Swedes on The Western Front

I am now home from the trip that was planned with the purpose to follow up some of the Swedish born soldiers who fought for the American Expeditionary Forces in WW1, some of the Swedish born soldiers who fought for the Commonwealth, but also to visit places, related to WW1, that I always have wanted to visit.

It became an amazing trip in the company of Wendy Maddocks, who supported me through all the activities that we planned. We saw almost everything we wanted, and it became quite hectic, but very interesting.

We started the trip by flying to Brussels, and then take the rental car down to the Somme region in France. We spent a few days in the Somme region before heading south to Belleau Wood region. We continued later on east through the Champagne region towards the southern Ardenne region and looked into the areas of Argonne and Verdun. Later on we turned back west back to the Somme through Champagne and ended up in Cambrai before we went to Brussels again, to start our trip back home. Before we went home we spent a day i Le Quesnoy to commemorate the New Zealanders liberation of the town . All this in 10 days with nice weather most of the time.

Below you will find some photos from the different places. They are not marked with any specific locations but please don’t hesitate to comment, and I will explain more about them, if needed.

I am very glad that I was able to do this trip, which also gave me a lot of info and understanding about where the Swedish soldiers fought and where they ended up to have their final resting place. I will definitely do this again, and in spring 2025 I will have a guided tour to some of the places in the photos. More about that later on.

The attack commenced at 6.20 a.m. on a very cold morning while it was still dark. Throughout the whole action there was the most severe fighting. The Battalion however reached its first objective and after a pause for reorganization the two Companies on the right who alone had a second objective, pushed on and won this line too. All Companies had by this time been through fighting of the severest nature and had suffered very heavy losses. The Germans had however suffered still greater losses, losing some 600 prisoners to the Battalion, and leaving a very large number of dead on the field.

This text is from the diary of 1st battalion, Coldstream Guards, the day of November 27th, 1917, when they fought from a front between the northern part of the village of Fontaine, and the north-eastern part of the Bourlon Wood. You can see the area below on the map. The map is a snapshot from the very good map product from Great War Digital.

On this place, the day of November 27, 1917, the soldier Charles Gustaf Nordberg fell, and he is commemorated at the Cambrai Memorial, in Luoverval, between the village of Bapaume and the town of Cambrai in France. Charles Gustaf doesn’t have his own grave as he most likely dissapeared in the fierce fightings this day. So, who was Charles Gustaf?

Charles Gustaf Nordberg was born in April 1893, in South Shields , Durham, England. He was borught up by his mother Kristina Karlsdotter Sköld and his father Erik Johan Johansson Nordberg.

Both parents of Gustaf was born in Sweden. The father of Gustaf, Erik Johan, was born in Fägre parish, east of the the city of Mariestad and southeast of the town of Töreboda in the county of Västra Götaland, in November 9th, 1849. This county is often mentioned in english as “West Jutland” but has nothing to do with Jutland in Denmark. The reason is probably more connected to how it sounds when pronounced in English.

The parents of Charles Gustaf, Kristina and Erik.

Gustaf’s mother, Kristina Karlsdotter Sköld, was born as a daughter to Karl, that’s why her surname is Karlsdotter, “Karls daughter” She was born in the parish of Ekeskog, just southeast of Fägre, where Erik Johan was born. At this moment I don’t know if the knew eachother back then. According to the Swedish church books, Kristina left Sweden in late July 1881. and married Erik Johan Nordberg already in August 22nd, 1881, in England.

Erik Johan was a sailor, and it is noted in the Swedish church books that he left for England around 1873, as the note says 1888, and that he has been in England for about 15 years, since then.

Together they got Charles Gustaf Nordberg, who grew up together with his father when his mother Kristina died in England already in 1907. Charles Gustaf is mentioned in his father’s Naturalisation Papers when he was 16 years old, but I don’t know when his father became an English citizen.

Charles Gustaf Nordberg was only 24 years old when he was killed in action, that day in November, 1917. His name is on the Cambrai Memorial, and I will try to visit him when I am down in France this summer. Even if I don’t know where he is today, I will remember him, as one of the children to Swedish born citizens who one day in their life decided to move to England, and in this way put this story into the context of Swedes in the Great War.

May Charles Gustaf rest in peace.

Swedes who fought on the German side in the Great War were not many. We know from before, from some books by Swedish historians that it is assessed that around 40-60 Swedes chose to fight for the German side in WW1, and I have not find any facts that says anything else. When I read articles from newspapers from the period back in 1914-1918, it is mentioned that around 40-50 Swedes chose to join the French foreign legion in this period. 16 of those are mentioned to have fallen in the War.

I know from before that those 16 soldiers are mentioned at the board at the Swedish church in Paris, but I know also that some of those have their own headstones in French war cemeteries in France, but I haven’t had the time or opportunity until now to visit them.

When it comes to those Swedes who fought for the German side, I have only had the opportunity to visit one of them, Markus Grundberg at Menen Soldatenfriedhof in Menen, West Flandern in Belgium.

So, my main goal is to visit all the around 470 names that I have in my WW1 project, and during May 29th and June 1st I will fly to Paris and then head up to Pèronne and from there visit some of those I haven’t visited before, but also concentrate on those who fought for Germany and France.

