by Erik
Norling
During WWII, between 175 and 200 Swedish volunteers,
(possibly as many as 315), served in the Waffen-SS, in spite of the fact that
Sweden was a neutral country with a strong pro-Allied public opinion. The
number of Swedish volunteers in the Waffen-SS might have been 2,000 to 3,000
had the Swedish authorities not set up so many obstacles to reach Germany and
had Finland not admitted foreign volunteers into their armed forces, where they
spoke the same language as a great part of the population. Thus it was easier
to join the Finnish Army than the Waffen-SS. Thus, approximately 75% to 80% of
the Swedes in the Waffen-SS had already served in the Finland before
volunteering and all of them reached the Waffen-SS by illegally crossing the
borders.
The
number of Swedes KIA can be estimated around 40-50, who fell or died during the
battles in the Ukraine, the Caucasus, the Baltic States, Pomerania and during
the final Battle of Berlin. During the first years of the war most of the
Swedish volunteers were to be found on the eastern front in the SS Division „Wiking“.
From the summer 1943 onwards the majority of the volunteers served in the SS
Panzer Grenadier Division „Nordland“, where together with Ethnic Swedes from
Estonia they belonged to the so called „Swedish Company“, (as it was designated
by III. Germanic Corps commander SS-Obergruppenführer Felix Steiner) in the
division’s Armoured Recce Battalion. In addition Swedish volunteers were to be
found in many other SS units („Freikorps Danmark“. „Den Norske Legion”,
Division „Nord“, „Leibstandarte“, „Totenkopf“ etc.). Also, SS-Oberscharführer
Sven-Erik Olsson served in the SS division „Frundsberg“ and was decorated with
the German Cross in Gold.
About
20 Swedes attended the Waffen-SS Officer’s School at Bad Tolz (at least two of
them as first in their class), and between 15-20 were trained as war
correspondents in the SS-Standarte „Kurt Eggers“, in which they served on the Eastern,
Western and Mediterranean Fronts. One of them, the SS-KB Untersturmführer
Torkel Tillman was KIA at Cheux (Normandy) July 1944 while serving as a war
reporter. On the other side Swedish volunteers served in regular army units
such as Nils Rosen, who was a Lieutenant at the 3. Panzer division or Ernst
Sterner that was KIA in July 1944 in Poland serving in a Luftwaffe Field
Division. The same fate also suffered the Swedish Corporal Sjogren who served
with Leon Degrelle in the same platoon in his „Wallonian Legion“; he was KIA
February 1942.
Politics and recruitment
When
Finland was attacked by the Soviet Union on 30 November 1939, over 12,000
Swedish volunteers went to Finland to help their brother country. At this time,
Sweden was just an under-populated Nordic country with a population of only 6.5
million people and a neutral foreign policy. The last conflicts it had been
involved in were the Napoleonic Wars at the beginning of the 19th Century.
Therefore, when the Crusade against Communism started in June 1941, Swedish
volunteers, most of whom were veterans from the 1939-1940 Winter War, decided
to immediately enlist either in the Finnish Army; (an estimated 1,500 Swedish
volunteers did so between 1941-1944), or in the European Waffen-SS.
Due
to its status as a neutral country no official recruitment centres for the
Waffen-SS were allowed, even though the German legation in Stockholm had studied
the possibility of enlisting Swedish volunteers at an early stage (even before
the Operation Barbarossa) into the SS-Standarte „Nordland“. After the war
started with Russia, only recruitment for the Finnish Army was tolerated in
Sweden and even that was strongly limited by the government. An unknown story
is the plan drawn up by the Swedish High Command in July 1941 when they offered
to a selected group of Swedish officers the opportunity to enlist the German
Army, but this project was soon cancelled by the government.
Therefore recruitment for the Waffen-SS had to
be done on a private, individual basis or through the Swedish anti-communist
political parties such as the „Svensk Socialistisk Samling“ (Swedish Socialist
Union or SSS for short). This party had clearly chosen the side of Europe from
the beginning. The SSS was an openly National Socialist party led by the former
Swedish NCO Sven-Olof Lindholm: it had the strongest representation among the
Swedish Waffen-SS and Finland volunteers, at least 50% of whom were members of
this party. The SSS had a political unit named „Sveaborg“ at home and at the
front during the war, but it never acted as a party during frontline
engagements. The fact that at least 80% of the Swedish volunteers were true
National Socialists has been censored by the „official“ Swedish history writers
who prefer to cover the „democratic“ volunteers who served in Finland during
the war and just „forget“ about the other brave Swedish who fell for Europe and
Sweden. The SSS was the link between the homeland and the Swedish volunteers,
maintaining a local group with an office in Berlin led by the former Swedish
War reporter from the „Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler”. Thorolf Hillblad.
