Month: April 2022

For my Swedish visitors!

Nu är det på gång! I mitt samarbete med resebyrån Historic Travel så har vi härmed planerat in en resa till slagfälten i Belgien och Frankrike där vi besöker de platser som de svenska soldaterna stred och föll i det första världskriget. Resan kommer beröra en del av de soldater som jag följer upp i mitt projekt som ni kan läsa mer om på denna sida.

Nedan så kan ni läsa den information som skickats ut till de som följer Historic Travel nyhetsbrev.

“Svenskar på Västfronten 31/3-3/4 2023
Denna resa blir den mest gripande resa som jag har genomfört och kommer att bli känslosam för dig som följer med. Den behandlar svenskar som utvandrade till Kanada och andra delar av engelska samväldet och stupade i Första Världskriget på Europas slagfält.
Joacim Hallberg, officer på Göta Ingenjörregemente i Eksjö, har under flera års tid forskat i detta ämne i olika arkiv och kyrkböcker samt besökt gravplatser och slagfälten. Han blir vår guide på resan och personligen ser jag oerhört mycket fram mot detta. Han har valt ut några av dessa människoöden där familjebakgrund, emigration, värvning, förbandstillhörighet, striden och plats där han stupade samt graven på krigskyrkogården besöks. 
Denna resa är ett “absolut måste” för dig som är intresserad av Första Världskriget.
Vi besöker platser i Belgien och Norra Frankrike enligt utkastet bifogat i detta mail.
För detaljer och pris se längst ned på sidan.

En av de soldater som vi kommer att höra och se mer om är Bertil Lindh.

Bertil Albert LindhFödd 31 december 1891 i Hedvig Eleonora församling, uppfostrad av sin Mor Hulda Mathilda Elfrida Borg och hans far Gustav Albert Carlsson Lindh. Bertil hade tre syskon. Enligt kyrkböckerna så är familjen registrerad inledningsvis i Stockholm, i Hedvig Eleonora församling, men även I Malmö, i kvarteret Judith.  Därefter går det att utläsa att delar av familjen flyttar tillbaka till Stockholm, där Bertil registreras i Stockholms Sjömanskår under år 1913. Bertil är då 21 år, och det kan vara i Sjömanskåren som han gör sin militärtjänstgöring. Äldre digitaliserade tidningar nämner att han gick till sjöss tidigare, men 1913 är mer troligt.Bertil tar sig bedömt, i sin yrkesroll som sjöman, till Nordamerika strax efter sin militärtjänstgöring och registrerar sig för kanadensisk militärtjänstgöring i Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, på den kanadensiska östkusten, den 17 april 1915.

Han anger ingen adress i Kanada då han troligtvis registrerar sig direkt på rekryteringskontoret från sin sjömanstjänst, vilket var relativt vanligt om man jämför med andra svenska sjömän som sedan blev soldater. Vi vet idag ingen specifik anledning till att han anmäler sig för den kanadensiska armén, men mycket tyder på att han gjorde det frivilligt, då han inte var kanadensisk medborgare. Bertil lämnar Kanada, på skeppet S.S Caledonia, från Halifax, och anländer till England 29 augusti 1915.Bertil ansluter sig den 13:e Kanadensiska infanteribataljonen, The Royal Highlanders, den 4 september samma år, troligtvis i Belgien. Bataljonen tjänstgör sedan i Västra Flandern i Belgien, söder om staden Ieper (Ypres) i sydvästra Belgien.

