The Swedish Brigade ( sv, Svenska brigaden, fi, Ruotsalainen prikaati) was a

paramilitary A paramilitary is an organization whose structure, tactics, training, subculture, and (often) function are similar to those of a professional military, but is not part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. Paramilitary units carr ...

unit composed of 400

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

volunteers to assist the White Guards during the 1918

Finnish Civil War The Finnish Civil War; . Other designations: Brethren War, Citizen War, Class War, Freedom War, Red Rebellion and Revolution, . According to 1,005 interviews done by the newspaper ''Aamulehti'', the most popular names were as follows: Civil W ...

. The brigade participated in the

Battle of Tampere The Battle of Tampere was a 1918 Finnish Civil War battle, fought in Tampere, Finland from 15 March to 6 April between the Whites and the Reds. It is the most famous and the heaviest of all the Finnish Civil War battles. Today it is particularl ...

between 28 March and 6 April. 34 members of the Swedish Brigade were killed in action and up to 50 wounded. Notable members included the archaeologist Axel Boëthius and the historian

Olof Palme Sven Olof Joachim Palme (; ; 30 January 1927 – 28 February 1986) was a Swedish politician and statesman who served as Prime Minister of Sweden from 1969 to 1976 and 1982 to 1986. Palme led the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1969 until h ...

who was killed in

Tampere Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city in the Pirkanmaa region, located in the western part of Finland. Tampere is the most populous inland city in the Nordic countries. It has a population of 244,029; the urban area has a population o ...

. It is suspected that the Swedish volunteers killed the

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

n Deputy Prime Minister

Jüri Vilms Jüri Vilms (, Arkma, Kabala Parish (now Türi Parish), Kreis Fellin, Governorate of Livonia – May 2, 1918, Hauho near Hämeenlinna, Finland, unconfirmed info) was a member of the Estonian Salvation Committee and the first Deputy Prime Minist ...

. Vilms had traveled to Finland for instructions to get diplomatic recognition for his newly sovereign nation, but went missing. According to the Swedish Brigade war diaries, they executed three Estonians in the village of

Hauho Hauho is a former municipality of Finland. It was situated in the province of Southern Finland and is today a part of the region of Tavastia Proper (Kanta-Häme / Egentliga Tavastland). Hauho was amalgamated with the municipality of Hämeenlinna ...

in 2 May. One of them was described as ″well-dressed″ and was carrying a large sum of money.

References

External links

{{Commonscat-inline, Swedish brigade Brigades of Sweden Finnish Civil War Expatriate military units and formations Military units and formations established in 1918 Military units and formations disestablished in 1918 Swedish expatriates in Finland