Swedes in the Great War 1914-1919

Swedish descendants to former soldiers in the Great War are quite often sending me different types of documents from their ancestors, which they want me to investigate further to eventually find links between the soldiers and the documents.

In this case I received a card with a photo on the front and a text in Swedish on the back. The text was signed by a person called “Gustaf”, and of course I wanted to investigate this further.

I am just back after a very nice mini vacation in England, together with Wendy Maddocks, where we visited several places between Portsmouth in the south, up to Liverpool and York in the north. Some of the sites were connected to the history of the Great War, and in between there was time to meet up with friends within the Great War community. I learned a lot from the sites and I have seen a lot of places that I haven’t visited before. Thank you, Wendy for the nice planning.

During the trip in England we visited sites connected to New Zealand and Australia, and it was very interesting to visit places with connection to the soldiers who served in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF), to see some sites where the soldiers trained before they went into war, but also sites connected to war hospitals which were connected to the NZEF.

One of the sites was the former NZEF Camp, the Sling Camp. The name is probably from a road formation, which is formed like a sling, even today.

One of the Swedes connected to the Sling Camp was the Swede, John Person.

John Person, Johan Gustaf Persson, was born in Sweden on June 16th, 1893. He emigrated from Sweden in May 1912. In the Swedish church book I can also see that he went back to Sweden from New Zealand in 1921.

John was attested in Trentham in February 1916 and joined the 1st Battalion in the New Zealand Otago Regiment. He left Camp Sling, England, for Etaples, France, in mid June, 1916. John was wounded during September 16th, 1916, and was brought back to England already on the 18th, on the Hospital Ship “Asturias”. John was finally discharged in New Zealand in November 1917.

You can read more in my former article through this link.

Back to the Card with the photo and the Swedish text

Earlier this spring I received a card from Bengt Herrman in Sweden, who had found a card with a photo from Trentham Camp in New Zealand, in which a lot of soldiers signed their attestation papers in order to participate in the Great War.

In the photo there is a marking over the soldier to the left, which Bengt believes can be the Swedish soldier “Gustaf”. On the other side of the card the following text is written in Swedish.

The text says as follows:

“Trentham May 1st, 1915

My beloved sister Carin. You can be happy to have a brother in the War, who is fighting for the justice and freedom, and when you receive this card, don’t be sad, but happy. Look cool my boy, and the Germans will run! (probably some words from his mother). I hope I will see you all soon, when the war is over, but not before we have won, because win we will!

Your brother Gustaf”

I didn’t know much about Trentham, and during a call to Wendy Maddocks, who is the expert when it comes to New Zealand and the Great War, she told me a lot, and I found more information about the site.

The Military Camp was used to train soldiers for WWI. It was initially a tented camp when it was first established in 1914. The wooden huts were built in the Trentham Defence Area in March 1915.

Looking at the cards above, I can really feel the environment from which Gustaf wrote his words on the card. But who was Gustaf?

It is also interesting to look at the specific uniforms and the hats they wore on the photo. When Wendy and I discussed this it may have been specific clothes they received before they received their actual NZEF uniforms, as I understand it was a shortage of those during the establishment of the Army.

In my research regarding the card written by “Gustaf”, I have done some intense research through the New Zealand Attestation documents, connected to Swedish soldiers, who were called Gustaf.

There is only one Gustaf, who signed his papers in Trentham, April 18th, 1915. Could this be the Gustaf mentioned in the card above? Who knows. Although, this Gustaf who I will describe below, was the only one who had a sister called Carin. This is the story about the Gustaf I have found.

Gustaf was born as Gustaf Reinhold Lagerlöf, born in Gothenburg, April 21st, 1883. He was raised by his mother Maria Stina Jansdotter and his father Eugén Constantin Lagerlöf.

Gustaf became a sailor, and in the Swedish church books he is mentioned as absent from 1904 and forward. However, in the book about Swedish emigrants, I found out that Gustaf Immigrated to New Zealand in 1902. The text is described below.

If you look closely, you can see that he was called Gustaf with the surname of Stone, instead of Lagerlöf. Stone later became Stowe, which I will describe later in the text. He is also mentioned to have been an Ex-Serviceman.

