Swedes in the Great War 1914-1919

Reading the text in the war diary of Ernest Julius Alfred Ersson Erickson brings me to tears. The reason for this is the great connection I have established to one of the relatives to Ernest.

Background

For many years ago, in the beginning of my research, I found beautiful files and photographs of American soldiers who turned out to be Swedish born individuals, who emigrated from Sweden to North America, and particpated in the Great War. It turned out it were three of them, and I immidiately became very attached to them.

The files and photographs came from Mark Erickson, who is the Grandson to one of the soldiers, Frank (Frans) Gustav Severin Ersson Erickson. Frank had four brothers, Ernest Julius Alfred, Andy (Anders) Sebran Filimon, Erik Olof Helmer, and the youngest one, Al (Alphons) Frederick Alcassar. He also had two sisters, Vera (Elvira) Edla Alfrida Gallager and Abby (Ebba) Kristina Agnis Lincoln. Al was the only one born in the US.

Three of the brothers participated in the Great War, however, only two survived.

Mark Erickson and I have communicated a lot during the years, and I have received the full family history, and it is almost impossible to decide where to start. Although, I have decided to start by jumping right into the action that Ernest Julius Alfred saw on the battlefield. With the full permission by Mark, I will now use some of his material in this article, and for that I am very grateful.

This is the story about the one of three brothers who fell in the Meuse Argonne Offensive, that dark day of October 10, 1918. The story of Ernest Julius Alfred Erickson.

The Family

The family left Torpshammar, Sundsvall, Sweden for North America in March, 1903, and settled down in Regan, Burleigh County, North Dakota.

Ernest Julius Alfred and two of his brothers got drafted for the US Army in 1917, and they all went over to France to serve within the American Expeditionary Force, AEF.

Ernest was born in Torpshammar parish, Västernorrland county, in the landscape of Medelpad, Sweden, on January 9th, 1889.

Along with his two younger brothers, Frank and Sebran, the three brothers were serving on the Western Front in France. Sebran left for England in late 1917, Ernest Julius left on July 6, 1918, and was at the time of the letter below, in combat. Frank followed a month later on August 8, 1918, and headed to England and was in combat in France in mid-August, serving with the 308th Infantry Company H of the 77th Division.

Ernest served in the 91st Division, 361st Infantry Regiment, Frank served in the 77th Division, 208th Infantry, and survived they days between October 2nd to 8th, 1918, through the actions within the today called the “Lost Battalion” Franks adventure will be described in another article. Andy served in the 101st Aero Squadron, stationed in Bourges, France.

More Swedes in the 91st Division

Together with Ernest Julius Alfred, more Swedish born soldiers served within the 91st Division, AEF.

27 of the Swedes, who fought within the 91st Division, met their final destiny on the battlefield, and 10 of these soldiers belonged to the same Regiment as Ernest, the 361st Infantry Regiment.

The 10 Swedes were as follows:

8 of the soldiers mentioned above were killed in action, one of them, John Ekwall, died of wounds and one, Davis M Lindeborg, died of illness. John Ekwall was later transported back to Sweden and is today buried in Onslunda, Skåne, Sweden, in the same parish where he was born. 17 Swedish born soldiers, who served for AEF, were brought home and buried in Sweden.

The Diary explains

Ernest Julius Alfred’s diary survived the war and is today back in the United States, and has later been transcribed. Text from Mark Erickson:

My uncle, Ernest Julius, met a tragic end on October 10, 1918, felled by a sniper’s bullet in France’s Argonne Forest during the intense Meuse-Argonne Offensive. He and Pvt. Jesse A. Keene from Company C were tasked with delivering a vital message to Company B of the 362nd Infantry. Amidst sniper fire, both men scattered for cover, but Ernest was struck, left motionless in the open for five agonizing minutes, as witnessed by Keene.

Pvt. Keene retreated to report the incident, but Ernest’s body was recovered later, initially interred in 1919 at the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery near Romagne-sous-Montfaucon, France. In 1921, his remains were brought home to North Dakota, laid to rest in the family cemetery in Riverdale.

Most poignantly, Pvt. Keene found Ernest’s blood-stained journal in his coat, a record of scouting reports and personal thoughts, ending mid-sentence with the incomplete letter ‘s’—a final, abrupt silence.

Ernest Julius Erickson’s life was cut short, ending a future filled with the promise shared by any young man. Though he passed early, his legacy endured through my father, Ernest Anders Erickson, who was named in his honor.
Growing up on the stories shared by his own father, Frank, my dad carried Ernest Julius’s memory as both a guardian angel and a lifelong inspiration.

That connection remains just as vital today; the spirits of my father, my grandfather Frank, and my great-uncle Julius live on through me, serving as the foundation for everything I accomplish.

