Pre-TL Question; Swedish intervention in the Winter war?

I have started working on a TL in which Sweden becomes a belligerent in the Winter War.

I read somewhere that the Swedish commander of the northern army group had planned to move into Finland and take positions on Finnish soil, if the northern front seemed to collapse. But the government found out and forbade him from moving without express orders to do so.

I intended to use this as a POD, but I don't know if this was based on facts, or just speculations?

Anyone heard anything about this?


And if anyone is interested, the basic premise of the timeline;
Mayor-General Douglas, seeing the early collapse of the Salla front in December 1939, sends a quick message to HQ, and moves into Finland without waiting for confirmation. The Finns greet them warmly.

Before HQ is scrambled (possible the timely absence of the chief of staff among others) and the government made aware small units are already in Finland. The order to stop comes to late to stop the leading elements engaging the Soviets and as OTL they are pushed back.

The War is Immensely popular in the press. (Swedish victories, brother Finns, ancient Russian enemies and the communist threat etc.). And the order to pull back is not.

The Finns feels betrayed and the Soviets are angry. A quick raid on Swedish shipping is launched by the Soviet Baltic fleet before the ice makes it impossible.

Suddenly there is a popular demand for War. And the government has little choice but to become officially belligerent (no DOW is needed as Sweden is non-belligerent not neutral.)

They soon find that the Swedish army is in no state to fight at home, never mind across the Baltic. Almost all supplies are already earmarked for Finland so only a partial mobilization can be ordered.

The War goes pretty much as in OTL, with only small changes, the increased manpower and supplies are countered by the unwillingness of parts of the Swedish government to fight and increased Soviet forces.

In early spring when the allies starts pressuring for military access and the like and the Soviets launch their March offensive, the Swedish government (as in OTL) starts pressuring for peace. Equally unwilling to draw Scandinavia into a new Great War the Finnish government goes for it as well.

The Peace looks roughly the same as in OTL (Stalin doesn't want the allies in the game any more than anyone else) with only economic reparations being the cost for Sweden.

As War breaks out in Europe it looks pretty OTL except that the Swedes now have an stabbed-in-the-back myth much like the one in Germany, and the population are in uproar, blaming everything on the sitting government.




As the rest of the TL goes it looks slightly Sweden-wanky, with the Royals being star players, at least propaganda wise.

Does anyone have any thoughts about it in general? If I can get the POD to work that is?
 
Major-General Douglas

As a POD its good, but remember that 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 the 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. So if Sweden is going to intervene effectively, their military needs to be a lot stronger - which means an earlier POD unless you want the Swedes to get toasted. Which is what the Govt of the time feared would happen.

As far as an actual military intervention goes, within the Swedish military, officers who had been volunteers in the Finnish civil war were senior officers at the time of the Winter War. Most notable among them were Axel Rappe, a member of the General Staff, and Archibald Douglas, commander of the Northern Army Corps. The belief that Sweden was best served by a defense in Finland was primarily the view of Douglas, whose Northern Army Corps comprised around 26,600 men who had been mobilised to guard the Swedish border with Finland in case the Russians invaded. He reasoned that the best way he could defend Sweden was to move into Finland and meet the Russians there. When the Russians had reached a certain point inside Finland, the whole Northern Army Corps would move across the border and take up positions along the Kemi river, all without approval of the Swedish government.

The fact that the Swedish government did not get news of Douglas' plan right away makes it entirely possible that the plan could have been implemented. However, when they did find out, and the plan was scrapped, Douglas was allowed to retain command and later rose to become Chief of the Army.
The Northern Army Corps, barred from entering Finland, did not end attempts at aid, however. Swedish first line units would at times lose equipment and material that was needed on the other side of the border. The willingness to help out can be traced to officers in charge of Swedish supply units likening the Swedish Army Stores at Boden as a Finnish supply base.

So yes, realistic POD and valid starting point.
 
As a POD its good, but remember that 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.
So if Sweden is going to intervene effectively, their military needs to be a lot stronger - which means an earlier POD unless you want the Swedes to get toasted. Which is what the Govt of the time feared would happen.
The Plan is for them to get toasted, at least eventually. But riding on the first wave off Finnish success in December, and building up a widespread support for the War before the government sanctions the effort and the cracks begin to show, makes the Military look great and the government look even worse. The entire Army won't be mobilized, mainly because of the reason you mentioned. More along the lines of an expeditionary force nominally under Field Marshal Mannerheim's command. Later when the front finally falls apart in early March, it will be saved by the peace treaty but not before a series of disgruntled officers make some semi-public mutterings about the state of the army be heard in the press.

It's kind of a worst case scenario for the government, as all success is on the military and all failure on theirs.
As far as an actual military intervention goes, within the Swedish military, officers who had been volunteers in the Finnish civil war were senior officers at the time of the Winter War.
In the TL most senior officers will be pro-war, cheif among them those who fought in the civil war. Especially Douglas will be outraged when the government orders him out of Finland. The conflict Government /Military will be one of the reasons the Government manages to take such a beating.
When the Russians had reached a certain point inside Finland, the whole Northern Army Corps would move across the border and take up positions along the Kemi river, all without approval of the Swedish government.
I use Douglas plan in the TL . And as the Soviets were only stopped almost at the bank OTL, the intervention comes early when the Finns are retreating toward Kemijärvi. As the TL goes the advance units arrive early enough to help stop the Soviets, and then tag along the counter offensive.



It will be the first Swedish military action, and victory in over a century, and the Propaganda machines in both Finland and Sweden will make a huge deal about the brother people united against the Russians again. And the Swedish government would be busy, in public, trying to rip all that to tatters, further increasing their inpopularity. And then it will snowball from there.

So yes, realistic POD and valid starting point.
:D
 
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