HMS Sverige, armor plated ship token

HMS Sverige (F-boat) was an ironclad ship launched 1915. It was the first of its kind with its armour plating making it really heavy. The ship was demobilized in 1947, put out of service in 1953 and was scrapped 1958.

Commemorative token made of the used armor plates from ship Sweden. It says Sverige wich ofcoruse was the ships name and then SPF = Svenska pansar fartyget (Swedish armor plated ship).

Officers Target shooting association badges

Quick background history. The association was founded the 5/2 1859 following a petition signed by Prince Oscar II. The first competition with prizes was held on 21/4 1859, 37 officers participated.

These are shooting award badge from the association. I actually own two of them and on their sides it is stamped Bronze 1917 and the other Bronze 1919. In other words they are quite old but surley there are other variants than these cause the association is still active today. Anyway the front says: Gustaf V (5th) sweden's king and the back: Officers target shooting association in Stockholm.

If you want to know more I suggest their official webpage:
http://www.omf.nu/default.cfm?page=Historik

Unique Lieutenant Shooting Badges

This time I got a treat for you. I picked up five shooting badges (3 engraved) at a local fleamarket and when I got home I looked at them and saw that they belonged to the same Lieutenant! What makes them unique? Well you can sort of follow the history of this soldier through these. For example on the first badge it says second lieutenant and the later ones just lieutenant so we know he gained ranks. On top of all they are old aswell!

The complete set of five only three engraved other two blanks.

Front says: Oscar duke of Östergötland colonel in royal first life grenadier regiment

Back says: Royal first life grenadier regiments officer corps target shooting union

Engraving: Second Lieutenant E. Bille 6 hits in the rotating plane with revolver 1901 14/7 

Engraving: Lieutenant E. Bille 5 hits in the figure with revolver 1903 30/9

Engraving: Lieutenant E.Bille for 40 points with rifle 1904 11/9

Home Guard - badges

The home guard was established 1940. The home guard was split into different units consisting about ten men each. The members were usually ex military men or hunters, people with weapon experience so to say. Their purpose was to protect and defend factories or help people in case of war. At the beginning of the war the volunteers was poorly equipped. Most of them had clothes from home, a rifle and a military cap. But as the war progressed and more volunteered they even got their own uniforms.

cap badge m/1940

Arm badge m/1940 for use on different uniforms. Note both the stiched and printed badge.

A rare find!

Hello all,
Today I want to show you a rare estate find! It is a trial model of a military lantern and the ones I have seen before are in museums. Sadly I do not know much about it but I thought someone would enjoy some pictures of it.

Handlykta försöksmodell/40 (wich basically means hand lantern trialmodel/1940)

Inside view with lantern, 4 extra candles and some replacement plastic windows for the lantern.

Signal corps - finnish border and other exploits

The signal corps was created in 1937 to primarily serve the senior staff  with communication or "information transfer". If you would do well in peace times and show your proficiency as a signaller you could be awarded a badge in bronze, silver or gold.

The middle badge is made from actual silver and this particular one is dated 1940. The last one in gold is probably plated in silver since it says 925 on the back but no hallmark. This could of course vary from badge to badge not all was made from silver and if they were they might be dated differently, just to clearify.

One of the bigger achievments the signal corps did during the war to send special forces to Tornedalen at the finnish border. Their purpose was to report the progress of the war and if we would get attacked by soviet. During 1944 the following stab signal joints was stationed there:

• 12. distribution station comp and 12. distribution cable comp 
• 14. distribution station comp and 14. distribution cable comp
• 26. temporary signal comp

The signal corps would also help to evacuate refugee finnish children to sweden in 1944.

These are cufflinks with the text "finnish border 1944". They source is unknown but I guess they are post war commemorative pieces given by some veteran association. Most likely are rare piece that was made in low numbers.

Liberty defence and other skiing badges

Sorry for not uploading in a while but here is a post about different skiing badges from ww2. 