In the Swedish church book I found both Gustaf Lagerlöf and his sister Carin. I also found a photo of Carin, form her marriage. However, Gustaf is not mentioned to be in the photo, as I understand from the source.

Gustaf Lagerlöf survived the war, after been serving in Gallipoli Campaign and on the Western Front. He served in the 1st battalion in the Otago regiment. He was wounded during the battle of Messines, in Belgium, June 17th, 1917.

When looking through his records, Gustaf Lagerlöf seems to have had a lot of problems with the alcohol, and he received a lot of reprimands from his behaviour during these moments, when affected by his drinking. Due to his wounds he later was classified as unfit, and he later embarked for New Zealand in August 1917.

Gustaf died July 3rd, 1952, at an age of 69, and he is now buried in Oamaru Old Cemetery, in Waitaki District, Otago, New Zealand.

On the headstone he is mentioned by his surname Stowe, which actually was Stone, but was somehow transformed during the time and through different spellings in documents. I find it quite fascinating. From Lagerlöf to Stone, to Stowe. It took a while before I could find all the connections.

Is Gustaf Lagerlöf Stone, the Gustaf mentioned in the card above?

I have found a very nice photo of Gustaf Lagerlöf Stone (Stowe) and If I put both of the photos together it can initially be hard to see any similarities.

However, if I look at the left thumb and the right ear, it may be some similarities, but this is very hard to tell. In the left photo the moustache is shaved off.

It would of course be very interesting if the persons in the photos above could be the same Gustaf. Then I could connect the text to a soldier who I now know more about.

The most important thing in this story is that we have Swedish text on a card from a soldier who started his service in the Camp in Trentham, in New Zealand, and that is enough for me. It is a very nice experience that during my research about Swedes in the Great War, to take part of this information.

If the soldiers above are two different individuals, they served in an Army very far from home, and for that I say thank you to them.

Lest we forget.

I am finally back again after a large Army Exercise Nordic Polar region, and it feels great to write some small articles again. Why not connect the article to what happened just about 108 years ago?

So far I have documented 12 Swedish born individuals in my database, who fought and fell on the German side in the Great War.

There are more of them, who were born in Sweden, however, they were raised by German parents, and so far I only put those who were born and raised by Swedish parents into my research.

Two of them died during the first days of the German Operation Michael, which started the German Spring Offensive, 108 years ago, on March 21st, 1918. The Spring Offensive consisted of four operations, Michael, Georgette, Gneisenau and Blücher-Yorck. There was also a fifth one, Operation Marne-Reims who often is called The second Battle of the Marne, during July 15th to 17th, 1918.

The Operation Michael was the main attack, which was intended to break through the Allied lines, outflank the British forces and defeat the British Army. Once that was achieved, it was hoped that the French would seek armistice terms.

Operation Michael started on March 21st, 1918, and ended on April 5th, 1918. Below there is a map which explains the progress.

Much of the ground fought over was the wilderness left by the Battle of the Somme in 1916. The action was therefore officially named by the British Battles Nomenclature Committee as The First Battles of the Somme, 1918, whilst the French call it the Second Battle of Picardy (2ème Bataille de Picardie).

The failure of the offensive marked the beginning of the end of the First World War for Germany. The arrival in France of large reinforcements from the United States replaced Entente casualties but the German Army was unable to recover from its losses before these reinforcements took the field.

Operation Michael failed to achieve its objectives and the German advance was reversed during the Second Battle of the Somme, 1918 (21 August – 3 September) in the Allied Hundred Days Offensive. (Wikipedia)

The soldiers

Harry Carlsson was born in Slöta parish in the county of Skaraborg, in the landscape of Västergötland. He was born as Harry Patrik Hilding Carlsson on November 12th, 1882. He was raised by his parents, his mother Anna Elisabeth Peterson, and his father Gustaf Carlsson.

Harry was a soldier in his life and soul, although in his private life he was very calm. When it became serious he quickly became very determined and did not let any resistant to break him down. Early in his life he became an officer after his education at Karlberg Military Academy in Stockholm. He later became a lieutenant at Uppsala Artillery Regiment, north of Stockholm in Sweden. However, he wasn’t satisfied, the life as an officer in Sweden was to simple and calm, and he was looking for more adventure in his life.

