Viking Battalion Veterans Honoured

The US Army 99th Infantry Battalion a.k.a. "the Viking Battalion" was mainly a Norwegian American unit but a number of Swedish Americans and even some Swedish citizens were part of it, which is why it is also featured in Swedes at War.

Here are two recent images courtesy of the 99th, showing how some 99th veterans recently were honoured by the Norwegian Armed Forces. I just love these images (note the viking ship insignia):



Dont miss the 99th Infantry website to see more photos, both from WWII and postwar.

Hat tip to Bill Hoffland!

New Viking Age Discoveries

If you feel like following a Swedish archeological dig almost live, then this Swedish blog in English is for you. They are finding some rather interesting stuff from the Viking age and later.

RIP, My Best Russian Friend

Earlier today I learnt that my best friend in Russia, Roman Kravchenko-Berezhnoy, died the 20th of May. I honestly believe I somehow sensed this. For some weeks now I have felt uneasy for long periods, which I very seldom do.

The book project I have been a part of that I am most proud of was not about one of my own books, but Roman 's book: Victims, Victors: From Nazi Occupation to the Conquest of Germany as Seen by a Red Army Soldier. I was one of its editors.

The main part of the book is Roman's secret wartime diary that he wrote as a teenager in Nazi-occupied Ukraine. At the time his dream was "to survive until our guys got back, become a soldier myself, get a submachine gun, and head westward with them". But what really sets this book apart is that Roman is a very odd volunteer for the Red Army, as he has been raised in Poland, in a home very much part of a Russia that ceased to exist in 1917.

Although Roman after Hitler's 1941 attack against the Soviet Union dearly wants the Red Army to win, his family is not at all Soviet or Communist, it is a Russian family that has lived in a Russian community within a Ukrainian part of Poland until the advent of WWII.


Roman in 1942, while writing his occupation diaries.

Thus, getting to know Roman was getting to know not only a very warm, wise and remarkable gentleman, it was also a fantastic opportunity to get to know Russia before 1917 in the form of a living human being. It is still just as mind-boggling to me as ever, no - even more now, when I think about it.

My friend after having become a submachinegunner and then frontline military interpreter. Here he holds the rank of a sergeant in the Red Army.

Well, as you have already guessed, Roman could realize his dream and become a Red Army solider, in 1944. Thus a part of the book constitutes his candid memories of being a teenage soldier that in a matter of months becomes a seasoned veteran and also gets greater responsibilities when his language skills are discovered. He is then transferred to a reconnaissance detachment.

He fights in Latvia, Poland, and Germany up to the seizure of Berlin. In occupied Germany he serves as a military interpreter for some five years, including for an Inter-Allied group searching for remains of Allied aviators.

Because of the nature of the Stalinist system Roman was then "rewarded" for his long service abroad and contacts with westerners with banishment to a construction battalion in the Motherland.

Roman Kravchenko-Berezhnoy (1926-2011). Teenage writer and soldier and later NCO, scientist and linguist. But above all: a brave, honest man and gentleman.

I was very glad that Roman got to read several wonderful reviews about his book, that in the Russian language was virtually unknown until the advent of the English translation by Marina Guba in 2007, made possible by the small quality publisher Aberjona Press of Bedford, Pennsylvania. For example, Walter S. Dunn wrote in Journal of Military History about it: "A remarkable document, casting light on events little understood. . . . Required reading for students of World War II and modern Russian history."

Still, I must say I am also somewhat disappointed that this moving and "truly unique" (quote from David M. Glantz) book has not yet been translated into my own language, Swedish, although part of the book takes place in Sweden. Amazingly, the author again became a "frontline" interpreter in 1990 while on a hijacked plane that was landed in Sweden. The book also should have a sizeable audience in German-speaking countries and in Poland, where much of the book takes place. I also strongly believe that it could be made into a movie that actually could promote understanding for the Eastern European WWII experience.

To somewhat understand Russia and other states once part of the "Eastern bloc", studying WWII is simply essential. I also believe that especially the Red Army has long been a mystery to westerners for the lack of i.a. translated auto-biographies. Therefore I warmly recommend to those who have not read Victims, Victors to check it out. The book is available from many internet book stores.

Commander Savage in Lapland

I had read about a bomb sight being thrown out over Lapland before but only now am grasping the whole story of Commander Peter Savage in Lapland, thanks to this obituary.

Hat tip to Peter Hore and Jan Erik Oja!

One Special Pacific Swede

The subtitle translates as "The Swedish American that survived Pearl Harbor".

In six months it will be 70 years since Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. Because a relative of mine was there and almost went down with his ship I have since childhood had a special relationship to Pearl Harbor. This fall a book will appear about Emery "Swede" Lundquist who was there and afterwards even experienced Arctic war, but lived to tell.

In fact, Emery "Swede" Lundquist lives to this day. The coming Swedish book Swede is the result of Mr. Lundquist's meetings with an experienced Swedish journalist, Thomas Tynander. Thanks to Mr. Lundquist's wartime diary his memories are extra credible and detailed.

Swede is not Mr. Tynander's first bok about a Swedish American fate, Tynander's biography about the hockey legend Pelle Lindbergh was released also in English in 2009.

"Swede" Lundquist experienced not only all major naval battles against Japan, he was also in the extreme but rather unknown fight for the Aleutian Islands, those 200 islands between Alaska and Russia.

I was given a sneek peak and can testify that Swede will be appreciated by many, both WWII buffs and all Swedes interested in their American family branch(es). Hopefully, some US publisher will also want to publish Swede.

Nord Training In Oulu

The Finnish reenactors behind this new Wochenschau have put a lot of effort into the production.

A previously unknown German news reel from the Arctic? Well, at least a rather good attempt to create one in 2011.

The depicted area is Finnish Oulu, not very far from where I live and where the "Nord" mountain division of the Waffen-SS trained.

The production has a few flaws that give it away as a fake Wochenschau, but quite possibly younger people watching this, especially in the future, may believe it is the real thing. I find this somewhat alarming, but in this case I would say the aim has just been to create a short film Wochenschau-style for historical and human interest in the depicted soldiers, and in filmmaking itself.

I took part in similar reenactments in the 1980s portraying a British tanker. Here I am, to the right, with a "captured" Tiger tank in France:

"British" tankers with a "captured" Tiger in Vimoutiers, Normandy. Not back in 1944 though, but 1985 or ´86

Part of the key to successful faking is using a period camera with period-type film. If memory serves me right I used a 1940s "box camera" (large format negatives) for the above image.

Today I lack both the time and devotion for reenacting, but find it interesting to once in a while check out the reenactment scene via the internet.

I would say the above Finnish-made video from Youtube would have been perfect had the editing been more drastic and the speech faster and more distinct. Some moments are perfect, impossible to tell from the real thing. Which, again, makes me somewhat concerned about the whole thing. I guess I have mixed feelings nowadays, while 20 years ago I would have been mostly enthusiastic.

Sweden´s No 1 MIA

Not long ago I blogged about Sweden´s most famous MIA, Raoul Wallenberg. I was then not aware of the latest book about him, The Envoy by Alex Kershaw. If you have the slightest interest in Wallenberg, read it!

Here´s why: its up to date, very disturbing, very well written and also inspiring. If you ever have a hard time, stop and ponder what happened to Raoul Wallenberg, and more specifically how he was let down.

I have a stack of books I want to review but will be short of time till I don´t know when. So instead of reviewing books only this fall, I will instead write very short reviews. Thus I will only add that not only is this book a great read and important for what it says about Wallenberg and the late efforts to find him, it also vividly describes events in Budapest like Otto Skorzeny´s Operation Panzerfaust.