Frihetens värn (Liberty defence) was instituted in 1940 by the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet. It was an event for biathlon( ski and shooting sport). This event helped people to get interest in this type of sport, since it was only used by the military before. During 1940 to 42 it was very severe winters so the sport got serious attention, even in the southern parts of Sweden. 

You could get the badges in bronze, silver and gold. Until the war ended in 1945,  265,000 copies were awarded. 

"In their fathers track" was nationwide march on ski's. It was established in 1940 by Swedish Ski Association and got huge attention in 1941 and in 1942 just as the "liberty defence" event. It was a huge success and proof of that:  

• 217 000 approved tests in 1941
• 120 000 approved test in 1942 

The criteria was 10 km track and the time would be 1:15 for men and 1:30 for ladies. This event was carried out during the period February 9 to 16.

If you did an approved test in 1941 you would get the bronze and if you did it again in 1942 you would also get the silver. Stig Blomberg was the sculptor of the badges.

As a bonus I will show you these. They are military skiing badges for proficiency in sports during military drill in peace times, awarded under certain provisions.

Side note these particular badges was awarded to my grandfather so I am proud to own these!

A small bit of insight into a soldier's life

Hello all,
Here is something special I would like to show you. These are 3 pictures/postcards an unknown soldier painted during the war somewhere in Sweden. The pictures shows himself in different scenarios and they are actually quite funny so whoever draw them must have been a funny guy. Unfortunatley they are sealed and mounted in frames so I am not able to see the back if something is written and I do not feel like ruin the items by tearing open the frames. 

During the war many soldiers suffered from homesickness and boredom. Since Sweden was never invaded or something like that, most of the service was just guard duty and exercises.   Must have been rough just to wait and never to know if the enemy could attack at any time during the years 1939-45.

These pictures tell a little bit about a soldiers everyday life:

This is an easter greeting. The bird in the egg says "it is so damn crowded". The text on the egg is "crown marked preparedness eggs". And the last bit of text says "I beg to express my happy Easter greetings" and down in the bottom"we got 2 eggs per man during the easter '41"

Here we can see the soldier laying under a tree smoking pipe and thinking about home. The text on the top says "homesickness". Note the radio playing Sweet Sue, favourite song perhaps?

The top text says "By the way I am clean, so I do not see why I should bathe". The next piece of text I do not know how to translate but it is probably something like "dopey" or "tomfool". Lastly in the bottom it says "This kid is supposed to be me".

Swedish flag day

Hello all,

Today is national day/ swedish flag day! So of course I will show some items from the flag day during ww2!

In 1940 swedish flag day (national day if you prefer) was celebrated for the 25th time. This ocation was important at the time for strengthen solidarity of the country's independence. Keep in mind that this was the first time flag day was celebrated after ww2 began so it was also good for morale.

Before the 25th anniversary a competition was launched. The goal was to create a propaganda pin and a poster related to the swedish flag day celebration in the Stockholm Olympic Stadium. One of the 80 competitors, Kerstin Solbreck won the competition with her designs.

These are the pin and stamp that Kerstin designed for swedish flag day.

In 1943 both a stamp and pin was released with the slogan “Freedom is the best thing“

During 1940-45 a stamp was released each year with its own flag day picture. This is the complete set! 

Civil Defence Part:1

Hello,

This will be a 2 part to begin with but I might add more material related to the civil defence later on!

When the war broke loose in europe Sweden was poorly prepared. Almost already from the beginning could you see that the authorities alone would not be able to handle an attack on the cities. Home defence was set up and volunteers helped to educate the people. The goal was if Sweden would get airstriked at several places the people could help themselves and their neighbours until the rescue came.

There were few resources available during the war so signs and paper cut outs had to be used during practise. However there was an educational set produced. The National Air Protection League series "accidents marker posters" with guide book. It was used to train and educate people in different scenarios and was used mainly for medical practice. In the guide book there are answers to all the numbered posters how you should act under the different scenarios.

Here are some examples taken from the set. As you can see they are quite grafic and really captures the horrors of war.

