Could Sweden have withstood a German Blitzkrieg in WW2?

Arguably, Sweden managed to remain "neutral" in WW2. But the Germans did develop a plan to invade them in 1943. So, Peter Cadier has asked - Why wasn't Sweden attacked in WW2? Was it because they were secretly aligned to the Axis? And could the Swedish military have withstood an attack if they had been?

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BIBLIOGRAPHY / SOURCES

The main two sources used -
Gilmour, J. “Sweden, the Swastika and Stalin: The Swedish Experience in the Second World War.” Edinburgh University Press, 2011.
Ziemke, E. “The German Northern Theatre of Operations: 1940-1945.” Pickle Partners Publishing, Kindle 2014 (original 1956).

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RELATED VIDEO LINKS

My “Why I'm Passionate about HISTORY and What Got Me Into it” video

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ABOUT TIK

History isn’t as boring as some people think, and my goal is to get people talking about it. I also want to dispel the myths and distortions that ruin our perception of the past by asking a simple question - “But is this really the case?”. I have a 2:1 Degree in History and a passion for early 20th Century conflicts (mainly WW2). I’m therefore approaching this like I would an academic essay. Lots of sources, quotes, references and so on. Only the truth will do.

This video is discussing events or concepts that are academic, educational and historical in nature. This video is for informational purposes and was created so we may better understand the past and learn from the mistakes others have made. #SwedenWW2 #Scandinavia

[huitase]

Thanks all the volunteer Swedish people who helped Finland when needed.

[MercenaryGirlfriend]

The political maneuvering on the part of the Swedish government is really fascinating and a totally under represented part of the war. It seems like they really were doing everything realistically within their power to resist Germany without pushing far enough break the tension and invite a war they would lose, however costly it would have been for Germany. The solidarity with Finland is particularly inspiring, holding out to try and keep them from being completely annexed by the Soviets is something they really do deserve credit for.

[jerska]

thank you Sweden for everything! love from Finland 🇫🇮❤️🇸🇪

[jamieswafford]

I'm not even Swedish nor do I have any close Swedish ancestry, but this video is making me really patriotic for Sweden.

[hoegild]

The best work on Sweden in ww2 I have ever heard. As a Dane, I have always been a bit biased against Sweden in the period, but TIK makes it plain, that Sweden had very little choice in the matter. You would be either drunk or suicedal to play tough against Hitler in 1940, with the forces Sweden had at their disposal!

[paulpeterson]

24:50 "These 'police troops' had grenade launchers and anti-tank guns, so they were obviously not just police." American police 2020: "hold my Brännvin"

[lofn]

I knew the Swedish supported the Fins with military equipment but always thought that it was not that much considering that the Fins still claim that Swedish support was too small. Now seeing the exact data... wew 84000 rifles?! and a considerable amount of other equipment. That sounds like a lot more support then "too small".

[tyskbulle]

:Things worth mentioning:
*Sweden informed the allies when the Bismarck left port
*They wire tapped the German landline between Germany & Norway (including breaking its codes) and intel was shared with the allies and Finland
*Sweden warned the UK of Barbarossa, the UK would in term warn the USSR (Stalin thought it was all hogwash)
*Large numbers of allied bombers got lost and-or performed emergency landings in southern Sweden. The crew got interned and often ran off with Swedish women
*A V2-Rocket crash landed in Sweden, an analyze was made and sent to the UK before the remains were given back to Germany
*Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, would be instrumental in saving thousands of Hungarian Jews by Swedish passports. He was captured and died in a Moscow prison

[sonnyjim]

"Half drunk" is not an impediment to having a good army. Just look at the British Army, it was 3/4 drunk most of the time.

[mathiasolsson]

My grandfather got drafted in 1940, and from what he told me, even though there was pressure from the Germans, Russia was still considered "the great enemy", and the major concern was the finns, our brother kin.

[GefreitervonAdler]

