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!

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!