Sven-Olof Lindholm
(08.02.1903
– 26.04.1998)
In
any event this political party never „officially“ recruited volunteers for the
Waffen-SS, so most of the Swedish recruits had to go to Finland or to Norway to
enlist, some through Denmark. During the first months of the war several
attempts were made (linked with the SS-Hauptamt at Berlin) to try and include
Swedish volunteers in the ranks of the Germanic Waffen-SS. However none of
these efforts resulted in a major success and the Swedish police acted always
immediately to stop it, as they did in the summer of 1943 when an illegal
recruiting centre was discovered in Stockholm, financed by the SS. The „Germanische
Leitstelle“ at Oslo, Norway, led by the SS-Sturmbannführer Karl Leib. It had
been ordered to coordinate the enlistment of the few Swedes that had been
recruited. As of 30 September 1944 a total of 109 Swedish volunteers have been
recorded in Norway.
The SS-Division „Wiking” 1941-45
The
Swedish volunteers in the Division „Wiking“ were distributed randomly to the
regiments and various unit of the division, in most cases they did not even
serve in the same companies. A group of Swedes were sent to the SS Regiment „Westland”,
but again except for four who remained in the same squad, they were scattered
throughout the unit. Other Swedes went to the SS regiments „Nordland”, „Germania”
and even to the divisional Flak Battalion.
In
the report issued by the divisional staff on 19 October 1941, eight Swedes were
listed as being on duty with „Wiking“, and one had already been killed in
action and another wounded. The first Swedish volunteer to be KIA has not yet
been identified but the youngest, and the first of the SSS party’s volunteers
to die at the front was surely SS-Sturmmann Hans Lindén. He was only 19 years
old and hailed from Stockholm. Linden died at Stalino on 27 December 1941 after
participating in the division’s heavy battles on the Mius Front over the
previous few months. He was another veteran of the 1939-40 Winter War in
Finland and an active member and Youth Leader in the SSS. He served in the „Wiking”
Flak Battalion along with Norwegian, Danish, Finnish and German comrades. His
name was bestowed upon the Swedish SSS Party’s „Sveaborg“ frontline unit at the
Waffen-SS and he became a symbol of the movement.
SS-Sturmmann Hans Lindén
On
15 January 1942, the SS Statistical Department listed 39 Swedish volunteers on
duty in the Waffen-SS. By the end of October 1942 the figure was 61. Out of
that total, six had been killed in action.
Most
of the remaining Swedes from the „Wiking” were regrouped and sent together in
the spring of 1943 to the new SS Division „Nordland“ but some Swedes remained
in the „Wiking”. Officially only 5 Swedes were on the divisional rosters as of
14 July 1943. although there actually were about 8 to 10 Swedes in the division
at this time. Of this total, 4 of the volunteers from the Swedish SSS party
were serving together in the same squad from the 6th Company of SS Regiment „Germania“,
but only one of them would survive the war.
The
losses to the Swedish members of the „Wiking“ Division had been very high,
around 15 to 20 of them had been killed, which was about 40% of the engaged
Swedish volunteers in the unit.
The „Swedish Company” in the SS-Division „Nardland” 1943-45
Approximately
75 Swedish and Estonian Swedish volunteers took part in the extremely severe
fighting in Croatia (autumn 1943), Russia (The withdraw from Oranienbaum, January
-February 1944), Estonia (Narva, Dorpat, March-September 1944), Latvia
(Dünaburg, Kurland, Preekuln, September-December 1944), Pomerania (Arnswalde,
Stettin) and Brandenburg (Küstrin) finishing in Berlin April-May 1945. Since
the „Swedish Company” was completely mechanized and equipped with armoured
cars, it was a powerful unit in the III. Germanic SS Panzer Corps and the „Nordland“
division, and it was used as a „fire brigade” in the most dramatic combat
situations.
The
4th Armored Platoon of the 3rd Company was almost
entirely composed by Swedish volunteers and Swedish officers. Led during the
time in Croatia and Oranienbaum by the 25 years old SS-Oberscharführer Walther
Nilsson. He was the first unit CO to be KIA, in January 1944 during the
withdrawal from Oranienbaum when the Europeans armies were attacked by surprise
by the Reds who pushed them to the Narva River. Following him, the SS-Untersturmführer
Hans-Gösta Pehrsson took over the command but only for a short time, as in
April 1944 he became commander of the entire company. This officer, who was
promoted to SS-Hauptsturmführer during the last months of the war, was the
highest decorated Swedish volunteer with the Iron Cross 1st Class and the Ehrenblattspange des Deutschen Heeres (Honour Roll Clasp of the German Army).
