Well, in school they tought us (I was born in '65) those were the days when official neutrality was born as the then only way to handle that Sweden was catastrophically unprepared for war, long thinking its geographical position would help sit it out like WW1. Also, we were on good terms with everyone before WW2 (except for the Russians); at least a million starvation refugees left for the US in the late 19th century, our king was (and is) of French descent, German was the second language in all higher education (remember that German was the worldwide first language for all important science up until WW2). Language was also probably really important for those who ended up on the wrong side fighting on the eastern front, imagine you only knew Swedish and German and you wanted to sign up fighting communism during the early days of the war because you thought that communism was worse than nazism, the holocaust and other atrocities weren't known to the general public at that time. So things pretty much played out as the stage had been set without any real intent, it couldn't much go any other way, unless our leaders had wanted to be occupied. The one thing to be ashamed off in our history though is this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statens_institut_f%C3%B6r_rasbiologi (dont write a parody about it please, just depressing how dumb people were less than a century back).

Peter, hope you didn't take this the wrong way. It's a parody, but packed with my usual large amount of information most people don't know. It's not a put down at all. Sweden did more for the good guys than for Germany, but you're right, Sweden was unprepared to fight Nazi aggression. When the war started Sweden was low on troops, vessels, and especially new aircraft. America shipped P-35 and P-66 aircraft, but Sweden eventually got obsolete Fiats and Capronis from Italy ( an Axis nation)! The old Gloster aircraft were junk. It was trade or be conquered and even France and Britain wanted to invade N Sweden. Britain, like Germany, however, needed Swedish ball bearings so agreement was made on shipments. All exports put a strain on Swedish living with massive shortages. Germany paid with gold bullion, food, and coal. When Germany started to lose in 1943 and got worse in 1944, Sweden instituted smuggler prices... and yet Germany paid. Both sides sunk Swedish ships supplying the other side, but Sweden helped Finland mine the waters again Soviet subs and sent 10,000 to fight in the Winter War. Only 250 volunteered to help the Germans against Russia. Germany was very worried in 1945 that Sweden would switch to the Allies. Plans were made to ship V- weapons to Norway to start bombardment as an invasion was out of the question by then (would require 20 divisions)! Also, the last V-weapon ( Henschel V-4 extended range ramjet cruise missile) was rushed to Misdroy to hit Stockholm. The ramps were erected pointing north. But time ran out. No engines were mated to the airframes. Postwar, the mystery Scandinavian "Ghost Rockets" were Soviet tests of German weapons from Misdroy and Peenemunde!

Some other things you might wanna know about Sweden. Postwar, Saab went to Switzerland to view German aircraft projects and so altered the Tunnan fighter with swept-back wings (25o). In 1947, Sweden bought German armor from France and Norway (Panther, King Tiger, StuG III, and Hetzer). Latter two led to the development of the famous S-Tank. And lastly, Sweden helped the Germans with the mystery sub anchor still sitting 285 underwater off their eastern coast.

It's OK Rob! When I was young the ball bearings manufacturer SKF (Svenska Kullagerfabriken) seemed to always be mentioned with more importance than it deserved compared to other companies and/or Swedish inventions like the milk/cream separator by Alfa Laval (I am a farm boy after all), not until now have I understood why, selling them to both sides helped Sweden avoid getting invaded.

Btw, Happy 50th Peter! I am a year older than you.

know the OS.

Wow! A history lesson and a parody! 5s!

Isn't it true that although having a military that Sweden hasn't fought a real war in over two hundred years? Also, what is this business about black ice cream in Sweden???

Technically not true. Sweden sent J29 fighters to Congo in 1961. They flew under UN command as recon and strike birds. Sweden has sent peacekeepers to 11 nations and cross train with many armies. They are part of the European Rapid Response Forces. Btw, the J29 was equivalent to both the F-86 and MiG-15 (which borrowed from the Me P.1101 and Fw Ta 183, respectively)! As for black ice cream... ask Peter!

Already when I was a child there was a popular ice cream called "Nogger" containing a soft Nougat center. Nothing racist about it as far as I know, just a product pun name on Nougat from when that was a novellty. The ice cream maker GB almost had a national monopoly back then. As time went and big supermarket freezers got more common more companies entered the market, capitalism at work and all that jazz, hence GB started to lose percentages of the ice cream market. Enter the next novellty, soft licorice ice cream centers, and some market non-genious over at GB decided to go with the name "Nogger Black". PC-media went mad with outragism during a slow news week and, well, no need to expand on the details I guess, company heads rolled and the product disappared.

Inspiration for the Tunnan ;-) http://www.wehrmacht-history.com/images/luftwaffe/fighters/messerschmitt-me-p-1101-fighter-5.jpg