Sweden has followed a peaceful course during the 20th century, remaining neutral in both world wars. They did, however, particapate in the Russian Civil War. Swedish volunteers (actual volunteers as opposed to being government troops wearing a 'fig leaf' ) helped Finland gain independence during Imperial Russia's collaspe. Swedish forces also were involved in Estonia and the Aland Islands in the Baltic, These actions were the only military action for Sweden in the 20th century. I thought it would be fun to paint some Swedes for use in a Russian Civil War campaign. Having decided to paint Swedes, I suddenly realised I had no idea what type of uniforms they wore. Have no fear, Ronald Tarristroms' book, The Sword of Scandinavia to the rescue. This delightful tome covers Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, and Finlands' military efforts from the last ice age to the present in sursprisingly complete detail. The book is published in Lindsborg, Ks (Swedish immigrants settled Lindsborg). I found the book in Borderland Game and Hobby, a Kansas City landmark in wargames. One of the owners suggested that I would find the book useful, and boy did I. Having a knowlegable store owner who knows your interests and scours the industry for items just like The Sword of Scandinavia is a resource without price and is something that mail order just cannot provide. Support your local gaming stores, gentlemen. Ok, I will get off the soapbox and go back to the Swedes in Russia. The basic uniform for late WWI into the 'thirtys' was a grey/brown/green pants and tunic with the pants tucked iino brown boots. The uniforms looked similar to WWII German mountain troops or WWI Austrians. The color was similar to the Polish WWII uniform. BIUS Stripes Were on the pant legs and blue cuffs and collars completed the basic uniform. Headgear was either the French Adrain helmet (without the central spine) or a field cap. The helmet had the 'three crowns' in yellow on the front. For winter, they wore a papaha or field cap with a sheepskin knee lenght coat belted at the waist with fur edging. The basic armament was a licenced Mauser, the Madsen machine gun and for artillery a Krupp 75 or 10. I plan to use French and Austrian WWI Minifig for my Swedish battalions. Enjoy and don't think that it all been done in this hobby, there is more fun and research out there for all of us. Swedish Weapons of the Russian Civil War Back to MWAN #112 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2001 Hal Thinglum This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com