Alright, let us get some things right.
1. Bolt-action rifles dating to the late 19th century was standard armament in all armies in ww2, with the exception of the US army - the US being the only country with the industrial capacity (and the infantry doctrine) to equip all their men with with semi-automatic rifles (except the Marine Corps, which continued to use M1903 Springfield bolt-action rifles).
2. The 1925 defence decision called for 4 line divisions, but you completely miss both the motorised brigade (created out of the cavalry division that was disbanded) and the local defence/landstormen that consisted of the oldest 10 classes and was almost as large as the line army and tasked with local defence. The army was far larger than just 4 divisions and could mobilise roughly 400 000 men in 1939.
3. Swedish had more artillery than that in 1939. There were 120 modernised light field guns, 200 ww1 vintage light field guns, 174 pre-ww1 light field guns (without recoil system), 160 ww1 vintage medium howitzers, 48 modern heavy field guns, 12 ww1 vintage heavy field guns, 53 pre-ww1 heavy field guns (without recoil system), 28 modern heavy howitzers, 66 ww1 vintage heavy howitzers and 12 ww1 vintage heavy siege howitzers, for a total of 227 pre-ww1, 450 ww1 vintage and 176 modern artillery pieces.
3. Sweden had in active service 48 MG-armed tanks and 16 cannon-armed tanks in 1939, with 7 MG-armed and 5 cannon-armed older tanks in depots used for training. There were 25 cannon-armed and 21 MG-armed and armoured cars in active service, with 8 MG-armed armoured cars in depots used for training. Total numbers are thus 21 gun-armed and 55 MG-armed tanks and 25 cannon-armed and 29 MG-armed armoured cars.
4. Sweden had 173 planes in active service in 1939, plus around 50 planes in reserve (a mix of reserves for the active units and older planes) with a further roughly 50 trainer and liason planes. While most were biplanes, the roughly 45 B 3 (Junkers Ju 86) and 11 T 2 (Heinkel He 115) were not.
5. Sweden did not get most of her equipment abroad - all equipment save some planes were produced locally, albeit often on license. Ammunition was standard 6, 5x55mm (for rifles, LMGs and MGs) and 9x21mm (for pistols and SMGs) in 1939. It was only the war that led to some imports of non-standard calibre weapons, including 7, 92x57mm Mauser and the switch of the standard pistol bullet from the 9x21mm to the 9x19mm. Non-standard weapons were usually sent back to the depots and modified to standard calibres once enough arms were available and the immediate invasion threat died down.
6. Only the US feared Sweden would go over to the other side and impounded arms orders - mostly aircrafts in the form of 60 J 9 (Serversky EP-106), 58 B 6 (Repubic 2PA) and 144 J 10 (Vultee P-66 Vanguard). Sweden purchased arms from Germany (including captured Bofors weapons from Poland and Austria), Switzerland, Italy and Finland and eventually radar stations from Britain. No-one gave arms - they were paid for, and in the Italian case, through the nose in strategic materials.
7. One needs to remember that Germany actively threatened war with Sweden if Sweden allowed Allied troops on its soil, which influenced the Swedish "no" quite a bit. Germany would not stand idly by if the Allies tried to secure the Swedish iron ore.
8. The Landstorm that manned the Per-Albin line had served on average 360 days of conscription and at least 100 days of neutrality watch during ww1. To claim that they could not operate the weapons of the line is simply silly - the line had very few anti-tank weapons, mostly because tanks as part of a naval landing on a beach were not a thing in 1940 (and would remain a very minor thing until the Allies built a large amount of amphibious tanks and landing crafts for tanks for the invasion of Normandy in 1944). The Germans certainly had nothing that could land tanks at beaches in 1940.
9. The Swedish offensive plans against German-occupied Norway in 1941-1944 focused on Mo-i-Rana, which was the closest port to the border and also lacked a rail connection to the rest of Norway, making it a much easier target, not Narvik.
10. In 1940 there were 230 000 men in the line army, and 190 000 men in local defence units, which were tactically but not operationally mobile. The local defence held down fortified lines, air fields, garrisons, cities, ports and beach defences, freeing up the line army to deploy wherever it was needed and for offensive or counter-offensive work. In 1941, this had increased to 340 000 men in the line army and 260 000 men in the local defence, plus another 100 000 in the home guard. By that time, the local defence actually had more MGs and AT guns than the line army, since they manned a lot of fixed fortifications.
11. The German intelligence on the Swedish army was beyond horrible. The officer responsible, Major Karl Ogilvie at Fremde Heere West (Foreign Armies West) simply copied the same assessment from 1939 to 1944, indicating that Sweden lacked AA capability (despite that more than 1 000 40mm Bofors guns and 1 200 20mm AA guns had been delivered to the army), lacked mechanised forces (despite Sweden having a motorised brigade since 1937 and creating 2 armoured brigades, each with 140 tanks in Summer 1943, which grew to 3 armoured brigades with 185 tanks each in early 1944) and was entirely focused on defence (despite General Rappe conducting a very skilled infantry attack in the Finnish style durin the great exercises of January 1942). The German military attaché in Sweden, Bruno von Uthmann writes in his memoirs that no German plans on Sweden was ever made, which means he was not consulted at all (and he was probably the one who knew the Swedish army the best). On the other hand, Swedish intelligence on the German forces in Norway was excellent. 2 days after 25. Panzer-division moved from Oslo to Trondheim, the new location shows up in the staff reports of II. MILO, the Swedish military area tasked with defending that part of the border. Sweden also acquired the report the German staff of the 25. Panzer-division prepared for the planned invasion (this if anything is an intelligence master-piece!). The report also included that Sweden lacked any armoured units. The Germans were completely unaware of the Swedish 9. and 10. Pansarbrigaden armoured brigades placed in reserve to counter any German armoured trusts in Summer 1943.
12. By Summer 1943, it was obvious that while the Germans might be able to conquer Sweden, they could ill afford to move the resources necessary to do so from other fronts - the resources in Norway was not enough, and Sweden's attitude changed accordingly. Sweden had 360 planes in combat units Summer 1943 - the Germans had 155 in Denmark, Norway and Finland.
13. von Schell's plan called for at least one regiment of paratroopers, 2 panzer divisions and at least 4 infantry divisions, he never had any paratroopers, only 1 panzer division (weakly equipped and completely green) and 2-3 infantry divisions, depending on how much the other divisions in Norway were cannibalised. Sweden at this time had 10 infantry divisions, 1 motorised and 2 armoured brigades (that had more tanks than the German 25. Panzer-division) as well as the local defence and the home guard, their numbes being equilent to about 10 more infantry divisions (albeing lacking in artillery).
14. von Schell himself commented his plan when it was discovered in the archives and then debated heatedly in Sweden in the 60s in a polite reply that he never had the forces the plan called for.
15. The force mobilised in 1943 was 300 000 men, with another 300 000 plus 100 000 in the Home Guard available for mobilisation. They were mobilised because Sweden planned to cancel the transition treaty and wanted to be ready for a potential German armed response, or at least make a show of force to discourage the Germans from any armed response. Sweden knew the Germans had a panzer division in Norway and closely tracked its movement, but did not know the details of the German plan - it was discovered in the 60s.
16. Sweden did not fear a communist take-over of Denmark and Norway. The "police" troops were created to give the Norwegian and Danish governments a reliable force to establish order after a German collapse (or perhaps even invade if the German forces refused to surrender after Berlin did), arrest collaborators and prevent the Germans from taking civilians as hostages or destroying evidence of their war crimes.
17. You keep consistently call mortars "grenade launchers" - there's a substantial difference. Mortars were quick-fire weapons with dedicated crews and forward observers, grenade launchers were attached to rifles and used by the infantry to throw hand grenade sized rifle grenades further than a man could throw them, but much shorter and with a much lower rate of fire than mortars.
Edited for spelling and clarity.