Some of the names are mentioned in the church chapel in the Swedish Military Academy Carlberg, where they were educated to officers. In this case it will be Harry Patrik Hilding Carlsson, who fell March 23, 1918, and are buried at Viry-Noureuil German Military Cemetery. I have already visited Johan Erik Markus Grundberg who is buried at Menen Soldatenfriedhof in Belgium. Sadly Willy Höglund doesn’t have any known burial place, as he was moved from Montcornet Cemetery in France already in 1919, to a new site not known for now.

Below you will find the full list of those I will visit and the dates when I will do it.

29th of May

• Villers Cotterets National Cemetery – Conrad Sjöberg – French Foreign Legion
• Necropole Nationale Royallieu – Rudolf Petersen – French Foreign Legion
• Viry Noureuli German Military Cemetery – Harry Carlsson – German Forces
• Manicourt German War Cemetery – Olof Hedengren – German Forces

• Hotel I Pèronne – Best Western Hotell St Claude.

30th of May

• Peronne Communal Cemetery – Carl Sundqwist – Australian Imperial Forces
• Herbercourt British Cemetery – John Leonard Petersen – Australian Imperial Forces
• Dompierre French National Cemetery – Ivar Svensson och Erich Agne Göthlin – French Foreign Legion
• Marcelcave Cemetery – Ivan Lönnberg – French Foreign Legion
• Crucifix Corner Cemetery – Edmund Petrus Hilmer Eriksson – French Foreign Legion
• Adelaide Cemetery Villers Bretonneux – Ernest Ohlson – Australian Imperial Forces
• Villers Bretonneux Memorial – visit 15 Swedes – Australian Imperial Forces

• Back to hotel i Pèronne.

31st of May

• Tincourt New British Cemetery – William Sandberg – Australian Imperial Forces
• Roisel Communal Cemetery – William Lovegrove – Australian Imperial Forces
• Unicorn Cemetery – George Bernhard Bergdahl – British Forces
• Selvigny German Military Cemetery – Hans Ahlmann – German Forces

1st of June I will try to visit the Swedish church in Paris, with the Swedish names on the wall.

If you happens to be in the area those days described above, please don’t hesitate to contact me, it is always nice to meet up on the battlefield!

Below some of the Swedes I will visit, who fought on the German side.

Below some of the Swedes I will visit, who fought in the French Foreign Legion.

This is one more step to my goal, to visit all of the Swedes that I have in my project, it will be an honor to one day have visited them all. May they rest in peace.

The plans started late 2021. I got a question from a friend, if it would be possible to make a historical trip down to Belgium and France, based on my project. I got the task to make some kind of draft for a program which spanned between 4-7 days.

Later on, in summer 2022, we met up again, and draw the basic line for the upcoming trip, which we decided should take part in spring 2023.

We decided to make a four day trip, based on areas between Ypres and Arras-Cambrai-Iwuy.

I thought we would have around 15-20 participants, but later on turned out to be 35 individuals all along. In february 2023 I was able to have a talk about my research, and in that weekend I mentioned the upcoming trip, and many of the participants also took part of that talk, which was a really good start for them, and for me.

The day came, March 31st, when we gathered from different airports in Sweden, down to Zaventem i Brussels, Belgium. All flights were in time, first step cleared, and all the participants were there! Great start!

My basic outline of the 4-day schedule contained a track as follows, and was a geographical schedule, more than a chronological.

Ypres-Lys offensive 1918 – Swedes in American Expeditionary Forces. (AEF)

Palingbeek – fights in the Bluff 1916.

Ypres – Swedes at Menin Gate Memorial and Last Post ceremony.

Messines Ridge – Swedes in the June 7-8 fightings 1917.

Passchendaele – Swedish Australians, New Zeelanders and Swedish Canadians in the fightings late 1917.

Sanctuary Wood – Swedes in the battle of Mount Sorrel 1916.

Vimy Ridge – Swedish Canadians in and about April 9, 1917, and Swedes at Vimy Ridge Memorial, not forgetting the Swedish memorial sign on the Maroccoan Memorial west of the large Canadian memorial, commemorating the Swedes in the French Foreign Legion.

100-days offensive – Swedish Canadians late 1918 from Arras to Iwuy.

In addition to the places mentioned above, we also visited a lot of cemeteries connected to the different sites, where Swedes are buried and commemorated. We also went through some WW2 actions around Arras, when in the area.

The weather was really bad the first two days, but we managed to survive, and the last days we actually saw and felt some sun!

All in all, I am very pleased about the result, and I have a really good feeling after my first trip as a guide, and of course I want to do this more times! It was reaaly fun and I picked up a few lessons learned for the future!

Always a bonus as well to meet some of the persons that I follow on Twitter, to finally see them in real life! Nice to meet you Jon Wort and Bart Debeer!

Thank you very much to my companion and veteran in organizing historical trips, Jan Ågren at Historic Travels who made all the logistical arrangements, such as coach and flights, and thank you very much to all the participants who made this trip possible!

When do we do our next trip?

