Swedes in the Great War 1914-1918

They called him Risasi moja (one bullet).

Carl Erik August von Otter was born on October 9th, 1889, in the parish of Kungsholmen in Stockholm, as Carl Erik August, into one of the families of Swedish novelties, the von Otters.

He was raised by his mother Augusta Katarina Charlotta von Otter Gyllensvaan and his father Erik Otto von Otter, together with his brother, Rolf Henrik Salomon von Otter.

His father, Erik Otto, owned the Östanå Mansion in Gränna, just about 50 km north from where I live, and he also got married at the Västanå Castle in Gränna in 1888. Below some photos from the Mansion of Östanå and the Castle of Västanå. The Västanå Castle is still today owned by the family von Otter.

Erik educated himself to an agronomist but left Sweden for East Africa in 1913.

Eric emigrated to Kenya in 1913, converted to Islam and found employment on a coffee plantation. At the outbreak of war in 1914 he was enrolled in a corps formed by farmers and other volunteers in British East Africa (King’s Royal African Rifles). He was promoted to captain in 1916 and in 1919 he became military and administrative commander in Turkana in northwestern Kenya. Eric founded the stations Lodwar and Lorogumo in Kenya.

From different books about the story of Eric we can read as follows:

“Rather striking in appearance. Tall – 6 ft. 1 in. I should say. Spare and lean. Not a surplus ounce of flesh. Tough as whipcord. Through constant exposure to the sun his face had rather a strange, blotchy appearance. To use his own expression ‘the pigment had been burnt out’. Thus, in Turkana, part of his face was a deep brown (or rather red) with large patches of almost white. This also showed in his moustache, which was a handsome brown one with one distinctive patch of white. This was quite an arresting feature and the women were fascinated by it, but from the little I saw of him in Nairobi, he did not have much to do with the opposite sex.

(The Earl of Lytton’s book “The Desert and The Green“)

Further on in the same book we can read:

“He was, in a way, rather a difficult man to know. Rather inclined to retire into his shell. This was largely due, I believe, to the fact that before he had fully mastered the English language he used to get his leg pulled for minor mistakes in pronunciation. For example, he pronounced certain words in a way that gave them a coarse double-entendre, bearing in mind the rough-and-ready types in a war-time mess; there were apt to be hoots of merriment and the joke was tediously prolonged.

When I joined, I noticed that, when the conversation reached a certain level, von Otter retired into his shell and ceased to be amused by our English sense of humour. … on bad terms with his wife and loved the deserts of Turkana. … excellent linguist, wrote a grammar on Turkana … great understanding of the African and his askaris worshipped him … Finest shot I’ve ever seen with rifle or shotgun … No believer in comfort on safari. … I can only say he was a very fine man, for whom I had the greatest admiration and respect – difficult to say just why on paper – but you FELT his presence, and felt you were in the presence of a ‘leader’ who knew his job well and intended to carry it out conscientiously, and that he had no axe to grind.”

Eric also wrote in his diary_

“There are no nicer nor more interesting people than our askaris, when one goes on safari with them in the way I do. When I am on safari I live not only amongst them, I live with them, which according to my experience is the only method of getting to know the men and vice versa …“

Eric received the Military Cross for his action around the Zugunatti Bridge.

On June 13th, 1916 the 3rd Battalion of the King’s African Rifles (3KAR) were scouting ahead but as they approached Mauri, 15 miles west of Korogwe, the Schutztruppe rearguard Abteilung Kempner inflicted three casualties.  3KAR moved up and reached the railway bridge to find it demolished.

3KAR were now ordered to seize the Zuganatto road bridge further east at Korogwe. The battalion crossed the Pangani by a villagers’ foot bridge (a rickety swinging bridge and a few slippery tree trunks) a mile below Mauri on the night of 10 June, taking several hours to cross the fragile structure.

The citation for the Military Cross as follows:

“For conspicuous gallantry in action. In face of heavy machine gun fire he carried a wounded man on his back across the open to cover. He then returned to his machine guns, and silenced one of the enemy’s guns which had caused many casualties.”

At dawn the CO, Lt Col T.O. Fitzgerald, decided to press on along the south bank with two companies that had already crossed the river.

The advance guard met a 12-man Schutztruppe patrol at 0600 hours, one mile west of Zugunatti Bridge.  The enemy patrol dispersed rapidly.  Half a mile further on the battalion came under fire from 2 machine guns and 25 riflemen entrenched either side of the bridge, taking 8 casualties, one of whom died later.  

“A” Company and half of “D” Company seized a hillock that commanded the bridge from 400 yards distance and shot the Schutztruppe defenders out of their south bank trenches, three dead bodies being found later.