If I look at the photo, which is head photo in this article, I can see the lines of what may be the diary, is his right breast pocket.

Through the specific notes made by Ernest in the diary from the start of the Meuse Argonne offensive to October 10th, when he was killed, we can also connect the other Swedes who served together with Ernest, and fell during the dates described in the diary.

To be able to combine the text with the terrain I will visualize it through the map of the specific movements connected to the 91st division, in the Meuse Argonne Offensive.

In the end of each date in the diary, I will also mention the other Swedes who fell, who fought in the same unit as Ernest.

Text from the diary

Morning of September 26th, 1918
We marched all night to a position from where we could follow up the heavy artillery barrage, which was just put down on the enemy position for five hours. At 5:30 a.m. we started out crossing the enemy lines without any opposition until noon, when we were held up by machine gun fire by the enemy. cleared up the woods in a few minutes and took some prisoners, then marched and were held up again upon reaching the open space at a farm, where we lost a few men by artillery fire. We reached our objective, but had some stiff fighting that we ran into. (Gustaf W Peterson, HQ Coy, from Myresjö, Jönköping, died on this day)

September 27th
Snipers and machine gun nests, which caused us some delay. dug in for the night. We took up the march again, but ran into some more machine gun fire and snipers, which were placed in an orchard around a small village. Here is where we had the worst opposition. The first battalion was in the lead and showed that they were real fighting men.

September 28th
Could not go back to the previous position today as the enemy artillery had the place under fire. We had to fall back to last night’s camp, but did not lose any personnel. took up the fight again later and gained ground with stiff fighting. A few small losses of men, and we gained our objective.

September 29th
Took some more ground and arrived at the Huns’ strong point and had a hell of a time getting them out. (Carl A Nelson, Co L, Gillberga, Värmland, Claus E Nygren, Co E, Stora Tuna, Dalarna, and Gustaf Wilson, Härlunda, Västra Götaland, died on this day)

September 30th
Went through the woods and have halted. Men are pretty well worn out. The enemy is shelling these woods all the time. (Sam Johnson, Hq Coy, Nors Värmland, died on this day)

September 31st
We have not advanced any further; the Huns are still shelling the place

October 1st, 1918
Had one of the stiffest shell fires since we started. We lost a few good men in the woods today, hard to see that.

October 2nd
No gain against the Hun. Guns are still working on this place, but doing little damage. Our kitchen arrived the day before yesterday. I had hot coffee for the first time since we started, and I say it was not hard to take.

October 3rd – 4pm
Still here and listening to the music of the Hun guns. Hell has turned loose for certain. me and my pal Keane have been in our hole face down, waiting for the big one with our name and address on it, but evidently Fritz does not know our names yet. One shell struck a dugout only about eleven feet from ours, killing one and badly wounding one. We took the wounded back to first aid, and going through the woods, I would not have given 2 cents for the four of us that carried the mangled back, for again hell opened up its doors for us. Our road was lit up with bursting shrapnel, but we got through without a scratch.
7:30 pm.
Got relieved, but we were halted in the woods when we were again shot to pieces; that’s where I got my first taste of shrapnel. I received a small bruise on the back, which did not feel good. thought I was wounded badly, but came to find out it was not all that bad. It was that first blow to the back that put me out. (Swan L Palmgren, Co H, Luleå, Norrbotten, died on this day)

October 4th
We are now back with the Huns, and it seems good to be back where the big shells are not falling. also got a letter or two from home, which makes things so much brighter.

October 5th
Got cleaned up and feel so much better. How much nicer it is to be back of the big guns, than it is to be in between them. It always makes things more pleasant when you can hear the shells go over you and towards the enemy than when they come your way. For then you do not know when one of those big ones may take a fancy and want to get in the same hole as yourself. There is surely no room for both of you, and in all, as in most cases, you go out in pieces.

October 6th
Moved our camp back a few hundred meters. We were all hoping that they would take us back to the same billet, but not yet. A good day, I had a letter from Laura, the best girl in the States, which makes the world smile so much brighter.

October 7th
This is the date we were moved back, thinking that we were going to get some rest. But I was again called to the line and marched all night in freezing rain. The vicious mud sure sticks to a man’s feet.

October 8th
Finally got some rest, actual sleep in a trench, not so bad, cold, but one gets use to it.

October 9th
Back on the march, we took a German village, only a handful of prisoners, the rest gone or wounded. (John Ekwall, Co A, Onslunda, Skåne, died on this day)

October 10th
Got to our destination this morning. all tired out. The Huns sure sent down a heavy barrage behind us, and later in the morning, amongst us. We did not lose many men and are now in support of the Engineers who advanced a short distance. S (Diary ends suddenly there) (Victor E Satterberg, Co L, Njurunda, Västernorrland, also died on this day)

Letter from the Family – did Ernest ever read it?

