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!