He left the Swedish Army, and went down to Argentina in South America to search for adventure, which he got a lot of, and soon the thoughts of “Away is good but home is best” grabbed him. The war broke out and as a person Harry was quite determined to fight for the Germanic cause, but it wasn’t easy for him to go back to Europe, as he lacked money.

During a couple of months he worked his way up to Buenos Aires on the Argentinian coast, and finally managed to reach Sweden. Shortly after reaching Sweden, he decided to travel to Berlin to apply for the German Army. He understood that the fastest time to become a German citizen was about nine months.

It was really hard for Harry to become an officer in the German Army, and he said to himself “if they don’t want me as an officer I can become a private, because I think I am good at something”

It would have been much easier for Harry to just go back to Sweden again, but he was determined. He finally became a German citizen, and immediately began the training. This was in May 1916. He advanced quickly in the ranks and became corporal, and after that a German Sergeant Major.

He participated in the Battle of the Somme in 1916, which became a very hard experience for his unit. He avoided to become a victim, but experienced an eye infection due to the the environment of the heavy bombardment . He was treated in hospital, and after his time in the hospital he received a couple of weeks off and went to his relatives in Sweden, in March 1917.

For his actions during the battle of the Somme he received the Iron Cross and became a Lieutenant. After his trip to Sweden he went back to the war, and spent a short period on the Eastern Front before he went back to the Western Front just when the German Spring Offensive began.

He fought for the German 27th Infantry Regiment and he was just about to become a battalion commander but on March 23, 1918, the death reached him, when leading his unit, positioned in the front of the advancement.

According to an eyewitness, who was interviewed by a Swedish journalist, when the German soldier was on leave in Berlin, Harry shouted “Alle Mann raus” before he went over the top and headed towards a small wood where the englishmen had mounted their machine guns, that day, on the 23rd of March. Harry fell after have been hit by a bullet through his heart, and his “Feldwebel” was also dead, laying over Harry, after have been trying to help him. Harry was initially buried where he fell. He was, according to the eyewitness, a very good officer, adored by his soldiers.

I visited his grave in Viry-Noureuil German Cemetery north-west of Chauny in France, in May 2023, and put a Swedish flag at the side of his cross.

Olof Hedengren

The, so far known, second of the Swedish born individuals who fell for the German Army during Operation Michael , is Olof Hedengren.

Olof was born in Örebro parish in the landscape of Närke in Sweden, on September 18, 1890. He was raised by his mother Gerda Lillienhöök and his father, the Lieutenant Colonel in the Örebro Grenadier Regiment, Josef Hedengren.

Olof decided not to follow in his footsteps and decided to strengthen his knowledge in languages which he studied in both Germany and North America. He fulfilled his conscript period at the Lifeguard Regiment. He spent a few years as a businessman, however, driven by his thoughts about the military life, he decided he left Sweden for Germany in 1916.

Olof did not study at the Karlberg Military Academy, as Harry did. Olof volunteered in the German Army, and was placed in the 20th German Infantry Regiment, the Graf Tauentzien von Wittenberg Regiment. In December 1916 he served at the Western Front and climbed quickly in his ranks.

He received the Iron Cross in September 1917, after his actions during a night patrol in the French Trenches during the Second battle of the Aisne in the fightings near Chemin des Dames.

He went home to Sweden for a short visit during Christmas time in 1917, before he went back to the Front again.

Olof fell on March 24th, 1918, near the area of Golancourt, a small village between the villages of Ham and Noyon in France. He is today buried in the Manicourt German Cemetery, east of Amiens, not very far from Harry Carlsson.

I visited him on the same day as my visit to Harry Carlsson, and took a photo of his cross together with his photo and a Swedish flag.

Harry’s name is on the board in the chapel of Karlberg Military Academy, where the students who fell in foreign armies are mentioned. Harry is mentioned but Olof wasn’t a student, and his name is therefore not on the board.

Later in April, 1918, another Swede, Markus Grundberg, fell during the Operation Georgette, further up north along the front, in Belgium.

Operation Georgette was originally planned by General Erich Ludendorff as Operation George but was reduced to Operation Georgette, with the objective of capturing Ypres, forcing the British forces back to the Channel ports and out of the war. In planning, execution and effects, Georgette was similar to (although smaller than) Operation Michael, earlier in the Spring Offensive.