Ernest mother, Brita Kristina, wrote a letter in Swedish to him, dated September 8th, 1918, from Regan, Burleigh Count, North Dakota. The letter is here translated to English. I feel it in my heart when I read these words. It is not known if he received it or not.

It is not easy for a Swede like me to read it without tears in my eyes.

Our dear son Ernest,
I would like to respond with joy to your loving letter we received recently. It is a lot of fun to hear from you. The funnest letter we get is when we get letters from our sons who are in the far country, close to our old home in Sweden. I’m sure you, Frank, and Sebran are doing good work for the military for our country’s fight against Germany. We hope to see you again when everything is over with the war. We are all healthy and hope you are the same when you receive this letter.
It’s Sunday evening now.

Dad is threshing the corn this evening. He has been threshing for a week now. Tomorrow it must be cleared, then we can move the hay to market; otherwise, we can’t buy another cow. We have 7 dairy cows and 2 heifers now. The two will be dairy cows next summer. It pays to have cows, I can tell you that. We get over $6. for a 1.50-gallon jug of milk and 30 cents per dozen for our eggs. Our chickens are not producing as many eggs a day as last year, because we don’t have as much feed for them right now. We will once we sell the crops soon.
But we got $1200. for our last crops, and it is the biggest crop we have received since we came here years ago, in 1907. $900. It’s often what they get at best, says father. So that’s fine, what we got. He will buy a horse this fall, a young one. It might happen that we should keep the mule. He’ll probably ‘farm’ for a while, a good mule. Maybe you will come home soon and visit us again. We shall wait.
Everything in order of time, I feel always, and I’m glad Dad is getting so healthy. I think with the help of God, it will go well until you get home.

I can picture it before me now. Elvira (Vera) is dressed in your overalls and shirt. She is so like you, so you won’t believe it until you see it for yourself, and quite beautiful also. She sometimes plows with Alfons. Abbie is painting some rooms inside the house. She also paints at Albin Hestrom’s farm and Andres Andersen’s schoolhouse, so she will earn some money. She gets 40 cents an hour from her father for painting, so she has some good earnings.
Abbie is probably going to travel for a while this coming winter, but we will manage fine, as long as Dad can be as healthy as he has been for a long time now. His teeth have been tormenting him a lot this summer, but now he is fine. He gets $7.50 a day for himself and his friend Tim, the same when they could work with a neighbor’s farm. As you know, it is a lot of work at home for a man. We will install heat conduction in the house and arrange a staircase to the upper floor of the house.

But we won’t arrange the stairs until we see you, and you are coming home. The house is plenty big enough for us. Imagine if you could be home and see my flower garden. Everyone thinks they are so nice. I have 30 in rows. The maple tree is 4 feet tall now, with large pale red flowers.
If Dad thought he had the time, he would lease the land that Sebran (Andy) was farming before he left for the Air Corps. Fildo Skelden had it this summer when it hailed so badly that all his crops were spoiled, and it ruined 50 acres.

Alfons was away for a week and earned $8.80, so he mail-ordered some clothes. Now he is with his friend, Pete Lips, and tomorrow he will be out to thresh with dad, and he wants to be with his old mother. He doesn’t have to do much, but he will get a dollar a day. He likes to make money, so he can send it to Sears & Roebocks. Alphons thinks they are so funny.

I think Alphons is so much like Frank, not as big as Frank, but in the way he acts. He is so careful about everything he has. He takes good care of all he has. Carrying the rifle is his joy. I think he will also be like you in ways. I think Frank is a good man, hard-working and adventurous. He has seen much in his twenty-five years and has been to many places, more than all of us. He will do fine in the Army, as he does in everything. I think all of you, Sebran, the youngest of you two, are all very good at shooting, especially Frank, who always loved hunting and cowboying, so I know that will help you out there. I know it will. I hope this war is over soon and you all come home safe.

We were up to Helmers some time ago; he is still in the National Guard. I am glad one of my boys stayed home to serve. Oh, what I think of the cute little one, Ronny, and he looks smart, though so small. We will feed him, and he will grow like you boys, good strong Swedes.
Father has bought a new battery for the car. He will buy new tires soon, also, so we can get the car for the winter to come, but I would think it would be better with a Ford. It is easier to fix and mend.

We are now a small family these days, as we are only 3, but that’s how it is: Elvira (Vera), Abbie, and Alphonso. When the hailstorm pulled in was quite the surprise; every single window on the north side of the house was broken. Both upstairs and downstairs, and in the kitchen, but we have new windows now, so that’s good. It looks bad on the north wall, but we will repair The hail was as big as chicken eggs. We didn’t know it was hailing here at home because we were off visiting. There was no hail in Devil’s Lake.