A third company came up to the bridge at 0700 hours causing the Schutztruppe to withdraw into Korogwe.  The wooden bridge had been prepared for burning but the speed and direction of 3KAR’s night advance had caught the Germans by surprise.

(Text from http://www.kaiserscross.com/)

Eric sadly died of disease in his headquarter in Turkana, Kenya, on August 7th, 1923.

From the Earl of Lyttons book we can read further:

Verdict of Col. T.O. Fitzgerald, doyen of KAR (in 1955)

“I knew him well as he served with me in my battalion, the 3rd KAR during the First Great War, and a most excellent officer he was … He was one of the most intrepid officers I have ever met; at times his fearless exploits almost amounted to foolishness. In one engagement, when we were in the Zunganetto bridge fight on the 15th June 1916, I had the opportunity of seeing his prowess, an act of bravery which, in the old days, would have won him the VC. I managed to get him an MC for this action, though his behaviour was worthy of a much higher award. … Von Otter was a very hardy sort of chap, and would never take much care of himself. For instance, when he went away from headquarters on safari, by himself, he would take only a few pounds of rice and live on ‘the smell of an oil rag’.

I used to lecture him on the sparsement of his commissariat, and told him he was asking for trouble if he did not feed himself well, and indeed I am sure it was, to a very great extent, that lack of nourishing food which finished him off in the end. … He was a wonderful shot, not only with the rifle, but with the revolver as well. Poor Von Otter! A nice chap, but a difficult man to know. I could never get much out of him as regards his past, but I fancy there was some domestic trouble behind his veneer. Some love affair, perhaps, which made him almost reckless when under fire, not caring whether he got hit or not. …

Col. Ted Brick says – von Otter was suffering from Addison’s disease. According to Dr. Sargent, who attended and buried him, he died of blackwater, (kind of a more serious version of malaria) but in the 7th and last year of the span of life which Addison’s disease is supposed to allow you.

When Sargent told him there wasn’t much hope for him, he made Sargent promise to burn all his books; he had an exceptionally good library, especially of books on Africa. All his clothes had to be burned too; he gave some guns and cameras to Sargent and to Ted his miniature medals. Sargent afterwards sold the guns and cameras and somehow, probably just coincidence, a legend grew that anyone holding anything of von Otter’s was doomed; of those known to have been in possession of something of his, one was killed by an elephant, another committed suicide, a third got blackwater, and so on … Ted, like everyone else who knew von Otter, greatly admired his wonderful marksmanship; they used to throw soda sparklet bulbs in the air and never did von Otter miss.

Today there is a private headstone raised nearby Gränna, north of Jönköping.

I also found a photo from his grave in Turkana, Kenya, taken by Birgitta Arnlund, which ske took on her visit in the area. See below.

I find it really interesting to read these, for me, unknown stories, about Swedes who left their homes and ended up in activities and served in the Great War.

I will now try to visit this headstone in Gränna – sometimes things are too close to be discovered.

The Third Battle of the Aisne was the third major offensive launched by the Germans on the Western Front in the summer of 1918. Ludendorff decided to launch a third attack on the French lines in the Chemin des Dames, called Operation Blűcher-Yorck. This would threaten Paris, and hopefully force the allies to concentrate their reserves in front of the city. If that happened, then the Germans would launch a new attack against the weakened British lines to the north.

The battle began with one of the most intense artillery bombardments of the war. The Germans fired some two million shells in four hours on the morning of 27 of May and then launched their attack with seventeen divisions. The Allied lines on the Chemin des Dames were shattered. The Germans were able to advance thirteen miles on the first day of the battle, the single biggest advance since the beginning of trench warfare in 1914. The bridges across the Aisne were captured intact and the Germans began an advance towards the Marne.

When reading about the German part of this battle I came across an article by the Swedish author Nils Fabiansson, who was one of the first individuals who, with his great books about the Western Front, dragged me into this subject, and made me start my great War project, connected to the Swedish born soldiers and their contribution in the Great War.

In this article he mentioned a Swedish Lieutenant in the German Ober-Elsässisches Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 167, who were a part of the German 44th Infantry Brigade, 22nd Division in the XI Army Corps.

The name of the Swedish born Lieutenant was Diedrik Robert Thorsten von Essen, and he fell in the battle after had been wounded, getting his left knee smashed by a grenade, in the area of Goussencourt, on June 2nd, 1918. He is today buried at the German Cemetery in Bligny, South-East of Reims in France.