Hans-Gösta Pehrsson
(10.10.1910
- 16.03.1974)
The
remnants of the „Swedish Company” were surrounded and destroyed with the
division during the final struggle for Berlin in April 1945 in the defence of
the Reich Chancellery and the centre against the Red Army.
Several
other Swedish officers served as platoon leaders and company commanders in the „Nordland”
Division. All of them were KIA or wounded including the SS-Untersturmführer
Rune Ahlgren (2./AA 11) and Ragnar Gustavsson (Kampfgruppe Scheibe/“Nederland Division), both KIA; Gunnar Eklöf,
Heino Meyer, Sigurd Bäcklund, all wounded.
Ethnic Swedes from Finland and Estonia in the Waffen-SS
The
history of the ethnic-Swedes in the Waffen-SS that lived in Finland and Estonia
have been more or less forgotten due to their status as a national minority and
thus can be compared partially to the „Volksdeutsche” in their treatment by
modem history. Since the Middle Ages, the historical chronicles show us the
settlement of Swedes along the Baltic Sea Coast, especially in Finland and
Estonia but also much further to the south in the depths of Ukraine. They kept
their culture, language and religion even when those countries gained their
independence or were absorbed by Russia.
The
biggest group were the Finland-Swedes, approximately 10-15% of the country’s
population before WWII and represented a large percentage of the Finnish
officer corps. In Estonia there were a smaller community, amounting not even 10,000
people and concentrated in the Baltic islands that faced Sweden.
Finland-Swedes
served in the Waffen-SS in the „Wiking’’ Division among the other Finnish
volunteers enlisted due to the agreements between the Finnish government and
the German Reich. The recruitment of Finland-Swedish volunteers for the
Waffen-SS was led by Gunnar Lindqvist and his National Socialistic movement known
as „Samfundet Folkgemenskap” (Association for Popular Union), which
was mainly composed of Finnish-Swedes. He managed to recruit around 100
volunteers, not all of them Finnish-Swedes, and he received for his assistance
a civil award in 1944 from the German government for his services. Apart from
these volunteers many other Finnish-Swedes served, not only as privates and NCO
but also as officers. The highest ranking ethnic-Swede to be killed in action
was SS-Obersturmführer Lennart Simeon Wallén, a member of the NS movement, and
a platoon leader in a „Wiking” anti-tank unit that was not attached to the
Finnish Volunteer Battalion. He was killed on 9 October 1942 during the heavy
battles around Malgobek.
SS-Ostuf
Ulf Ola Olin, born 1917, remained in the „Wiking” as a tank commander with the
II. Abt./SS-Pz.Rgt.5 when the Finnish group was sent home in 1943. He was to
become the most decorated Finnish volunteer (and Finnland-Swede) when he
received the German Cross in Gold on 28 February 1945, while commanding a
platoon of the 7th Company of the battalion during the heavy
fightings around Warsaw in the summer of 1944.
Ulf-Ola Olin
(18.07.1917
- 11.01.1995)
Finland-Swedes
have also been reported in the 6th SS Mountain Division „Nord“ and
the Sonderkommando Skorzeny. Several
also graduated from the SS officer’s school at Bad Tolz.
The
Estonian-Swedes were enlisted into the Waffen-SS in a planned action by the
SS-Haupamt, with the assistance of the Swedish SS-Obersturmführer Sven Rydén as
part of the recruiting staff. Around 30 to 40 volunteered for the European army
and served in the „Swedish Company” in the „Nordland” Division. It has not been
reported that any of these Estonian-Swedes were sent to Bad Tolz or ever
promoted to ranks higher than NCO.
Other books by Erik Norling:
·
„División-SS Norland, 1943-45“
·
„Vidkun Quisling, ¿traidor o patriota?“
·
„Léon Degrelle y el Rexismo“
·
„Sangre en la nieve“, „Jaches Doriot“
·
„De los fiordos a las estepas“
·
‘„Rudolf Hess, Lugarteniente de Hitler“
·
„Ellos nunca fueron neutrales“
·
„Guerreros de Borgoña“
·
„Las JONS revolucionarias“
·
„Eurofascismo“