M/26 was the standard issue helmet used in the civil defence. 

Sweden - Finland, "war" international match 1940

In February 11, 1940 in the middle of the raging winter war a match of bandy was played between Sweden and Finland. It went down in history more commonly known as the "war international". It came to symbolize the struggle Finland fought to survive as an independent nation. The location of this event was Stockholm Olympic Stadium and the entry fee was 5 SEK. Not only was it a huge audience the current king Gustav V was also there to enjoy the match awell. It is important to know the whole occation was created to benefit the Finnish red cross but also strengthen the bond between both countries. Even though it was war the people had a good time and the crowd was cheering for both teams, I am not that interested in sport but this is how sport should be played in my opinion. Sweden wins against Finland 2-1 but more important it was a financial success 475 000 SEK was raised for the cause!

A clip from the event can be seen on this page!
http://www.svtplay.se/klipp/1127977/nar-finlands-sak-var-var

This is the front cover of the schedule that was given that day. Note that mine is also signed by the players!

Stay athletic and march!

In 1940 Swedish Walking Association created and organized the “national march“. The purpose was to enchance the swedish people health and patriotism during ww2. These events repeated several times during the years 1940-45. There was a entry fee of 25 cents(öre). Those who did the predetermined march in a good amount of time was given the national march pin in bronze, silver or gold depending on the time.

The three grades of swedish walking association march pin. Note the bronze award is slightly bigger than the others.

In 1941 the finnish people wanted to compete against swedes. A national march match between Sweden and Finland was created and took place in May 4-25, 1941. Not only was it a match between the countries but a support for Finland during the winter war. 

A commemorative pin to the swedish/finnish competition

There where several criterias that had to be achieved:

• Adults had to be born in 1928 or earlier, if you were a child born later than 1931 you would not be allowed to patricipate.

• The walking distance was 15 km for the male competitors. You would have to do it in less than the maximum time 2 hours, 20 minutes.

• For the female competitors (and young boys born in 1928-31) the distance was 10 km. You would have to do it in less than the maximum time 1 hours, 40 minutes.

If you would meet the criteria and did the march under maximum time you got the chance to buy this pin in favor of Finland support.

The final score was calculated in relation to the countries population. Finland won the event with ground breaking 1,507,111 participants against the swedish 1,008,352 participants.

These are the so called march cards were the officials wrote times counted during the marches. 

They came in both swedish and finnish.

If someone is interested in how the national march looked like. Kulturarv Östergötland has a short video http://www.kulturarvostergotland.se/Article.aspx?m=336004&a=336928

As a fun side note. In the mid/late 90s the national march was resurrected in favor of cancer research. So I did that march in 97 (I think) and was given a national march pin!

Defence Loan - for DEFENCE and WORK

The preparedness of arming the swedish defence could not be implemented with the available state funds in the beginning of ww2. Large supplementation was required and they were forced to turn to the public. By using the propaganda skillfully they managed to catch the attention of saving clubs in the workplace, companies and large organizations. Millions were raised by selling the defence bonds. Three atempts were made during 1940-42. 

Exakt source of this pin is unknown to me. However it was probably given to those who took part in the defence loan meetings since their slogan was "for defence and work" 

• First defense loan

Started in April 25, 1940 and ended November 1, 1940. About 800 million were raised.

• Second defense loan

Started in January 15, 1941 and ended ??? About 610 million were raised.

• Third defense loan

Started in the spring of 1942 and ended May 15, 1942. About 915 million were raised. 

This pin was given to people who bought defence bonds during the third defence loan. 

This is a for defence and loan pin but with a wartime modification. Four norwegian flags has been attached to the backside of the pin. Probably a commemorative to the occupied Norway.

//Jimi

First post!

Hello!

This blog is intended to share pictures and info from my interest which is ww2 militaria (mostly swedish items but probably from other countries as well). I am from Sweden but I decided to post everything in english, because I want as many people as possible can take part in my collecting.

P.S. If you would find something incorrect please let me know and I will change it!

//Jimi