Admiral Claës Lindsström, Swedish Neutrality, and The Swedish Coast Artillery

Summary of Urban Sobéus's article in RSAWSPJ no 2 2001.

When Urban Sobéus was working at his book The Line of Fortifications on the Outskirts of the Stockholm Archipelago 1933-1945 (Havsbandslinjen i Stockholms skärgård 1933-1945, Militärhistoriska förlaget, Stockholm 2000), he stumbled across for the first time - in the archives - the name of Admiral Claës Olof Lindsström. With growing surprise he found a commanding admiral, on the Swedish east coast, who was a friend of Germany and of the Nazis. In addition, he aimed at procuring, for the Royal Swedish Navy, battleships modelled on the German types, and with all the means at his disposal he tried to stop the expansion of the Coast Artillery in the Stockholm archipelago. How could these things have happened in Sweden in the years 1936-1942?

Claës Lindsström was born in Visby on 8th October, 1876 and was the son of a wholesaler, Victor Olof Lindsström. He was the youngest and best cadet in the 1890 class and got the highest marks ever awarded at the Naval Academy. His talents, capacity for work, flair for expressing himself both orally and in writing coupled with his outgoing temperament meant that, from his young days on, he was often assigned to staff duties and official reports work. He also served as commanding officer of a torpedoboat, a dstroyer and an armoured cruiser.

The most important thing for his future as a naval officer was his two years (1910-1912) in the German Hochseeflotte. His posting to the German Navy was considered quite unique and had been decided by Admiral von Tirpitz personally with a view to making Sweden join forces with Germany in the First World War. During these two years Lindsström was able to move about freely in the German Navy and he became familiar with operational plans and the developments of future naval ships. Many German naval officers looked upon him with distrust and as party to a political campaign, but he also made lifelong friendships with many important officers in the German Navy. During that time he further acted as an intermediary between the two navies on technical matters and pleaded that Sweden should model her battleship design on the German pattern.

In 1917 Lindsström was back in Germany, this time as Swedish Naval Attaché. He now had the opportunity to meet his old friends and get to know the leading naval officers. He was now looked upon as a friend by the Germans and took an active part in lobbying to get Sweden to enter the war on Germany’s side.

After the First World War Lindsström, now married to a German lady, Hertha von Koerner, kept up his contact with Germany, the German Navy and his friends in the former administration. In 1936 he was appointed Commanding Admiral of the Naval East Coast Command (BAO), and furthermore served as Inspector of the Coast Artillery except in matters relating to economy. In the summer of 1937 Lindsström was one of the members of the Swedish delegation who visited the German Nazi Party Rallies at Nuremberg. He was very much impressed by the skills and discipline of the German Armed Forces.

In 1940 after the German surprise attack on Denmark and Norway, Lindsström’s name was rumoured to have been associated with similar events in the Stockholm area. He retired from active duty in 1942.

The person Claës Lindsström that I have met in obituaries and memorial sketches is not the same person as I have met in the archives dealing with his days as Commanding Admiral 1936-1942. In the archives I found an arrogant, power-seeking man that wanted to command and control every single detail even inside the Coast Artillery. The worst thing was all his attempts to stop or to retard the building of new coastal batteries in the Stockholm archipelago. These attempts on his part were mainly blocked by the Swedish Chief of Naval Operations and were not part of his Nazi sympathies, I think, but rather a way to transfer money to the Navy to build Swedish battleships. On the other hand his handling of the sea transports of German troops to and from Finland might have been an attempt to help the Germans. These German ships with complete units including artillery and tanks were allowed to use Swedish territorial waters and pass through the Stockholm archipelago without an escort. Swedish Coast Artillery units were not allowed to stop and inspect them. Lindsström had decided and seen to it personally that only a handful of trusted officers were aware of the details of this operation.

After having examined the archives Sobéus could not understand that Admiral Lindsström was allowed to remain in office as long as until 1942. The Government, or the Chief of Naval Operations, should have acted much earlier removing Lindsström from his command on the grounds of his sympathies for Germany and the Nazis and his lack of ability to cooperate with the Swedish Coast Artillery. Lindsström’s own opinion was that the Stockholm archipelago was only to be regarded as an anchorage and starting position for an offensive Swedish Fleet operation. There was thus no need for a Coast Artillery because the Swedish armoured vessels could take on these tasks themselves.