Bataljonen strider i ett område som brigaden stridit i sedan februari-mars 1915 som kallas för ”The Bluff”, i området Palingbeek. Bertil stupar den 19 april 1916 i hårda strider mot tyska förband mellan skyttevärn nr 31 och 33, och begravs inledningsvis bakom skyttegrav 33, för att därefter flyttas till Hooge Crater cemetery ca 3 km norr hans ursprungliga begravningsplats.Bertil sörjs av sin familj hemma i Stockholm efter att dessa informerats av en brittisk befälhavare. Detta finns även noterat i kyrkböckerna i Johannes församling i Stockholm 1916.“

Det preliminära programmet ser ut enligt följande:

Normalpris: 8550:- 

Erbjudande: 1000:- rabatt gäller till 30/4 (10 platser) 

I priset ingår: 

– Flyg ToR Arlanda, Landvetter, Kastrup- Bryssel 

– Tre nätter på hotell inkl frukost med del i dubbelrum 

– Alla transporter i Belgien och Frankrike (utom ev egna utflykter) – Guidning av Joacim Hallberg 

– Två luncher/middagar 

– Studiematerial

Önskar ni följa med? Anmäl er då till Jan Ågren Historic Travel via följande mailadress:

info@historictravel.se

Välkomna och väl mött! /Joacim

One of the things that moves me are these moments when I can meet the relatives to those Swedish born soldiers that participated in The Great War and listen to them to get more information about the individuals, but also a piece of their local history in Sweden.

One of these moments I had this Saturday morning, when visiting Gunborg, the Niece to Ernst Magnus Robert Kristoffersson and Sjunne Walter Kristoffersson, who both registered for U.S Army after they emigrated to North America from Sweden in 1913. The reason to this meeting was a result from my lecture I had in my home village in March.

One of the participants recognized one of the names I had about the local soldiers who had fought in the American Expeditionary Forces in the Great War, Ernest M R Christopherson, who we know as Ernst mentioned above in the text. He sent me Gunborgs number, and we could arrange a meeting. So glad we met.

Gunborgs mother Aina Ida Viola Kristoffersson was the only one of in total 9 siblings who did not emigrate to North America from the farm Bråten here in my home village of Taberg, in Småland, Sweden. Aina took well care about her parents here in Sweden, but had contact with many of her siblings through letters from North America, almost on a weekly basis. Aina was the youngest of the sibling, together with her twin brother Bror, almost 25 year younger than the oldest sibling.

I am so amazed to hear about those individuals and are lucky to meet people who are still alive to tell the stories.

Ernst was the only one of those two brothers who went over to France. He was registered in the American Draft in June 5th, 1917, when he lived at Wilson Place in Jamestown, NY, where he lived with his sister Bertha and her family. As far as I know his brother Walter lived there as well at that time.

Ernst went over to France in May 27th, 1918, with his unit, 307th Field Artillery (Light), which belonged to 153rd Field Artillery Brigade in the 78th Infantry Division.

If you look on the photo above of Ernst, you can see the Shoulder Sleeve insignia of the 78th Division on his left shoulder.

The first unit of the Division arrived in France May 18, 1918. The last part of the Division arrived in June 12, 1918. The Artillery Brigade supported the 90th Infantry Divison in the St Michael Offensive, and rejoined the 78th Division again in October 4th, 1918.

In between, in July 18th, the 78th division moved to the Arras Area with it’s headquarters established at Roellecourt in France, after had been conducting training in The British Sector near Ypres Front in West Flandern, Belgium.

In October 4th to 5th, the whole Division moved to Foret de la Reine, and then to Clermont en-Argonne area, in France. On october 10th they moved to the eastern part of the Argonne Forest, with headquarters in Varennes. They entered the line in October 15th and relieved 77th Division in the line between Petit Talma – Grand Pre – Chevieres – St Juvin. The unit fought hard in Bois de Bourgogne and in the end the unit had around 7245 casualties and had taken around 432 prioners.

Ernst surived the fightings and in the discharge documents in May 22, 1919, it is mentioned that he has 0 percent disability, but family can now tell me that he struggled with the hearing the rest of his life, which is not strange after had belonged to an Artillery unit.

In the church books I can read that Ernst visited Sweden at least one time during the 1960s, but he died in 1977 in U.S after has been living there since 1913. His younger brother Walter died in 1955 after struggling with a disease.

Walter was registered in the Draft in June 1918, but never served abroad according to the documents.

Both of the brothers registered for the Second World War but never went abroad.