The story about Markus Grundberg I will tell another time, I have his notes from his letters to Sweden, and they contain very interesting information.

May they all rest in peace.

The story about three Swedes who joined the 2nd Battalion in the Auckland Regiment, all of whom got wounded on the Somme, on September 15, 1916. They were followed by two others, in the days that followed.

Sometimes I wish I knew much more information about a specific place on the French battlefield from the Great War, when I was there. In 2022, Wendy Maddocks and I visited the battlefield of the Great War, and went along the Western Front, in the areas from Ypres, down to the Somme.

It was especially rewarding to follow the events described in her grandfather’s diary, from Poperinge and Bailleul to Trônes Wood and further on.

On that trip, I wish I had known more about the terrain and its connection to the three other soldiers who also saw action just a little north of Trônes Wood.

When I look at the photos from where we were standing at the New Zealand Memorial, between High Wood and Delville Wood, I now realise—while reading about the fate of three Swedish-born soldiers who fought for New Zealand in the war—that they were actually there on that specific day, September 15, 1916.

It was a significant day for the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) during the Battle of the Somme.

I remember taking a photo of the information sign, but at the time I did not know that I would later return to these images of this specific place—one involving both Crest Trench and Switch Trench, also referred to as the Switch Line in some war diaries.

One evening, I decided to go through all the service cards I had found of Swedish emigrants who left Sweden and ended up in New Zealand. So far, I have identified at least 42 Swedish-born individuals who entered service and fought in the Great War in Kiwi uniform.

Two of them were killed in action, 13 of them were wounded in action, one took his own life during his service in France, and one is missing in action, assumed to have drowned when their ship was hit by a torpedo from a German submarine.

I quickly noticed a specific pattern among some of them when reading their service cards—regarding when they left for war, where they were stationed, and when and where they were wounded.

At least three of them were wounded during the Battle of the Somme on September 15. When I began reading the war diary of their unit—the 2nd Infantry Battalion of the Auckland Regiment—I could also see where they were most likely positioned on that specific day.

The Auckland Regiment served as the Auckland Battalion at Gallipoli in 1915 before being divided into the 1st and 2nd Auckland Infantry Battalions in March 1916. An additional battalion, the 3rd Auckland Infantry Battalion, existed between March 1917 and February 1918. The regiment served on the Western Front from 1916 until 1918. (NZ History)

The three soldiers

The first service card I examined belonged to the Swedish-born soldier John William Lewin (Johan Wilhelm Arkadius Levin). He was born in the parish of Kristianstad, Skåne County, on January 12, 1873. He was raised by his mother, Hanna Levin (née Molin), and his father, Carl Adolf Levin, along with five siblings.

John was a farmer when he received permission from the Swedish king to emigrate to Australia. This event is noted in the church records from November 1894. He is also mentioned in The Swedes in New Zealand (Sten Aminoff, 1988) and was one of approximately 3,300 Swedes who emigrated to New Zealand up to 1940.

It was quite rare at that time not to be a sailor when emigrating to Australia or New Zealand, as this was the most common profession among emigrants to those countries. As with many before him, it is highly likely that the mining industry—and the search for gold—motivated John’s emigration.

John joined the New Zealand Army after being attested at Trentham on August 24, 1915. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion of the Auckland Infantry Regiment. He passed through Suez and Alexandria before arriving in France. After a few months, he was wounded in action in the area between High Wood and Delville Wood, just southwest of the village of Flers in the Somme sector.

John was treated in hospital in England before returning to New Zealand. He was discharged in October 1917, due to wounds received in battle.

The unit diary describes the activities of the 2nd Battalion along the Crest Trench, specified on the map, from September 15, 1916. John and the other two Swedish soldiers were among the other 228 ORs (Other Ranks) who was wounded that day.

You can also see the Switch Trench and Crest Trench described in the photo gallery above the map gallery, the photo of the information sign.

The second Swedish born soldier who was wounded that day was James Lawrence Peterson, who also served in the 2nd Battalion.

