The Swedish Brigade ( sv, Svenska brigaden, fi, Ruotsalainen prikaati) was a paramilitary unit composed of 400 Swedish 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 ...

. 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 particular ...

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 ...

who was killed in

Tampere Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclo ...

. 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, and t ...

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 Minister ...

. 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 Southern Finland ( fi, Etelä-Suomen lääni, sv, Södra Finlands län) was a province of Finland from 1997 to 2009. It bordered the provinces of W ...

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