Swedish responses to Soviet moves East of the Baltic Sea: the Baltic states in Swedish military planning, 1939-41
ENWith the German attack on the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941 the three Baltic countries became an active theatre of war and, consequently, the strategic significance of the Baltic Sea region changed. From a Swedish point of view the independence of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in 1918 had created a buffer zone, or a cordon sanitaire, between itself and the new Soviet Russia. The Soviet army no longer had direct access to the Baltic coast and the Russian navy was more or less enclosed in its base at Kronstadt, deep within the Gulf of Finland. Throughout the interwar era the Swedish military focused its attention on Finland. Both states discussed plans for future cooperation between the Swedish and Finnish armies in case of war with Soviet Russia and also made plans for a Swedish occupation of the Åland islands. Finland had direct military contacts with the Baltic States, mainly Estonia. It was Sweden’s intention to draw Finland towards the Scandinavian countries. However, any suggestion that these would, or could, give the Baltic States any kind of military support was regarded as unrealistic. For Stockholm it was far better if the three Baltic countries entered some kind of alliance with Poland, by far the strongest link in the chain of buffer states along the western borders of the Soviet Union. For numerous reasons, not least owing to the Vilna conflict, none of these hopes were ever realised. Sweden did, however, have some military contacts with the three Baltic republics, mainly through the exchange of officers. In this way, and via the traditional links through military attachés, Sweden gathered information about the military situation in the three states. [...].