We have grown plenty of potatoes and have had enough for a while, anyway, now we are not so fond of potatoes. The garden has grown well again. I tend to it every day, plenty of greens and other vegetables, though it is not as fine as it could have been. The hailstorms have destroyed a lot. Many people do well anyway with all that has happened in the area. I seem to be up on all things to tell you about the family and farm. I know soldiers like long letters, and especially your dear mother’s letters. I’ll finish the letter tomorrow, if God takes care of my health.

Yes, now it is a new day, so now I have much more to say. Tonight it was a very cold night for those who have a garden, chickens, and cows. But we have nothing that was destroyed. I will say that it is a lack of people now to do all the work, so if one could split themselves into several different ways, there would be work for everyone.

Frank’s trunk came 2 weeks ago, so now everything that you two have sent home has arrived safely. What you wrote in your letter on July 29th came on August 21st, so things are a little different, I am sure now for both of you. You mentioned you both were in England and now are at the Front in France.
Hope you come home and take care of everything you have sent. Father has found out where we would mail you and Frank letters. We got an address from Frank, so he may well be in France, like the way we think. I hope so.
It’s been 3 weeks since we heard from Sebran (Andy). Hope to hear from you all soon.

Yes, now I have to stop, for this time, otherwise the letter will be once again too long from your beloved parents.

We are thinking about you and your Brothers, Frank and Sebran.
From your mother and father and your siblings, with love.

PS. If you would like us to send you some newspapers or anything you might need, please let us know.

The letter that no mother wants.

Just a few weeks after Ernest mother wrote those words, the Meuse Argonne Offensive started. In June 1919, the family received the correspondance concerning their son Ernest Julius Alfred’s death, from the Red Cross. The letter as below:

Seattle, Washington, May 28, 1919
A REPORT ON THE DEATH OF:
Private First Class Ernest Julius Alfred Erickson # 2,257,019 of Company C, 36lst Infantry, 9lst Division (Wild West Division)
(Emergency address: Andrew A. Erickson (Father) Route 3, Box 35, Wilton, North Dakota
By direction of the American Red Cross, the writer, who was American Red Cross searcher with the 9lst division in France and Belgium, herewith transmits to the relative of the man named in the foregoing list the details of his respective death.
In order that the settings of the battles in which Company C took part may be better understood, a running account of the 42 deaths is sent to each of the emergency addresses in the belief that such an account will be more acceptable than a brief one to each individual, covering the circumstances of merely one death.

The accompanying sketch of the division’s movements in France and Belgium will enable those who have a good map of France to trace its movements, but it should be remembered that a number of those killed in Belgium were replacements from the 84th division who came to the 9lst just before fighting in Belgium and who were not with the 91st in the Argonne.

When the 91st Division went into action at daybreak on September 26, 1918, from a line about two and a half miles long between the ruined villages of Vauquois and Avocourt, in the department of Meuse, eastern France, at the southern edge of the Argonne, Company C was on the right wing of the division. As the great artillery preparation of the preceding night had torn up the German defensive system and paralyzed resistance to a great extent for some distance back, the division made about five miles on the first day, and Company C, which started from a line a little southwest of Avocourt, traveled through the wide Bois Cheppy (or Cheppy Woods) and across the plateau beyond, as far as the Very-Epinonville canyon without having any men killed. It slept that night in an old German trench system across the canyon from the destroyed village of Epinonville, which is five miles north by northwest of Avocourt and 20 miles northwest of Verdun.

After hills 255 and 269 were captured, the 181st brigade moved on to hill 288. The brigade did not lose many men on October 10 but did lose a number on October 11, including Private Ernest J. Erickson of company C, one of the gamest men in the regiment and one of the most willing. Private Erickson and Private Jesse A. Keene had been sent out to locate Company B of the 362nd Infantry, a gap existing at Company C’s left. They had a message for the commander of the Company B, and while carrying it, got ahead of their lines and were shot at by rifle snipers. There was brush at the edge of the road, and so they ran toward it. Keene was about 40 feet ahead of Private Erickson and had 30 feet to go to get into the brush, but succeeded in getting there.

Private Erickson had about 40 feet to go and was shot by the sniper just after he started. “He fell at the edge of the road and lay there in a heap without moving,” said Private Keene to the writer.” I could see him for four or five minutes before I made my way back. He had been sent on this mission because he thought he knew where Company B was. Two of us were sent so that if one of us were hurt, the other could go on with the message. When I reported back that Company B could not be found where Private Erickson had thought it was, I learned that the company had been located behind where Private Erickson was killed. This was between l and 2 p.m. in front of the horse-shoe at the foot of Hill 288. About the last thing Private Erickson said was 10 or 15 minutes before he was shot: ‘We’ve got to find that Company and find it soon.’

