Gung ho Swedes
The Swedes have been opening up their archives a tad, revealing that in the early 50s their armed forces were prepared to launch counter strikes against the Soviet Union and its glove puppets in the event of a war breaking out. Source.
Perhaps Putin et al should be a little concerned, as not all of the files are out in the open yet, as "there are structures from that time that are still very much current".
Given the doughty defence put up by the Finns in 1939 /40 during the Winter War, perhaps Stalin was a little wary of trying it on, the result of Poltava notwithstanding. I suppose it says something about the lack of historical perspective brought to our notions of various nations that the Swedes are thought of - if at all - as having stopped fighting with the vikings, despite having been very martial indeed in the 17th and 18th centuries, and to all intents and purposes Gustav Adolphus saved Protestant Germany during the 30 Years War.
Perhaps Putin et al should be a little concerned, as not all of the files are out in the open yet, as "there are structures from that time that are still very much current".
Given the doughty defence put up by the Finns in 1939 /40 during the Winter War, perhaps Stalin was a little wary of trying it on, the result of Poltava notwithstanding. I suppose it says something about the lack of historical perspective brought to our notions of various nations that the Swedes are thought of - if at all - as having stopped fighting with the vikings, despite having been very martial indeed in the 17th and 18th centuries, and to all intents and purposes Gustav Adolphus saved Protestant Germany during the 30 Years War.
Labels: Mother Russia, Sweden
This entry was posted
on Saturday, May 26, 2007 at 1:17 pm.
You can skip to the end and leave a response.
All those Saab Drakens, Viggens and Gripens - the stuff of schoolboy fantasies ...
er, well ... (coughs)
I have worked with a swedish company in the ninties, most of the men were on the swedish army reserve,russian submarines made the odd foray into swedish waters and found themselves on the hot end of of depth charging. In places the roads are widened to make emergency runways. Woe betide any Russian caught loitering with a camera. Its called defence in depth.
When I was in BAOR there used to be a strategy called NAAFIs In Depth. Our tanks were crap, but the theory was, our strategically-placed NAAFIs were so well stocked with electrical goodies and other consumer durables, the oncoming Soviet hordes would have been fatally slowed up as their looting instincts kicked in.
And if that didn't work ... err ... well some of the SSAFA Sisters were pretty fierce
» Post a Comment