Hitler's Swedes/Lars Larsson (Helion)

[jmark]

"right of passage", not "rite of passage"

It depends on the context. In the vast majority of cases, "rite" is the correct word to use:

http://www.beedictionary.com/common-...ite_of_passage

Jason

[pasoleati]

In this context it was the "right of passage" as the author referred to the German troops passing through Sweden.

[pasoleati]

The book does not give a good impression of many of the Swedes as soldiers which I found surprising since I have believed them to be good soldierly material. But then, perhaps the downhill began back then as the current Swedish Army has struck the bottom by planning to install "gender advisors" (to enforce feminist ideals on the army) to units. Where are true Karoliner now?!

[Mil-Archive]

. . . current Swedish Army has struck the bottom by planning to install "gender advisors" (to enforce feminist ideals on the army) to units. Where are true Karoliner now?!

Don't mean to de-track the thread but I thought you were joking there & just googled that - shockingly it's true. I also found they are getting Gender Neutral Snow ploughs so there must have been a sale on.

http://www.thelocal.se/20150220/swed...ender-advisors
http://www.thelocal.se/20150116/stoc...l-snow-ploughs

[Lasse L]

While I am not the most frequent user of this (or any) forum today, I thought I should post a few comments;

1. English: noted. I know that my english is far from perfect, but I hope that it will not distract too much from the subject of the book and that it is understandable.

2. I try to avoid commenting on modern-day politics in Sweden, given that it is... well... it is as it is. Lets just stop at that. However; our armed forces today have suffered from years of internal scrapping. People ask themselves why we should even have a armed force as we have not been in a war for about 200 years. During the 1960:s we had one of the most powerful air forces in the world. Today, we have gender advisors.. Also, just to add to the picture of the Swedish armed forces; in artillery strength Sweden is mighty impressive: We have 51 canons, of which 50 are out of service. As such, we have a total of 1 (!) artillery piece ready to defend the whole of Sweden, one of the largest countries in Europe. However, please note that said artillery piece which is in service is currently not prohibited to fire. As such, we are currently defending one of the largest countries in Europe without artillery.... I feel sorry for my friends currently serving as CO:s in the Swedish army.

3. The Swedish SS volunteers as soldiers: No. I would not say that they were good soldiers. Some of the most definitely were, but many, as is evident from my book, came from broken homes, had a hard upraising, were criminals and similar. Once again, there were a few who were exemplary soldiers - but most were not.

[AndyC]

I have got my copy and it looks great. Have only read about 30 pages so far.


Andy

[CarWib]

Thanks for the tip! I will definitely order a copy.

I know this is not the place but as a former Swedish soldier I feel really embarrassed regarding the gender advisors and this symbolizes very well the decline of the Swedish military and the lack of will of the Swedish people to defend their country (instead gender perspectives are prioritized). I think that this attitude is completely unworthy.

We could instead have learned from our eastern neighbour Finland who showed during the winter war of 1939 that a lot can be achieved with little resources. In Finland nowadays military service is considered an honor.

Sorry about the off topic rant, I just had to address this... Feel free to delete my post.

/Carl

[AndyC]

Here is a picture of the nice book cover



Andy