Private Erickson had been in the intelligence section of the First battalion throughout both Argonne drives in which the 181st brigade participated, and had been a scout, sniper, observer, and runner. On the night of October 3, when the nine men were killed by the one shell, Private Erickson was struck in the small of the back close to the spine by a fragment. He got fixed up at the first aid station, however, and joined the company again. No matter what we had to do, it was always the same with him.”

The writer makes the suggestion that those who wish further details write to the eyewitnesses whose names and addresses have been given for that purpose. If those who receive this report think that the writer himself has any further information that they would like, he can be reached at the address below. It is requested that, in any event, those who receive this report acknowledge receipt of it so that the records of the Red Cross may be clear.

Inquiries concerning graves should be addressed to the Graves Registration Service, A. P. O. 717, American Expeditionary Forces, France, or to Chaplain C. A. Rexroad, senior burial officer of the 9lst Division, Butte, Montana.
The Red Cross extends its sincere sympathy to those who have lost this courageous good soldier.
Very sincerely yours,
Lt. Colin V. Dyment,
American Red Cross – 91st Division
Care American Red Cross
207 White Building
Seattle, Washington

You find the original letter here:

Imagine to receive such a letter as parents to sons who are out there in the War.

Documents from the archives

In Company I, 361st Infantry Regiment, 91st Division, a Norwegain soldier met his final destiny during the same period.

On September 29th, 1918, Carl M Carlson was killed in action, and in this case more details about the specific situation can be found in the American Archives. At this moment it is possible to find digital scanned copies of documents of this kind, from soldiers with surnames beginning with A to D. I am sure it will be able to find similar notes about Ernest Julius Alfred Erickson later on.

Home to the States

Ernest Julius Alfred Erickson was initally buried at the Meuse Argonne American Cemetery, however, he was later disinterred on June 30th, 1921, and brought home to his family on the ship USS Wheaton, and arrived Hoboken on August 20th, 1921.

He is today buried at the Riverview Cemetery, Wilton, North Dakota.

There is a lot more to tell about the Erickson Family and their time in the United States, after their emigration from Sweden.

Once again I am sending my thoughts to Mark Erickson who let me form this article with his amazing material about his ancestors. you can find more about Mark here on his webpage.

You can also read more about the adventures of the brothers in the Great War on the page, with a link through this photo.

I hope you have found this article interesting, and if you want you can always support my work through the link below.

My previous article about the Swedes in the Austria-Hungarian army during the Great War received a lot of very interesting comments, and I have decided to write a small follow-up article about another Swede, Gösta Melin, who also served in the Austria-Hungarian Army for one and a half year, before he joined the Polish Legion and their activities in Lemberg (Today called Lviv) and in Przemysl during late 1918 and in the beginning of 1919.

Gösta Melin

Gösta Melin was born in the parish of Gothenburg Domkyrka on July 11th, 1899. He was raised by his mother Anna Gernandt, born in Germany as Anna Levisson, and his stepfather, Major in the Swedish Army, Herman Christian Ferdinand Gernandt.

Gösta’s real father was Ernst Waldemar Melin, and Gösta kept his surname Melin after Ernst.

It is very interesting to read about Gösta’s experience from the Great War, as he started as a very young soldier in the Austria-Hungarian Army, to later join the Polish Legion.

Below I have decided to give you the transcribed version of one of his stories, that I found in the Swedish Newspaper “Svenska Dagbladet” from March 24th, 1919.

A recent Sunday supplement of *Svenska Dagbladet* featured a dispatch from Lemberg by a correspondent writing under the pseudonym “Hake.” It told the story of a young Swedish ensign whom everyone praised for great bravery, yet whose name—beyond “Gustaf”—was unknown to all.

This brave Swedish ensign is Lieutenant Melin, stepson of Major Gernandt of Stockholm; (born in Malmö) he is currently visiting his homeland to recover from shattered nerves. He is staying at Saltsjöbaden, where a *Svenska Dagbladet* reporter spoke with the admired young man on Sunday.

“I haven’t performed any miracles,” he says modestly. “If I ever did anything worthwhile during my service with the Polish Officers’ Legion, it was simply what all my comrades were doing all along—and still do. The Polish officers are truly extraordinarily brave and courageous men; it has been, and will continue to be, a pleasure to serve alongside them.”

