Smålanders on the Battlefield during the First World War, on the Western Front. Did their paths cross during the war?
We will never know, but what I know right now is that Lieutenant Willy Höglund belonging to Småland’s Hussars, fought with German Royal Infantry Rgt No 347 during 1917-1918 in the area around Roisel in France. Willy dies from his shrapnel wounds July 1, 1918, after have been wounded 16th of June same year. Willy is buried in the Montcornet region, France
Corporal Otto Mauritz Wilhelm Armfelt, born in Hunnerstad, Höreda parish, Eksjö, Sweden, served at the same regiment, Smålands Husarregemente (Småland’s Hussars) in 1916, and went to Canada in 1917, and then served in France with 2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles and tragically fell 5 days before the armistice on 6 November 1918, together with his comrade Olof Lundmark from Lögdeå, Nordmaling, Sweden.
On the battlefield, not far from the area where Willy Höglund falls, William Lovegrove Champernowne, born in Nässjö, Småland, Sweden, also fights for the 2nd Australian Infantry Battalion, but he is killed in action later than Höglund, on 18 September 1918.
Three “Smålanders” with completely different fates in completely different armies, dedicate their lives to their units, in the First World War, and fall on the Western Front.
I honor them through this post, and attach some pictures, excerpts from church books and from my own compilations. May they rest in peace.
