OOB 066 Sweden [WIP]

[wulfir]

- BASICS -

During the Cold War the Swedish armed forces prepared to meet ‘the Invasion’.
The one potential enemy was the Soviet Union, often known by the term Stormakten –Swedish for ‘The Great Power’.

It was believed ‘the Great Power’ in times of conflict might have wanted grab Swedish territory or be able to use Swedish airspace in a war against the western powers, especially the northern and southern parts of the country.

The Swedish armed forces were meant to have such strength that a successful Soviet invasion would demand unreasonable resources and be much too costly to seem worthwhile.

Neutrality was a sacred concept and endorsed by the population at large. No political party would seriously question it, officially, as it was akin to political suicide. In secret Sweden had a lot of contact with the western powers, much of it something that the USSR was probably aware of.

Following the demise of the Soviet Union the Swedish armed forces were, over a period of years, subject to massive downsizing. Focus shifted steadily from “facing the invasion” to “international missions”. Today the aim of the Swedish armed forces is primarily being able to deploy smaller number of troops (from small detachments to battalion/battlegroup size) to various hotspots in the world, generally in a peacekeeping/peace-enforcing role.

[wulfir]

- The Swedish Air Force -

Following the end of the second world war the Swedish Air Force – Flygvapnet – was greatly expanded. No longer was the Swedish air space to be defended by obsolete aircraft, but the best that could be found. Eventually a strong airplane industry producing high performance military aircraft was developed. In the early 1950s it was considered to be the 4th largest Air Force in the world. Although it did not retain this “rating” very long, for most of the cold war era the Air Force enjoyed being a prioritised branch. In numbers it was larger than all other Nordic countries combined.

Most of the Air Force strike aircraft were pooled in a unit known as E1 (1a Attackeskadern), sometimes nicknamed “the Supreme Commander’s heavy club”. Their primary mission was to attack the supposed Soviet invasion fleet during its passage in the Baltic. During the early stages of the cold war the Soviet naval forces had limited shipping resources and limited range on their fighters. It was not believed the Soviets would be able to mount a coastal invasion while E1 existed. However, during the later stages of the cold war Soviet weapons and aircraft became better. And unlike the Swedes they did not lessen their numbers.

In the age of the AJ37 Viggen it was expected E1 would be able to deliver four sorties on the invasion fleet. The priority targets being the Soviet escort vessels. If enough destroyers and corvettes were sunk the Soviets would have to abort or the Swedish navy and coastal artillery would slaughter the Soviet transport ships as it came close to the coast.

The secondary mission of E1 was to destroy roads in the north. A land invasion of northern Sweden would have to pass through Finland. There were six main roads (of which four were especially good) and one railway necessary to supply a broad invasion.

[wulfir]

- The Swedish Naval Service -

During the Cold war the Swedish Naval service had two main branches; one was the Navy and the other the Coastal Artillery.

The Navy
Following the Second World War Sweden had a conventional navy. The prospect of nuclear war and the threat from enemy aircraft led to the navy transforming to a coastal fleet of small fast attack craft along with submarines. The navy was entirely geared to meet the Soviet invasion, something known as “the curse of the Red Arrow”. There was a very limited understanding of any other maritime task than that of sinking Soviet transport ships in a total war environment. Only the submarines had the capability of offensive action. The surface attack craft would have to wait for the Soviet invasion fleet – “the Red Arrow” to come close to the Swedish coast before joining the battle. The navy also lacked an anti-ship missile for quite some time which was a great problem. During the 80s this changed, due to two main factors – one was the possibility of a surprising strategic assault (the navy was less dependent on mobilising forces than the army), the second factor was the supposed Soviet submarine activity in the Baltic. For a decade the hunting of Soviet submarines transformed the navy to a force in near constant readiness with much experience of anti-submarine service in the tricky conditions of the Baltic Sea. New weapons, including anti-ship missiles were also introduced. By the end of the Cold War the navy had swung from “the Curse of the Red Arrow” to contest a Soviet dominance of the sea, a first line of defence. Ironically by that time the Soviet Union fell apart.


The Coastal Artillery

The Costal Artillery had been established in 1902. It included an elaborate string of artillery fortifications, mine stations and mobile coastal artillery units eventually with both field artillery and missiles established along sensitive areas of the Swedish coast, mostly in the southern parts. The Coastal Artillery also operated smaller naval vessels.

Although the primary mission was to engage enemy shipping it was also to work, when necessary, in conjunction with the Army.

The Coastal Artillery also included the Coastal Ranger formations established in the late 1950s – a sort of light infantry operating in the archipelago areas. They were and remain one of the more fabled groups in the entire Swedish armed forces, although today their mission has changed somewhat.

The Coastal Artillery was disbanded in 2000 and replaced with the much smaller Amphibious Corps. Virtually all of the artillery emplacements and fortifications were taken out of comission.

[wulfir]

- The Army -

The army was the largest branch of the defence force during the cold war.
It had a peacetime structure devoted to “producing” wartime formations.
The army was entirely dependent upon mobilisation to reach any strength.
Although it had readiness formations there were no standing units. All the gear were stored in dispersed locations known as mobilisation depots where the conscript/reservists would go to be kitted out.

At various training establishments, commonly known as regiments, the conscripts were given their recruit training. Following this they would be called up for refresher training after a few years with their wartime unit. At a certain age they were generally transferred to local defence units and a new set of conscripts had to be trained for that particular unit.

The army was organised in fördelningsförband (fördelning is a division size unit), brigadförband, (brigade size units) and försvarsområdesförband (Defence Area units – included various battalion size formations, local defence and Home Guard).