Lieutenant Melin is only 19 years old. Before joining the Polish Officers’ Legion as an ensign, he had served in the Austrian army for about a year and a half. He began his participation in the Polish war of independence in Kraków and subsequently took part in the relief expedition to Przemyśl and the storming of Lemberg on November 20–21 of last year (1918). Shortly after the latter battle, he was promoted to lieutenant and awarded the Lemberg Cross of Liberty. He has also received the decoration awarded to officers who led the infantry at the forefront of the action at Przemyśl.

In the text above it is mentioned that he received the “Lemberg Cross of Liberty”. I haven’t been able to find what decoration that is, and if anyone know what decoration they could have meant, please comment below.

Update: Through great help by Gregory Benu on Twitter I can here below present a photo believed to be the “Lemberg Cross of Liberty“. Together with the medal the recipients also received a Diploma, also shown below.

Although, as I understand, the decoration which was awarded to the officers who were in the frontline in Przemyśl, can be the decoration illustrated below. If you are of another opinion, please let me know by commenting this article below.

The article continues:

The struggle down there, says Lieutenant Melin, is a war in miniature—a war marked by great cruelty and horror. The Ukrainian hordes rampage in the most atrocious manner, and the Polish population will never forget the unspeakable deeds they committed in Lemberg. Before evacuating the city, they slashed all the precious and historically invaluable paintings in the town hall, and all prisoners were murdered and mutilated in the most gruesome fashion.

I myself saw a 17-year-old Ukrainian girl who, during the fighting at Spoiska outside Lemberg, stabbed a Polish legionnaire seven times with a large kitchen knife until the poor man died. I have also seen the corpses of Polish soldiers whose eyes had been gouged out and tongues cut off—to say nothing of other horrors. During the capture of Janow, the detachment commander—a Polish captain and one of the finest men in the officers’ legion—along with a lieutenant, had ridden slightly ahead of their troops into a village that turned out to be occupied by Ukrainians.

The two officers were forced to dismount and take refuge in a house, where they were soon discovered by the enemy. When the Polish unit entered the village just half an hour later, the captain had already suffered several broken ribs from rifle-butt blows, and the lieutenant had been wounded by multiple shots.

Lieutenant Melin has much to tell about the atrocities committed by the Ukrainians and Russians, and he cannot help but breathe a sigh of relief at having escaped as lightly as he did. He was wounded only once—and then only slightly—though he often heard bullets whistling past him by mere millimeters; on one occasion, a rifle bullet even grazed his neck, burning a long, narrow strip into his skin. During a single skirmish, one of his comrades was struck by fifteen bullets but wounded by only one; the others had merely hit his binocular case, helmet, map satchel, and so forth.

It does not surprise Lieutenant Melin at all that the Poles know him only by the name Gustaf. Throughout his time there, he was known simply as “our Swedish brother,” so he is pleasantly surprised that they at least remember his first name.

In a few months, Lieutenant Melin will return to Poland to resume his service. During his time as a legionnaire, he has grown deeply attached to the Polish people; words fail him when trying to express his admiration for their courage, hospitality, self-sacrifice, and truly admirable conduct.

I find this very interesting compared to the situation we witness today, in the war in Ukraine. Back then the situation was completely different, and in between we also have experienced the Second World War.

I have also been able to find Gösta’s card of conscription to Swedish Army. In the Swedish text below his service in the different armies is mentioned. He served in the Austria-Hungarian Army from 1917, at an age of 18, and then later on in the Polish Legion.

I understand that he also served in Latvia after the War, and wrote a lot of articles about the activities in Latvia at the time. In the articles it is mentioned that he is a Captain in the General Staff of the Latvian Forces. He must have experienced a lot. Below a photo from one of his articles the magazine “Hvar 8 dag”

The eminent Swedish Authors Lars Gyllenhaal and Lennart Westberg has also been writing about Gösta Melin in his second version of “Svenska i Krig”, Swedes in Wars, and also in the book “Svenskar under Järnkorset”, Swedes under the Iron Cross.

In my bookshelf at the moment, I only have the first version of Swedes in Wars, but I will get myself a copy of the the second book, and also the Swedes under the Iron Cross, to read more about Gösta.

Gösta sadly died quite young already on May 6th, 1945, suffering from kidney problems, and he is today buried in Gustav Vasa columbarium in Stockholm.

I hope you have enjoyed this small article, and if you want to support my work you can always do that through the link below.

I will never be tired of searching for information, which tells me about Swedish connections to the Great War. I try to look through all kind of digital sources and books. Now and then I find, for me, really interesting facts, that increase my knowledge in the subject.

This is a small story about three Swedish born individuals who ended up to serve within the Austria-Hungarian Army during the Great War. The sources in this case has been the Swedish church books and the digitized newspapers in the Swedish Royal Library.