[Samis]

Never heard anyone pronounce Luleå as "Lulu". This is why I love different languages, simple little cute mistakes like that :3

[belowfreezing]

I haven't heard much about Sweden in WWII before. Sounds like they played their cards pretty well, all things considered.

[jdblc]

Sweden did what was best for them. They were in a difficult situation geographically and saved their people from the horrible fate of western USSR . I am a Yank and I believe they did the right thing. Britain and the U S were not able to help them I 1940. They probably more worried about Stalin.

[fishermanedvin]

Now this has given me a whole nother view of my own country, sweden. You went in more depth than what the history teachers did, way more in depth actually.

Thanks for the history lesson and thank you Peter for asking that question!

[guderian]

@Tik Paints a more sober and realistic view than what we are taught in school here in Sweden. Thank you very much for this. Keep up the good work!

[ab-nrhr]

Bruh when he dropped the ”LuLu” i lost it lmao

[tyskbulle]

Many large industries and workers unions, would give up one month of pay in aid for Finland. There are many stories of army equipment being "lost" along the northern border.
100 000 Norwegian refugees would cross the border, many of them being cared-for and guided by local Swedish farmers. A great grandfather of mine was killed helping some of these refugees. Finnish war children would also arrive in the tens of thousands, many would stay permanently.
After the war Sweden would aid in the reconstruction of its Nordic neighbors. This is mostly forgotten today and Sweden is often cited as being cowardly or greedy. But they do not know this. In solidarity, Swedish school children would at times mobilize more for another country then their own.

[HeinzGuderian_]

"We're completely surrounded and outnumbered. We should stand on principle and antagonize them".

[Rextum]

The wartimes are always tough. Yes, Sweden may have made a few miscalculations, but all in all their strategy was wise. As a Finn, I admit Finland also did some less honourable decisions, but I don’t think we really had much choice back then. There were very few countries that helped Finland in our hour of need. I do think that Sweden and Baltic nations, especially Estonia were really helping us, sending volunteers and weapons. Also, we did get lots of help from the Germans. I don’t like Nazis, but politically retaining our independence was crucial. So, thank you Sweden, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania for your help! And thank you Germany as well, not the Nazi party, but the German soldiers! Let us hope we never have to lose the lives of our sons and daughters again to satisfy the greed and bloodlust of dictators and politicians, no matter which country or party they come from!