Originally Posted by JOC

In the war Sweden was neutral but helped to save many Jews and other refugees from certain death.

And allowed German trains with soldiers in transit driving through Sweden to and from Norway and Finland.

Originally Posted by JOC

In the war Sweden was neutral but helped to save many Jews and other refugees from certain death.

Interest to say but Sweden was close to fight against Nazi Germany from Oslo from Norway Hitlers planes was Home Guard troops in southern Sweden but no war against Sweden and in Finland the finnish takes down Nazi to Germany after draw against Soviet. No win, no lose against Soviet. Finland was over 400.000 soldiers and Nazi have 125.000 soldier and Finland take Nazi to home land. They will not lose against USA or UK if they attack Soviet again. UK was on way to Finland I say to win against Finland but Finland not will this one. Or what's you know?

If Sweden had been invaded, there is no doubt that they would have fought.
But there is no historical evidence to assert that Sweden would declare war on Germany.

Originally Posted by Kesse81

And allowed German trains with soldiers in transit driving through Sweden to and from Norway and Finland.

I guess they played both sides. I never knew that they allowed for this. A little know item indeed.

By the way I wanted to clarify on my earlier post I feel the Germans of old have a legacy they are stuck with.

However there are so few of them left and the new generation(s) has such a completely different attitude. Like I said I worked for Germans at Bosch and spent many weeks in Germany and it was my favorite European country to visit. I certainly hold no ill will towards the present day Germans. And they are such wonderful cooks!

There were Swedish plans to attack the German forces in Norway in the last year of the war. These plans emerged in 1944. The plans were a three pronged offensive toward Narvik, Trondheim and Oslo.

When Nazi-Germany commenced Operation Barbarossa, the Germans demanded the Swedish government to allow German forces to be transferred through Sweden from Denmark and Norway. This is known in Sweden as the midsummer crisis. Germany was in 1941 the major power in Europe and it was occupying most of Europe. The Swedish government faced a dilemma, daring to say no and see what happens, or allow the transfer? The decision saved Sweden from being attacked, maybe the Germans couldn't afford to divert its forces when they were attacking Soviet Union. We will never know.

In the last months of the war, the Swedish Red Cross organized buses down to Germany and brought back concentration camp prisoners to Sweden, many of those were in a bad shape. They received medical treatment and it saved thousands of them. This is known as "the White Buses"

Another rescue operation occurred in Budapest, when Raul Wallenberg saved about 60 000 Jews. Raul Wallenberg was captured by the Soviets in 1945 and was never seen again.

Originally Posted by I3BrigPvSk

There were Swedish plans to attack the German forces in Norway in the last year of the war. These plans emerged in 1944. The plans were a three pronged offensive toward Narvik, Trondheim and Oslo.

When Nazi-Germany commenced Operation Barbarossa, the Germans demanded the Swedish government to allow German forces to be transferred through Sweden from Denmark and Norway. This is known in Sweden as the midsummer crisis. Germany was in 1941 the major power in Europe and it was occupying most of Europe. The Swedish government faced a dilemma, daring to say no and see what happens, or allow the transfer? The decision saved Sweden from being attacked, maybe the Germans couldn't afford to divert its forces when they were attacking Soviet Union. We will never know.

In the last months of the war, the Swedish Red Cross organized buses down to Germany and brought back concentration camp prisoners to Sweden, many of those were in a bad shape. They received medical treatment and it saved thousands of them. This is known as "the White Buses"

Another rescue operation occurred in Budapest, when Raul Wallenberg saved about 60 000 Jews. Raul Wallenberg was captured by the Soviets in 1945 and was never seen again.

I guess it takes a Swede to know the bottom line about Sweden in WW2. Sounds like Sweden had good intentions but didn't want to irk Germany militarily "can you blame her". I had heard about their red cross work and the saving of Hungarian Jews.

Originally Posted by I3BrigPvSk

There were Swedish plans to attack the German forces in Norway in the last year of the war. These plans emerged in 1944. The plans were a three pronged offensive toward Narvik, Trondheim and Oslo.

From what I've read, it was a plan put forth by the U.S.

In the autumn of 1943, the US defense staff raised the proposal that Sweden should participate in an operation with the allies against Norway, especially in order to take Narvik and Trondheim, but the Swedish forces were judged to have too little offensive capability.

I know there were plans for Swedish soldiers to fight along with the Danish and Norwegian forces which was set up in sweden.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Buses

http://harbourofhope.com/wp-content/...WhiteBuses.pdf

Originally Posted by Kesse81

From what I've read, it was a plan put forth by the U.S.

In the autumn of 1943, the US defense staff raised the proposal that Sweden should participate in an operation with the allies against Norway, especially in order to take Narvik and Trondheim, but the Swedish forces were judged to have too little offensive capability.

I know there were plans for Swedish soldiers to fight along with the Danish and Norwegian forces which was set up in sweden.

In 1944 and 1945 the offensive capabilities had been improved meanwhile the quality of the German forces in Norway had been depleted. The movement of Swedish forces along the Norwegian/Swedish forces prevented the German OKW to deploy these forces elsewhere. The Germans planned to use their V1 and V2 against Sweden if the Swedish forces had crossed the border into Norway.

There is one episode just after the war which is shameful. Sweden had a lot of refugees from the Baltic states. Many of them were soldiers, Stalin wanted them back so the Swedish government extradited them to Soviet Union, many of them ended up in the Gulags and not many of them survived.

Originally Posted by I3BrigPvSk

In 1944 and 1945 the offensive capabilities had been improved meanwhile the quality of the German forces in Norway had been depleted. The movement of Swedish forces along the Norwegian/Swedish forces prevented the German OKW to deploy these forces elsewhere. The Germans planned to use their V1 and V2 against Sweden if the Swedish forces had crossed the border into Norway.

There is one episode just after the war which is shameful. Sweden had a lot of refugees from the Baltic states. Many of them were soldiers, Stalin wanted them back so the Swedish government extradited them to Soviet Union, many of them ended up in the Gulags and not many of them survived.

These must have been the Baltic Germans who made up a minority in the Baltic states. Hitler despised the Baltic peoples who were sort of lumped in with the Slavs as sub-human. However great prosecution came to the Germans that lived outside of Germany during the later months of the war and the period following the war. the Germanic peoples in Poland, Czechoslovakia, the Baltic states were much oppressed. Many were forced from their homes or even killed. The movement of people to the new German borders was one of the largest movement of refugees in history