Gösta Bruzelius

Gösta was born as Nils Otto Gösta Bruzelius in Rogslösa parish in the landscape of Östergötland, November 19th, 1880. He was raised by his mother, Evelina Charlotta Lallerstedt, and his father, the Army Lieutenant Kornelius Jakob Bruzelius.

Shortly after his Swedish military service he left Sweden for Austria-Hungary in 1914. He was already a sub-lieutenant in the Swedish Army before he left, and started to serve in the Austria-Hungarian Regiment “Erzherzog Josef” No 15.

The Swedish Newspaper made an interview with him during September 1916, when he was home on a two weeks leave from his, so far, 22 month long service in the war. Below you will find the transcribed text from the interview.

“For the past few days, a young man has been staying in Stockholm—a man who, by his own account, is already beginning to long for the place he came from, even though Stockholm ought to be a comparatively peaceful haven by comparison. Lieutenant Gösta Bruzelius has served on the Austrian Eastern Front since the very beginning of the war, save for two months spent in the hospital with rheumatism contracted in the trenches. During his twenty-two months at the front, he has saved up enough time for a proper one-month leave; of this period, he will spend fourteen days in his home country.

How does it feel to have returned to civilization? “Oh, it’s eerie,” he says; “there are so many automobiles and so much noise in the streets, plus dinner parties and all that sort of thing.” It is far more peaceful back in one’s own dugout, Lieutenant Bruzelius feels—a sentiment that hardly speaks well for our traffic system, implying as it does that a trench in the Carpathians is quieter than Vasagatan. (Vasa Street in Stockholm) Yet the nerves of a man who has spent nearly two years fighting Russians and Serbs can likely withstand little more than the familiar sounds of whistling shrapnel.

Although a cavalryman and a member of the 15th Austrian Dragoon Regiment, Lieutenant Bruzelius has mostly lain in the trenches armed with a shovel and bayonet except in real battles, when the cavalry’s greater mobility is used. But then he has shown what he and his horse are good for.

After Ravarudschka and Gorlice, his regiment and the Bavarians were the first to enter Przemysl, and his patrol was the first to ride through the streets of Lemberg after the reconquest. The city itself had not been damaged in the slightest, only the entrenchments built by the Russians outside the city, where one could study the effects of the Austrian heavy artillery perfectly. Of a Russian battery, which had been fired upon with 30.5 cm. howitzers, nothing more remained, a horse’s head here and a hand there.

In general, Lieutenant Bruzelius, who is otherwise not a man of many words, cannot praise enough the Austrians’ extraordinary artillery, as well as the entire Austrian army in general. The soldiers’ equipment is excellent, and food is never lacking, which, moreover, is something that cannot and must not exist under such hardships as must be endured. The cooking carts are the soldiers’ dearest friends, and they never fail. In the Carpathians it sometimes happened that they were too heavy to carry high up into the mountains; in such cases, they simply slung the kettles onto horses, and the food stayed warm in them for half a day.

Lieutenant Bruzelius also had experience with the hay-box cookers being experimented with back home, but they were not proven as practical, as the food turned out worse when cooked in them. The medical care—with which the lieutenant had also, unfortunately, become acquainted—was excellent.

Especially at the convalescent home for officers, the *Kaiserhaus* in Baden bei Wien, which is maintained by the emperor himself, everything imaginable is done for the well-being of the convalescents.

At least two other Swedes are currently at the Austrian front, according to Lieutenant Bruzelius’s certain knowledge: Major Hagelin, recently awarded the Order of the Iron Crown, and Lieutenant Dickson, who had been wounded before Christmas but was now back “out there.”

Yes, as mentioned, the soldier is already longing to return to that strange underground city where one sleeps by day and eats and shoots by night.

“Everything here is so terribly expensive, by the way,” he complains, “much more so than in Vienna, regarding both clothing and food.”

Do the Austrians believe they will be victorious? Why on earth wouldn’t they?

The interviewer almost fears having said something inappropriate, so astonished does Lieutenant Bruzelius look.

“There is no one who doesn’t believe that, and it is perfectly obvious, too,” he explains.

It is always interesting to read the text above when you now know how the war went. At least they believed in their cause.

Henning Hagelin

Henning Hagelin was born in Vallsjö parish, in the county of Jönköping, in the landscape of Småland. He was born as Viktor Henning Hagelin on September 6th, 1866, and was raised by his mother, Johanna Sofia Johannisdotter, and his father, Carl Vilhelm Hagelin.

Henning also served in the Swedish Army, but it is assumed that he left Sweden already in the beginning of the 1900, and established a career within the Austria-Hungarian Army.