The branches of the army were:
Infantry
Cavalry*
Armour
Artillery
Army Air**
Anti Air
Engineers
Signals
Supply

*In the Swedish army, horses were used well into the 1960s. Following the de-horsing the cavalry regiments generally produced war time units of light infantry character.

**Army Air (Arméflyget) operated the helicopters of the army.

[wulfir]

Ops..., just noticed I can't edit any post in this thread apart from the first one - I had planned to list all changes as I get them done, but I guess that won't be possible...

[cbreedon]

Originally Posted by wulfir

- The Swedish Naval Service -

During the Cold war the Swedish Naval service had two main branches; one was the Navy and the other the Coastal Artillery.

The Navy
Following the Second World War Sweden had a conventional navy. The prospect of nuclear war and the threat from enemy aircraft led to the navy transforming to a coastal fleet of small fast attack craft along with submarines. The navy was entirely geared to meet the Soviet invasion, something known as “the curse of the Red Arrow”. There was a very limited understanding of any other maritime task than that of sinking Soviet transport ships in a total war environment. Only the submarines had the capability of offensive action. The surface attack craft would have to wait for the Soviet invasion fleet – “the Red Arrow” to come close to the Swedish coast before joining the battle. The navy also lacked an anti-ship missile for quite some time which was a great problem. During the 80s this changed, due to two main factors – one was the possibility of a surprising strategic assault (the navy was less dependent on mobilising forces than the army), the second factor was the supposed Soviet submarine activity in the Baltic. For a decade the hunting of Soviet submarines transformed the navy to a force in near constant readiness with much experience of anti-submarine service in the tricky conditions of the Baltic Sea. New weapons, including anti-ship missiles were also introduced. By the end of the Cold War the navy had swung from “the Curse of the Red Arrow” to contest a Soviet dominance of the sea, a first line of defence. Ironically by that time the Soviet Union fell apart.


The Coastal Artillery

The Costal Artillery had been established in 1902. It included an elaborate string of artillery fortifications, mine stations and mobile coastal artillery units eventually with both field artillery and missiles established along sensitive areas of the Swedish coast, mostly in the southern parts. The Coastal Artillery also operated smaller naval vessels.

Although the primary mission was to engage enemy shipping it was also to work, when necessary, in conjunction with the Army.

The Coastal Artillery also included the Coastal Ranger formations established in the late 1950s – a sort of light infantry operating in the archipelago areas. They were and remain one of the more fabled groups in the entire Swedish armed forces, although today their mission has changed somewhat.

The Coastal Artillery was disbanded in 2000 and replaced with the much smaller Amphibious Corps. Virtually all of the artillery emplacements and fortifications were taken out of comission.

I could help maybe with the Coastal Jaeger part. My neighbor was in in the mid 90's, so I should be able to get some org details and weapons if you need them...

[wulfir]

[quote=cbreedon;741289]

Originally Posted by wulfir

I could help maybe with the Coastal Jaeger part. My neighbor was in in the mid 90's, so I should be able to get some org details and weapons if you need them...

Thanks, but I think I have it pretty much covered - since KJ still is rather celebrated, it's easier to find solid info..., compared to some less renowned formations...

...besides it is best to use the P/U tabeller charts as the training organisations did not always follow the intended wartime organisation...

[wulfir]

Units changed

Unit Slot.....Name................Unit class
052...........Tgb m/42 SKPD...23 APC (Wheel)

Change:
Changed end date from 12/92 to 12/101.
Added Ksp 58 AAMG.

The Tgb m/42, also known as KP-bil, was a WWII-vintage wheeled APC that remained in service for the entire cold war up until the year 2000. It was meant to be phased out by the 1960s, but remained the mainstay APC of the 18th Brigade.


Unit Slot.....Name................Unit class
056...........Pbv 501.........122 Light Support APC

Change:
Changed end date to 12/107

The Pbv 501 was a modernised version of the old former East German BMP-1s. They were meant to replace the soft skinned transport (tgb and Bv206) in the infantry brigades. The former East German APC were cheap and meant to be a stop gap meassure until the next generation of APCs could be developed. In the end they were hardly used beyond trials, as the brigades intended to field these vehicles were disbanded in 2000. Spent most of its service time in Sweden stored in depots. "The most never used". Last one sold 2007.


Unit Slot.....Name................Unit class
414...........Bkv 151...........21 SP Artillery

Changes:

Changed name to Bkan 1A. Set end date to 12/103.

Artillerivagn 151 was the name of the prototype.
Army desigantion was Bkan 1A (Bandkanon = tracked gun).
This artillery system was slow, heavy and had an impressive rate of fire - it could empty its magazine of 14 rounds in 45 seconds. Each gun was usually acompanied by an ammo carrier, a so called "dumper". Of the planned 90 guns only 26 were built. All of them were deployed in the north of Sweden. An upgraded version known as Bkan 1C was made avaliable in the late 1980s with a stronger engine.

[wulfir]

Unit Slot.....Name................Unit class
459...........Bkv 151 Battery......156 O/M Heavy Artillery

Changes:

Changed name to Bkan 1A Battery. Set end date to 12/103.


Unit Slot.....Name................Unit class
202...........Strf 9040/56......127 Gun APC (Tracked)

Change:

Changed start date to 11/120.

This was a prototype of the CV90 family armed with the Rb56 BILL ATGM. It is very unlikely it will advance beyond trials.


Unit Slot.....Name................Unit class
049...........SSG AMOS DF.........18 Assault Gun

Unit Slot.....Name................Unit class
433...........SSG 120 AMOS.........38 SP Mortar

Unit Slot.....Name................Unit class
434...........SSG 120 STRIX........38 SP Mortar

Change:
Changed start date to 11/120 for all AMOS units.

This was a prototype of the CV90 family. Dual 120mm SP mortar system. It is very unlikely it will advance beyond trials.