Next part of following in the footsteps of the Swedes will preliminary take part in April 2025, where we will go down in the area between Somme and Argonne in France, to follow the Swedes who fought for the Americans.

Looking very much forward to that! And if anyone wants a Swede on their own tours, adding some fates of Swedish born soldiers in the WW1, just let me know! 🙂

Below some photos from the trip, with a mix of authors, participating in the trip.

“On the following day these units continued their advance to the road running from Sivry-sur-Meuse to the Villeneuve Farm, but at dusk a powerful attack delivered
against their right flank forced a retirement to the Tranchee du Cable
just south of the Bois de Chaume, Reinforcements were immediately despatched
across the river and by an attack on the morning of October 10th regained
all ground lost, which was subsequently held notwithstanding that the
right flank remained exposed for four days.”

(Brief Histories of Divisions, U.S. Army 1917- 1918.)

“The following day” mentioned above was October 9th, 1918. One day later John H Erlandson was killed in action, and before the fightings was over in the specific area, also Elof H Johnson was killed.

We don’t know if John and Elof knew eachother, but it is highly likely that they did. They fought in two different companies in the 131st Infantry Regiment, 33rd Division, in the American Expeditionary forces, when they finally met their destinies in the Argonne area in France during fearceful fightings against the enemy.

They ended up in the same field cemetery before they were moved to their final resting place, the American Meuse-Argonne Cemetery.

But they were not the only Swedish born soldiers in that field cemetery.

John H Erlandson, or Johan Herman Erlandson, which was his name when he lived in Sweden, was born in November 27, 1887, in my home town of Jönköping, in the western part of the town. He was raised by his mother Eva Mathilda Ring and his father Johan Peter Erlandson.

Some of Johans siblings had moved to North America before him, and Johan followed in their path June 11th, 1910. It looks like Johans mother Mathilda died already in 1903, but his father died later in 1938. Johan mentioned his brother Axel Birger Erlandson as his next of kin in his papers.

Johan signed his draft June 5th, 1917 in Chicago, Illinois, and it was also here he lived before he went on training with his unit. The 33rd Divison was organized in Fort Logan, Texas, in July 1917, and Johans unit, 131st Infantry Regiment, went in under the 66th Brigade.

Elof H Johnson

Elof H Johnson, or Frans Hjalmar Elof Johannesson as he was called in Sweden, was born October 24th, 1891 in Pjätteryd parish, quite close to the town of Älmhult. (Most famous to be the founder city of the Swedish furniture company IKEA).

Älmhult and Jönköping is not far from eachother, around 130 km, but at that time the travel between those two cities could be quite long. Elof is also mentioned as Olof or Elaf in some documents, which makes it a bit tricky when trying to find information in digital archives.

He was raised by his mother Sara Kristina Salomonsdotter and his fatherJohannes Jonasson. Elof went to North America in 1911, and it looks like that he was the only one in the family that moved to the large country in the west. Elof signed his draft in June 5th, 1917, also in Chicago, Illinois, and maybe John and Elof met eachother in this situation?

Elof and John went over to France with their units, John with company M, and Elof with company L, on the same ship, LEVIATHAN, in May 2nd, 1918. The first units from the 33rd Division went over in May 1918, and the last units reached France in June, 1918.

The 33rd Division trained together with the Brits near the town of Abbeville. In September they acted as the right flank of the 57th French Division.

During October the 33rd Division constructed bridges over the Meuse in quite exposed circumstances under heavy shelling.

On October 10th, John was exposed for heavy shelling and these are the words from 1st Sgt O’Keefe, Company M:

“Pvt. Erlandson was killed instantly by the concussion of a shell. It occurred on the morning of Oct. 14, 1918. We were at that time in the trenches, in rear of Consenvoye, France. He was preparing his breakfast at the time.”

It was assumed that John was killed during October 14th, but was later changed to October 10th, according to the information on the casualty card.

There is no known information about how Elof was killed, but both John and Elof was buried in the same field cemetery. John was buried October 16th, but there is no info when Elof was buried. John was disinterred April 21st, 1919, the day before Elof. Both were moved to the American Meuse-Argonne Cemetery, buried on the dates mentioned above.

On the same day as John was disinterred, thare were also another Swedish born soldier disinterred from the same field cemetery. He was John A Dahlgren, or Johan Alfred Dahlgren as he was called in Sweden, born in Hällsjö parish in Jämtlands county., September 28, 1888.

He left Sweden with his family at an age of 2, and lived in Minnesota, in Kanabec county. John Dahlgren was killed in action on the same day as Elof, when fighting for the 129th Infantry Regiment, and buried in the same field cemetery as both John and Elof.

He was shipped backed to the US and are now buried in Kanabec county in Minnesota. You can find his name in the cemetery plan mentioned in the beginning of this post.

There are a lot more Scandinavian traces all over the Argonne area, and it will be so exciting to finally visit the area this summer.

May the soldiers Erlandson, Johnson and Dahlgren rest in peace.

These are a few of many Swedish soldiers who fell in this part of the Western Front and I will do what I can to mention their stories, of how they gave their lives for their new country in the First World War.