I am very glad that I have met Gunborg and her husband today at their nice farm, just 10 minutes from my home, and after a nice chat we decided to meet again, to be able to have a more detailed dialogue about her relatives, which will be great material in my production of the article I will write in the next version of the book about our home parish Taberg. It will be about the local Swedish soldiers who were born in Månsarp parish, and fought in the The Great War at the Western Front.

Below you will find some more family photos of the soldier Ernest Magnus Robert Chritopherson.

Thank you very much, Gunborg.

“Nov. 1-The capture of the ground south of Valenciennes between the Rhonelle river and the Scheldt canal was of extreme importance so as to compel the enemy to evacuate the town. The Canadian Corps were holding the western approaches to the town and the western bank of the Scheldt canal, and their guns were able to batter the tongue of land where the 51st. Division had been fighting. An attack by Canadian troops in a northerly direction from about Aulnoy could thus be supported by their artillery fire from south, west and north, and offered the best and safest means of capturing Valenciennes.

The attack was made by the 44th. Battalion, of New Brunswick though originally recruited at Winnipeg, on the right, with the 47th. Battalion, Western Ontario, on the left. After taking Famars which again had fallen into enemy hands the 44th, fought their way into Aulnoy, where it was only after hand-to-hand fighting that the enemy was overcome.”

Some words from the book “Canada’s Hundred Days – With the Canadian Corps from Amiens to Mons, Aug. 8-Nov. 11, 1918” (John Frederick Bligh Livesay), from November 1st, when the young Swede Carl Frederick Youngberg went missing at the battlefield, later on declared killed in action.

Who was the young Swede? Where did he come from, and where is his final rest? I will try to tell you the story.

Carl Fredrick Youngberg, or Karl Ferdinand Ljungberg, was born in Sweden June 2nd, 1896, and raised by his parents, his mother Jenny Kristina Liljegren and his father Adolf Ljungberg. Karl had six siblings, Tekla, Ida, Marta, Ruth, Alma, and Gerda. Karl was the only son in the family. Karl was born in the small parish of Vä in Kristianstad county in the southern part of Sweden, and moved after about one year to the place where he lived when he left Sweden for North America, Skegrie, in Malmöhus county, far down south in Sweden.

Karl and his family moves to North America in August 1902, when Karl was only six years old. His mother takes all the kids on the trip over the Antlantic. When I read the Swedish church books, it looks like his father Adolf, the tailor, went over before his family, already in september 1901. which I think was quite common these days.

The transport documents also tells us the same thing.

The census documents tells us that the family settled down in St. Paul, Minnesota, after have arrived to Quebec, Canada.

Karl stated his address as St Paul, Minnesota, in his attestation documents for the Canadian Overseas Forces, in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He states that he is born in Stockholm, but as in many cases, when Swedes left Sweden when they were young, they had sometimes hard to remember the exact Swedish location of their place of birth. Below you will also see in his draft papers for the American Forces that he states that he is born in Småland Landscape, but Vä belongs to Skåne Landscape.

Karl left Canada from Halifax, Canada, for Europe. He arrived in England in October 17, 1917 on the Ship S.S Metagama.

He becomes wounded in his hand by a Gun Shot Wound and is treated in Etaples, at the General hospital, in the beginning of September 1918, almost a year from when he arrived in England.

Karl is fighting for the 44th Canadian Infantry battalion when he is killed in action that day, November 1st, in 1918. The unit is fighting in the area around the region of Alnoy, south of Valneciennes, France, where Carl initially is declared “Missing”.

Karl is only at an age of 22 when he is killed. I know that he also was drafted for the American Army in June 1917, but right now I don’t know the reason why he chose to join the Canadian Forces instead. In my research I have a couple of individuals that emigrated to North America, was drafted for the American Forces but later on joined the Canadian Forces for the fightiings at the Western Front.

Carl is buried at Aulnoy Communal Cemetery in France. I will try to visit him this summer in July.

May Carl rest in peace.