What if sweden had Joined WW2?

[Chad1992]

I was just messing around and wanted to see what sweden had in WW2.  Turns out they had some neat weapons including tanks.  Would of been interesting to see what they would of done and who they would of joined?  Allies? Axis?  Maybe just Finland to stop the Soviet invasion?  What do you guys think?  Nice thing is maybe with Finland comeing to Forgotten Hope maybe we'll see some of there equipment, or volunteer troops? 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_equipment_of_Sweden_during_World_War_II

[Ciupita]

No for Swedish equipment in FH2, that's for sure.

Sweden would not have had any more effect than, say, Hungary had. Of course alliance between Sweden and Finland could have stopped the Winter War, or not (Germany would probably have attacked Sweden then).

[THeTA0123]

Sweden was a well equipped army. Highly trained, professional..You name it.

Very good weapons. And a army well made

But only for defensive purposes...Not offensive. Sweden was a neutral defending country and that whats its army was based upon. Simular to the Swiss, any invader who would have invaded Sweden would face very high casualties.

Of course alliance between Sweden and Finland could have stopped the Winter War, or not (Germany would probably have attacked Sweden then).

Most likely yes. Sweden could have been the big Ace in the hole in the winter.

As for Germany invading Sweden, Germany knew that if they invaded Sweden, The swedish would have destroyed any mining equipment and therefor, seriously slowing down iron ore deliveries to Germany. Swedish iron ore was the major iron source for the germans in WW2. Up to 85%. It was far better that the germans payed the swedish high cash the entire war, then for germany taking the place over themselves.


I am a proud owner of a swedish mauser myself, and a complete swedish army infantry soldier outfit.

A alternative reality video game were germany invades Sweden/Switzerland is a dream for me

[Ts4EVER]

WinSpWW2 has Sweden as a playable nation with all ww2 equipment

[Torenico]

Invading Sweden for the Germans would be just as stupid as invading Switzerland.

[Biiviz]

Sweden was a well equipped army. Highly trained, professional..You name it.

The Swedish army was almost as badly equipped and underfunded as the Finnish army. A wave of naivety had swept across the Nordic countries prior to the war. Luckily for us, they had planes to spare and quickly rearmed themselves after '39.

[THeTA0123]

Sweden was a well equipped army. Highly trained, professional..You name it.

The Swedish army was almost as badly equipped and underfunded as the Finnish army. A wave of naivety had swept across the Nordic countries prior to the war. Luckily for us, they had planes to spare and quickly rearmed themselves after '39.

I think you should read the book "crown jewels" by Dana jones before you make that assumption

[Nilsson]

When the Germans invaded Norway, it took almost a week before the Swedish army got to the border. They had almost no at-weapons, and almost no MGs. Tanks was rare, and compared to the development in Germany, it went slow with the build up, and in the late war, we had nothing compared to the panther for example.
I'd say Sweden was about 2 years after the development in the rest of the world through out the war.

[Zoologic]

What the Swedes lack in equipment they patch it up with quality of resources.

Historically the Swede-Russo war has always been tight despite Swedish' lack of numbers. Of course Swede is the loser, but then they showed up some good fight. Also they seem to be less bullied by English speakers than the badass France.

[Biiviz]

I think you should read the book "crown jewels" by Dana jones before you make that assumption

Yes, because I'm totally going to get a 60€ book because of your post.

What I know about the Swedish military leading up to the Winter War is this:

Swedish military strength was at one of its low points in 1939, a rearmament program had been decided in 1936 but it hadn't yet had any substantial effect on the armed forces. The army only had 16 tanks apart from a small number of tankettes armed with machine guns. Air defence guns were few and the air force only had 36 Gloster Gladiator fighters. Modern artillery was very limited, short range guns of the great war era or older where the norm. Worst of all, training had been very reduced in a 1925 decision to cut back on the armed forces, most units didn't have winter training and left army units needing to conduct rehearsal training after a mobilization.

Now you tell me, does Dana Jones disagree with that?

[Chad1992]

Before the war sweden was weak but by the end they had made large gains.  800 tanks in 1945 compared to 13 and 1,000,000 foot soldiers.

[THeTA0123]

Tens of thousands MG"s by 1942 with simular strategies like the germans (The soldiers support the LMG)

Powerfull AA-defenses and upgraded artillery

Comparable to the german army? no but heck alot better then the other axis nations like Romania, Hungary and such

[Biiviz]

Before the war sweden was weak but by the end they had made large gains.  800 tanks in 1945 compared to 13 and 1,000,000 foot soldiers.

The Winter War lasted  Nov 1939 - March 1940. During those ~105 days the Swedes couldn't possibly have churned out enough tanks to make a difference.

Having the Swedes join in on re-taking occupied Finnish territory in 1941 when the Continuation War was started is another thing. That would effectively have put them on the opposite side of the Allies though.

Tens of thousands MG"s by 1942 with simular strategies like the germans (The soldiers support the LMG)

The core of the Finnish officer corps were trained in Germany and the Finnish army was shaped according to Prussian and Swedish forms. The Winter War was a disaster for both Finnish and Soviet sides, but the Swedish didn't have enough by the start of the war to make a difference if they wanted to have a believable defense against the Germans too.

Still, they sent IIRC ~1/3 of their air force and tons of equipment.

The Continuation War might have looked differently, as the Germans would technically be on the same side and not a threat, but that adds them to the list of Allied enemies as well, especially later in the war when people started finding out about the dark side of the German "machinery".

Powerfull AA-defenses and upgraded artillery

A lot of that in static form. Especially naval defense. They could've sent us some Bofors 40mm, but either way Winter war is a no-no - Continuation War, maybe.

Comparable to the german army? no but heck alot better then the other axis nations like Romania, Hungary and such

Oh? Sounds a bit different than:

Sweden was a well equipped army. Highly trained, professional..You name it.

Very good weapons. And a army well made

I don't think anyone expected them to be on the level of Germany, but "you name it" implies a lot more.

They were well equipped towards the end of the war, which Finland was to some extent too at the end, having received StuGs, BF109s, hand-held AT-weapons, proper uniforms, artillery pieces that weren't looted from museums and enough artillery rounds to make a difference. Naturally Sweden was on a higher level, not being under attack and all.

Finns sometimes like to criticize the Swedes for not doing more, but in the end they did what they thought they could afford without weakening themselves against the Germans and at the same time not getting on the Allies' bad side. Just like the Finns did through post-war diplomacy (bowing to the east without mooning the west).

[th_battleaxe]

Comparable to the german army? no but heck alot better then the other axis nations like Romania, Hungary and such

I agree. Romania's army was a joke. They only had one armoured division in 1941, and by the time they reached Odessa, it was in a million pieces. They only had Renault R-35's, R-1's (same chassis as the Pz.38 (t), only armed with 2 MG's) and R-2's (Panzer 35 (t)'s, Romanians owned about 130 of them at the start of Barbarossa).

Careful about Hungary, though. They were the only Axis nation that received Tiger I's from the Germans. They also had a goodly number of Panzer IV's

[Mudzin]

Maybe I should create a new topic: "What if Poland joined Axis"....

Quoting my father: "we would live in a better world"...