I would never have found this name by just searching in the German Graves Commission, Volksbund, where he is just mentioned as Robert von Essen, with his date of death, June 2nd, 1918. I would never understand that this name was connected to a Swedish born soldier, so I am very glad to have found the article, written by Nils back in March, 2018.

When I searched for him in the German casualty lists I found him, with the name, date of birth, and location of birth.

Diedrik Robert Thorsten von Essen af Zellie was born in Saint Petri parish in Malmö, Sweden, November 25th, 1895. He was raised by his father, Claës Reinhold Carl Casimir von Essen af ​​Zellie, and his German born mother, Maria Lovise Margareta Von Schultz, who was 22 years younger than her husband.

He became a Staff Sergeant in the Prussian Fusilier Regiment nr 34 in 1915, at an age around 20, before he joined the nr 167 Infantry Regiment. He became a 2nd Lieutenant in 1916, and Lieutenant in 1917.

Diedrik had a brother, Reinhold Robert Jurgen von Essen af Zellie, born in 1890, who also participated in the Great War on the German side, within 8. Thüringisches Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 153, who participated along the Western and Eastern Front, but also in the Balkan areas. He survived the war and served as an officer in the Swedish Army (Lieutenant at Södermanlands Regemente) between 1919 and 1941. He died as a Captain in Malmö in 1949.

During information scanned by the Runeberg Project we can read about the two brothers. Below some information about Diedrik from the book in “Den introducerade svenska adelns ättartavlor“, information about the Swedish Noble families.

In the text above we can read about how his comrades from his regiment put the text “Here lies a Swedish hero, Diedrik Robert Thorsten von Essen”, which was a text put on the wooden cross from the original burial in the area of Lagery, west of Bligny, in France.

The text probably disappeared due to that the cross was made by wood, and did not stand the weather and time, until he was moved to Bligny Cemetery.

I hope I will be able to visit him next time, when in the area, to take a photo of his headstone. Diedrik is now the ninth swedish born soldier who is confirmed to have participated and fallen in the Great War for Germany, within my research. In total I have now registered 583 Swedish born soldiers.

I hope I will be able to find more, but as I have mentioned before, it is assessed by the Swedish author Lars Gyllenhaal, that it was only between 40-60 Swedish born officers and soldiers who fought on the German side in the Great War. (The book “Svenskar i Krig 1914-1945“)

The company in which Carl and Fred participated in, was in support in the Woods of Cierges in the Argonne region in France that September day in 1918.

Carl, who was from Norway, and Fred, who was from Denmark, probably had some conversation during their time in the trench. Either in their own language, as Norwegians and Swedes sometimes can understand the Danes, especially if they Danes are from Copenhagen, as Fred was. Or maybe they spoke english, to involve the others nearby.

Suddenly they were gone. A high explosive shell hit the trench and killed both Carl and Fred instantly. Their comrade, Ernest Beeks, who was born in Washington State in the US, was wounded.

Today we can read about the event through documents which are scanned and provided by the American National Archives. We can also read about the event in books.

When looking at the Burial cards from the same archives I find that Carlson is stated to have died on September 29th, 1918, and on Fred’s card I can read that he died on September 28th, 1918. Through the document above we know that they were killed in action on the same day.

Carl M Carlson was born as Karl Marius Carlsen in Aalsund, Norway, on April 25th, 1890. He emigrated to North America in 1906 and lived together with his family in Tacoma, Washington State. He was self employed and was a fisherman up in the waters near Alaska.

Fred Jensen stated in his draft document that he was born in Copenhagen, July 21st, 1891, but I haven’t been able to confirm it. He worked as a coal miner in Wyoming.

In the witness report above, another soldier is mentioned, Hans Carlson. He was from Norway as well, and survived the war.

Carl’s mother – a Gold Star mother

Marie Carlson was the mother of Carl. She was was born in Norway in 1866, and went with her family to North America in 1906. Carl was also married to Petra J Walderhaug, who then became Petra W Carlson.

According to the Pilgrimage program from the Act of Congress Carl’s mother was offered the trip to France and in the American National Archive we can read the letter regarding the arrangements.

Only mothers who were citizens in the USA were entitled to the Pilgrimage Program, and some mothers to the Swedish born soldiers, who then lived in the USA, took the chance to take the trip over to France to see the graves of their sons.

But many European mothers never got the opportunity to do the trip due to the regulations within the Pilgrimage Program. There are many stories to find in the archives about mothers in Sweden, who wanted to do these trips, financed by the US Government, but never got the chance. I can imagine how that must have felt.

Marie decided to travel to France, but decided to jump off the arrangements for the trip back to the USA, and instead arranged a trip to Norway, to see her daughter. She did that on her own expenses. She later went back to the US but not without some complications regarding tickets for both boat and train back to Washington State.