He served a period within the Erzherzog Otto Uhlan Regiment. It was his fondest wish to become a cavalry officer. Since childhood, he had taken a keen interest in everything related to horses, and he particularly admired the officers of the Småland Hussars.

However, this wish could not be fulfilled because he was too old to be accepted as an officer cadet. Through the good offices of Major General Wrangel (A Swedish General, born in Hungary), he was nevertheless enrolled in an Austrian cavalry school; with very little capital saved up—and otherwise relying on Divine Providence—he set off for Austria.

He faced many difficulties but completed the course with distinction, graduating second in his class. With the help of his regimental commander, he subsequently became a lieutenant. He always distinguished himself as a capable officer—proof of which is seen in his promotion to major.

He was regarded as an outstanding horseman. This recognition came from the great expert in the field, Clarence von Rosen, who met him during a visit to Austria.

Below I found the following text from the Swedish Newspaper, Svenska Dagbladet from September 1914.

Swedish officer distinguishes himself in the war.

STOCKHOLM, the 8th. (From our Stockholm editorial office.) Major Henning Hagelin of the 1st Austro-Hungarian Uhlan Regiment—who, as previously reported, was awarded both the Military Merit Cross and the German Iron Cross—has now also received the Imperial Order of the Iron Crown, Third Class. The first and second classes of this order—ranking second only to the Order of Maria Theresa in Austria—are awarded only to the highest-ranking generals; it is extremely rare for a cavalry officer of major’s rank to have the opportunity, as Major Hagelin did, to earn the third class of this decoration.

The immediate reason for this distinction was that Major Hagelin succeeded in establishing a new front that proved particularly troublesome for the Russians, forcing them to shift their entire line of attack. Major Hagelin had at his disposal one and a half regiments of Austrian troops and a rifle division, ready for a counter-attack. Amidst a fierce hail of bullets, he galloped along the front—a distance of approximately 1,000 meters—to a forest; there, a severed telephone wire was repaired, and a message was sent to the nearest command post reporting that a new front had been established and indicating its location.

The medals Major Hagelin received, in above mentioned order:

Henning later became a colonel in Austria before he died in 1956. I have found data about his burial, and it says that he is buried or commemorated in Austria, but other facts says that he went back to Sweden before he died.

Patrik Dickson

Patrik was born as Charles Patrik Dickson in Trästena parish in the county of Skaraborg, in the landscape of Västergötland. He was born on January 10, 1884, and he was raised by his mother Hedvig Louise Christine Hamilton and his father, William Dickson. Both parents were born in Sweden.

Patrik made his military service in Sweden and left Sweden for Austria in 1907. Below a snippet from his conscript card. I have marked the text about his service in the Austria-Hungarian Army in yellow, as it was mentioned in his card.

Patrik came back to Sweden after the war, in 1919.

From the Swedish Newspaper, Svenska Dagbladet, from March 1915, I found the following text.

As reported a few days ago, a Swedish-born officer, Lieutenant Patrik Dickson, is serving in the Austrian army in the Galician theater of war.

Lieutenant Dickson, the son of Dr. W. Dickson of Stockholm, (Author note: It says Gothenburg in the Swedish church books) was born in 1884. He began his military career as a reserve officer with the Småland Artillery Regiment. However, in 1906, he travelled to Vienna, where he attended an officer training school. In 1908, he was commissioned as an officer in the 3rd Austrian Dragoon Regiment, though he was transferred to the 1st Regiment last year.

At the outbreak of the war, Lieutenant Dickson was stationed in the town of Pardubitz in Bohemia; from there, he marched with his regiment toward the theater of war. In his first letter to his family in Stockholm, he reported that his unit had advanced as far as Rzeszów in Galicia, though his regiment was subsequently forced back by superior Russian forces to a position east of Lublin.

In addition to his regular duties, Lieutenant Dickson has served as a telegraph officer, a role in which he was attached to the army headquarters. So far, he has escaped injury entirely, and judging by his letters—which *Svenska Dagbladet* has had the opportunity to read—he appears to be in excellent spirits despite the hardships. The troops are quartered in earthen dugouts, though these are heated by stoves. The food is excellent, and they do their best to make themselves comfortable and forget that they are only 1,500 meters from the Russian battle line. The spirit within the Austrian army is described by Lieutenant Dickson as most promising. Everyone looks to the future with confidence, and no one doubts victory.

I can see also in the text about Dickson, that he thought everything would go well, but we all know how the war ended.

I found these small texts very informative, and I also like to look up the actual places mentioned in the texts above, to see where the Swedish officers served. They all survived the war, however, I hope you have enjoyed this small article, and if you want to support my work you can always do that through the link below.

Source of top image: https://ww1.habsburger.net/