. That tactic did not allow the fighters to cover our bombers, and it was not prudent. “
During the fighting, the Swedes lost three dead pilots and two more were taken prisoner by the Soviets. The fleet lost six aircraft and destroyed 12 Soviet aircraft. The combat experience gained by Swedish volunteer aviators in Lapland soon convinced officials in Stockholm of the need to strengthen their country’s air force.
Lapland is a Swedish volunteer place
In the spring of 1940, more than 8,000 served on the fronts and rear garrisons of the Winter War. volunteers from Sweden. Most of the volunteers arrived only at the end of winter, as the war was drawing to a close. However, many have managed to gain experience in combat: in artillery regiments, antiaircraft defense or coast guard.
Photo by SA-kuva.fi / Swedish volunteers in Finland
Volunteers took part in the front line in Lapland and carried out ski forays in unusually difficult and cold winter conditions. About half of the Swedes entered the infirmary precisely because of the frostbite: they had no combat experience and had little idea what a war like a frost is: 40 degrees cold.
As the main acts of war took place in the Karelia Strait, the Swedes did not suffer particularly heavy losses: 33 were killed, 185 were wounded and two were taken prisoner.
Photo from Wikipedia.org / Swedish volunteers with anti-tank weapons
Despite the fact that the Swedes did not radically change the situation on the fronts, and most of the volunteers from the other side of the Gulf of Bothnia did not participate in decisive battles, it is difficult to overestimate the moral impact in Finland. In addition to the Swedes, Danish and Norwegian citizens also participated in the war, so the Finns did not feel alone.
VIDEO: Speech of thanks by Finnish Marshal Carlo Gustaf Emilio Mannerheim to the Swedish volunteers after the end of the Winter War
Immediately after the war, the volunteer corps disbanded. However, many volunteers returned to Finland to participate in a new confrontation between the USSR and Finland, the Later War, which began in the summer of 1941.
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