It must have been a huge trip for the mothers, many of them between 60 and 70 years old at the time around 1930, when many of the trips were made.

Swedish born soldiers in the same unit

On that day, on September 29, 1918, three Swedes were killed in action as well. They were Carl A Nelson and Gustav Wilson from Company L, and Claus E Nygren from Company E. Gustav Wilson was initially buried in the same temporary American Cemetery as Carl M Carlson and Fred Jensen, near Cierges, France. They also belonged to the 361st Infantry Regiment.

Carl A Nelson (Kar August Nilsson) was fron Gillberga parish in Värmland, Claus E Nygren (Klas Edward Nygren) was from Stora Tuna in Dalarna, and Gustav Wilson (Gustav Alfrid ragnar Johansson) was from Härlunda in Västergötland.

His surname Wilson he probably got from his father Wilhelm, which then meant Wilhelms son (Wilhelmsson) but was probably shortened to Wilson.

When looking at the amount of the Swedish soldiers who fought and fell in the 361st Infantry Regiment, I have found that they were 10 in total.

Of those 10 soldiers presented above, all were buried in the Meuse Argonne American Cemetery, except Ernest J A Erickson, who were buried at home in Riverview cemetery, North Dakota, USA, and John Ekwall, who were transported home to Sweden, to be buried in Onslunda cemetery.

17 Swedish born soldiers of those who fell in the war were transported home to Sweden. The relatives to the fallen soldiers were asked about how they wanted their soldier to be buried. They could choose between bringing them home to the US, be buried in France or transported to another location.

John (Johan Alfred) Ekwall was transported to Sweden on January 25th, 1922, with a commercial liner, according to the back side of his burial card.

I have not yet been able to find a photo of his grave here in Sweden.

When I read the book “600 days’ service – A history of the 361st Infantry Regiment” I can also find some Swedes who survived the war and went back to the United States with all the others on the Embarkation Roster, from March 25th, 1919.

They were Arthur William Velin, born in Gothenburg, and John M Erickson (Johan Martialis Eriksson), from Södertälje. In the Draft document he stated his name to be John Martin, as his real names were probably hard to pronounce in his new country.

They still have their Swedish address mentioned in the Roster, which often meant that the relatives or the Next of Kin still lived in Sweden.

As there are many Scandinavian names in the roster over those who survived, I can’t fully rule out there were mores Swedish born soldiers who survived in the 361st Infantry Regiment. Most likely there are.

They came from the North, they were drafted in their new home countries, to join the Great War on the other side of the Atlantic ocean. They are still together, in the Meuse Argonne American Cemetery, as they were that day in September 1918. May Carl and Fred rest in peace.

It will not be finished yet, but it slowly takes shape, my second book, which will contain the stories about the 153 Swedish born soldiers who are buried or commemorated at the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery in France. In the great American archives they have, at this moment, digitized around 6,8 % of the documents containing the correspondence about the soldiers that are buried abroad. Those can be obtained within Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General in the archives.

Many of the Swedish descendants, who still lived in Sweden at the time of their relatives death on the battlefield, wasn’t fluent in the english language. They had to communicate in Swedish, and the American Government had to have support from people who knew the Swedish language, which must have meant extra long time in the ongoing conversations, which also was made by sending letters back and forth, between Sweden and North America.

One example of this is the letter from the mother of the Swedish soldier John R Anderson (Johan Ragnar Anderson). Johan was born in Högsäter parish, Dalsland, Sweden, on August 11th, 1891 and raised by his mother Anna Paulina Helldén and his father, Anders Magnus Jonasson.

Johan emigrated to North America in March 1911. He lived in Priest River in Idaho when he was drafted in June 1917. He stated his uncle, John F Falk, as his Next of Kin. He left for France with his unit, 157th Infantry Regiment, on August 7th, 1918.

He was fighting with 305th Infantry Regiment, 77th Division, AEF, when he was killed in action on October 4th, 1918. Through the American archives we can read the circumstances of his death.

In the documents we can also find the letter from his mother Anna, who wrote about a very sad situation, from her home in Högsäter in Sweden. Below you can find the letter from Anna but also a translation made by someone unknown. Take the time to read the translated text, which probably describes the situation for many parents at that time, who never saw their sons again.

John’s father never got the news about his son’s fate, as Anders died already in April 1918. Anders died in Sweden before his son left for France.

I can imagine it must have been quite difficult for the American organisation, to find individuals who were able to act as translators for the correspondence between parents, siblings or other connections to the deceased soldiers.