John Lawrence is noted in the book of Swedish emigrants to have emigrated in 1884. He stated in his NZ attestation papers that he was born in 1870, but he is noted to be born in 1864. It has been hard to confirm who James Lawrence was in Sweden, but I will try to find his correct identity. I do not want to speculate if he gave the wrong date of birth when he was attested in Trentham, in 1916.

James went via Wellington in New Zealand, through Suez and Alexandria, and disembarked in Southampton in August 1916. He left for France on August 17th, and passed Etaples on the French west coast before he joined his unit in August 31st, 1916. Just about 15 days later he was wounded in action when he served for the 2nd Battalion, in the same area, and on the same date as John, mentioned above.

James went back to England on the hospital ship “Asturias” on September 20, before he went back to New Zealand, and was discharged due to his wounds in March 1917.

The third Swedish born soldier who served together with the others on that specific day, the 15th of September, 1916, was a soldier that I has been written about before. He was Arthur Phillip Grey.

Arthur was born in Arvika parish in the landscape of Värmland on June 15th, 1894. He had a British born father and a mother who was born in Elgå parish in Värmland, Sweden. Arthur had five siblings. His father, Alan Hopwood Grey, who at the time was a Saw Mill owner.

In the Swedish book about New Zealand Immigration it is noted that he arrived to New Zealand in 1920, however, according to the documents I found in the archive he signed the NZEF attestation papers in Trentham in October 1915. 

Arthur left New Zealand in February 1916, and he also passed Suez and Alexandria before he embarked for France in April 1916. Just over a month later he served in the area between the High Wood and Delville Wood, together with his fellow servicemen, just before the advance towards the village of Flers was about to start.

Arthur was wounded in action by a Gunshot Wound through the chest, on September 15, 1916, during the battle of the Somme.

15 September 1916 was the first real day in action on the Western Front for the New Zealand Division – and it was also the first day that tanks were ever used in battle.

However, in the upcoming days, on September 16 and September 17, two more Swedes were wounded in the advance towards the village of Flers.

John Person, Johan Gustaf Persson, was born in Sweden on June 16th, 1893. He emigrated from Sweden in May 1912. From the Swedish church book I can also see that he went back to Sweden from New Zealand in 1921.

John was attested in Trentham in February 1916 and joined the 1st Battalion in the New Zealand Otago Regiment. He left the camp in Sling, England, for Etaples, France, in mid June, 1916.

John was, according the war diary of the Otago regiment, in the area south-west of the Crest Trench, along the trench area described in the yellow box below. The unit was ordered to advance towards the Switch Trench, alongside the 2nd Auckland Battalion.

John was wounded during September 16th, 1916, and was brought back to England already on the 18th, on the Hospital Ship “Asturias”. John was finally discharged in New Zealand in November 1917.

The day after John Person was wounded, another Swede, Gustave Adolph Swanson, joined the group of wounded Swedes in the same area as the others.

Gustave Adolph Swanson was born as Gustaf Adolf Svensson on October 10, 1884, in Karlskrona parish, in Blekinge county.

Gustaf was a sailor and he is noted to have emigrated from Sweden to New Zealand in 1907. He signed his attestation papers for the New Zealand Army in April 1915. He left New Zealand in September 1915, and initially he disembarked in Alexandria, to later on embark for France in Port Said in April 1916.

After he spent a short period in a hospital in St Omer in France he joined his unit, the 1st battalion in the Canterbury Infantry Regiment, in the French town of Armentieres.

The unit advanced to the Somme area, and on September 17, 1916, Gustaf was wounded when the unit advanced, according to the unit diary, towards the Groove Avenue Trench, also called Groove Alley on some other trench maps.

He was wounded in the chest by enemy fire, and the bullets broke some ribs in his chest. Gustaf embarked in Southampton for New Zealand on the hospital ship “H.S Marama” in mid January 1917. He was finally discharged in New Zealand in April 1917.

It has been very interesting to connect these individuals to the specific area described in the war diaries and to see the trench names on the maps, knowing that I have been there. If and when I visit the area again, I will definitely view the terrain from a different perspective.

My knowledge has increased, and it has made me more interested in the specific units the soldiers served in and their history. For me, it is also important to follow up on every Swedish soldier who served in the war, not only those who fell.

Lest we forget.