John is buried at the Meuse Argonne American Cemetery in France, and I have visited him a couple of times, thinking that he may met his parents again far from the world we live in today. May he rest in peace.

Johan Ragnar Andersson and his fate will be mentioned in my upcoming book, among all the other Swedes who are buried and commemorated there.

It is sometimes very interesting to scroll around in the archives of the Great War. I find it interesting to put the different pieces together, to discover what the Swedish born soldiers went through during their service.

In this short story I have tried to follow in the steps of the son of a Wholesale merchant from Stockholm, and how he tragically ended his last days after having survived the war, after been with the Canadian forces in Siberia.

In the Canadian archive I found this little note who looked interesting in itself. What does it mean? Let’s find out.

This is the story of Sergeant Ernest Sune Ekstrom.

Ernest was born as Ernst Sune Ekström in Hedvig Eleonora parish in Stockholm on November 16, 1874. In his Canadian attestation papers it says November 16th, 1879, but that is probably a misread or a typo. Sometimes they wanted to say that they were younger than they were, so it can be like that in this case. We will never know.

He grew up with his mother Christina Elisabeth Ekström and his father Wilhelm Moritz Ekström, together with his two brothers and five sisters.

There is not specific note in any of the church books I have found that says when he emigrated from Sweden, but there is a note that he is moved to the book of absent citizens.

I have found a passenger list that says that Ernst left Sweden for North America in 1901, at an age of 27.

In July 1902 Ernest married a Swedish born girl, Anna Carolina Deurell, born in Adolf Fredrik parish in Stockholm in 1877. Ernest got naturalized in Illinois in 1902. They got married in Berrien, Michigan. According to Canadian census documents from 1910 Ernest lived with Anna in Chicago, Illinois, together with Anna’s family.

It is not known if Ernest was a volunteer or if he was drafted to the Canadian Army, but he signed his Canadian attestation papers on February 28th, 1918, which is after the Canadian Military Service Act. He didn’t mention his wife as his Next of Kin, instead he mentioned his brother, Harold (Harald Moritz), back in Sweden. He seems to have been working at the News magazine Aftonbladet, a very large newspaper site today.

Although, I haven’t found any documents that says that he moved to Canada, and I haven’t found any US draft documents. Who knows what happened before he decided to sign up for the Canadian Forces? He stated that he lived at the Normandy Hotel in Detroit, Michigan, and we can only guess why he did that.

Maybe I will find the reason later on. There are some divorce documents about a Ernest Eckstrom, from 1919, in Michigan, that can be a reason for why he ended up where he did. In this case I am not sure if it is the correct Ernest Ekstrom.

Ernest was a dentist and he was initially attached in the 4th Canadian Advanced Depot Medical Stores, as a dental surgeon. According to his dental history sheet, he may have performed some dental work on himself. No good status according to me.

He left Canada with his unit on October 11th, 1918 and arrived Siberia on October 26th, 1918.

Then he seems to have been into a lot of trouble. According to some text noted in the personal documents connected to Ernest, it seems that he have been involved into some situations according to theft. I have tried to transcribe the document below. At the moment described below the text is written by the Officer in Command of the 16th Field Ambulance in Vladivostok.

“- Awarded 6 months D.H.L (Hard labour?) by the General Court Martial for when on active service committing a civil offence is to say “theft” in that he at Vladivostok on April 12, 1919 under pretence of paying 950 Roubles stole from Henrick Ceren (?) a receipt for the said sum.

– When on active service committing a civil offence that is to say “theft” in that he in Vladivostok on or about March 9, 1919 having received from Kirill Mammayev (?) the sum of 250 Roubles for the purchase of sugar fraudulently converted the same to his own use”

You may recognize the name Mammayev from the note, showed early in this post. Maybe that was one of the receipts?

Could he have been into something within producing alcohol? My guess may have a connection to his fate just a short period after those events.

No matter what he embarked S.S Empress in Siberia to be transported home to Canada on May 19th, 1919. He was later on discharged from the Canadian Army on June 13th, 1919.

Tragically he died in his bed in the Boarding House on Queens Avenue, London, Ontario, Canada, on June 30th, 1919. He was probably poisoned by “drinking wood alcohol” according to the notes.

I can’t help that I feel a bit sad for Ernst Sune Ekström. I wonder why his life had to end like that. I wonder if he did a good job in his service in Siberia. Not many soldier served in the Siberia region, and not many Swedish born soldiers as I know of at this moment.

Ernest Sune Ekstrom is today buried at London Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Ontario, Canada. May he rest in peace.

On his stone the word “Studiosus” is mentioned which can mean “eager, keen, full of zeal”. In Swedish it means “Ivrig, full av iver”.