Swedish army tent m39

[Seppo Jyrkinen]

Swedish Army tent m39, technical data? Was it for 20 men? And the picture below, does it show this tent?

[Seppo Jyrkinen]

Sweden sold 4.000 tents and stoves and also some mount of wooden barracks to Germany at Autumn / early Winter 1941. Germans had about 80.000 men in Lapland which means that the whole German Army got shelter against Polar winter. Sweden's own mobilized army had before WWII been 5 divisions and obviously after this they were without tents and unable to arctic warfare?

Wooden barracks are a question mark. How many, what size and for what purpose?

[John T]

Sweden's own mobilized army had before WWII been 5 divisions and obviously after this they were without tents and unable to arctic warfare?

You seems to draw a conclusion way out of the facts.
The only thing Obvious to me is that you fail to understand that Sweden was an industrialised country that could produce tents and stoves.


What was Sweden's production capacity per month?
During how long period where these tents and stoves delivered?

Would be interesting to see your source, I'm aware of the deal in general terms "tents and barracks were sold to German army in 1941/42" but nothing specific on the time frame or volume.

Wooden barracks are a question mark. How many, what size and for what purpose?

Do not know their numbers or sizes, can only confirm that swedish producers of prefabricated barracks had little domestic demand (as Swedish army needs were satisfied) and almost no other export, so export to Wehrmacht in Finland was a way to keep business going.
IIRC the production and deliveries continued well into 1942.
The elements were delivered by Swedish truck to the building sites in Finland


Cheers
/John T.

[Seppo Jyrkinen]

Swedish trucks were driving Jäämerentie (a road between Rovaniemi ja Liinahamari harbor) almost 3.600 times during period October 1941 to April 1942, which makes a bit more than 500 trucks per month. After Uoti they were transporting mostly tents and barracks to Germans, later also ammunition. In one document film an old Swedish truck driver told he had been transporting war material also. On a way back, they had nickel (or nickel matte?). Given statistic is limited to transport from Rovaniemi to north, but Germans had need for tents and barracks also south of it.

This means that obviously 25 MSkr contract was not the first one, because contract between German Army and Aktiebolaget Svenska Godsbilcenter was signed as late as 6. December, but transport had started two months earlier.

I really don't know, what was the exact delivery date for tents, but I expect, that Germans didn't order them for summer. In North even October is late.

[Seppo Jyrkinen]

Before the winter Germans wondered if they had to retreat from Litsa back to Petsamo because of lodging problems. Barracks gave a solution and they have been more important than tents. There was shortage of firewood and keeping barracks warm was more easy than with tents.

Swedish trucks transported material to German army 3.600 truckloads, some for tents and ammunitions. Possibly even 3.000 barracks to north, unknown amount to south of Rovaniemi.

I found out pictures from Finnish Wartime Photograph Archive.


A tent covered with snow seems to be a Swedish tent m39, larger model.


Barracks on a road are in Litsa.

[Seppo Jyrkinen]

A bit more info: tents were possibly bigger than I expected before. Klas Åmark writes in he's book "Att bo granne med onskan" on page 143: "Den svenska armen hade också försett den frysande tyska armen med sammanlagt 4.000 25-manntält med spisar."

This means:
- tents and stoves were Swedish army origin
- 4000 tents, 25 man each, total capacity for 100.000 German soldiers

The whole German Army in North (ca. 80.000 men at Autumn 1941) got tents and 25% extra. This was really important support to German warfare.

[John T]

A bit more info: tents were possibly bigger than I expected before. Klas Åmark writes in he's book "Att bo granne med onskan" on page 143: "Den svenska armen hade också försett den frysande tyska armen med sammanlagt 4.000 25-manntält med spisar."

This means:
- tents and stoves were Swedish army origin
- 4000 tents, 25 man each, total capacity for 100.000 German soldiers

The whole German Army in North (ca. 80.000 men at Autumn 1941) got tents and 25% extra. This was really important support to German warfare.

Thanks for the source, it made it easy to find some of Åmarks sources in my library.
Sven Radowitz "Schweden und das Dritte Reich"
and
Klaus Wittman's "Schwedens wirtschaftsbezeiungen zum dritten Reich 1933-1945" page 260

The barracks deal was part of some 75 million Sek deal that never reach that level,
obviously as the Germans could not really pay for it.

The tents were compensated with cash and raw materials.

Cheers
/John T.

[B Hellqvist]

The "20 tent", as it is known as among Swedish soldiers indicate the number of square meters it occupies, not how many soldiers it's intended for. 16 men can live in it without it being too crowded, but if you squeeze 20 men inside it, there'll be a lot of spooning in order to be able to sleep. 25 men? Sausage fest.

[John T]

The "20 tent", as it is known as among Swedish soldiers indicate the number of square meters it occupies, not how many soldiers it's intended for. 16 men can live in it without it being too crowded, but if you squeeze 20 men inside it, there'll be a lot of spooning in order to be able to sleep. 25 men? Sausage fest.

Yes, but the phrase "25 man tent" seems consistent with all sources so far.
ANd it does explain why the Germans wanted 25% more tents than theoretically needed.

I found a couple of documents in the archives on tent production.
And Swedish armed forces ordered civilian industry to produce 2000 tent a month in autumn 1939.
And during the summer of 1940 Finland also offered to deliver among other things 2000 tents a month.

So to deliver 4 000 tents was well within Swedish and Finnish production capacity during a couple of months.

Cheers
/John

[Seppo Koivisto]

Finnish half-platoon tent was 21 square meters and for 20 men.
https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puolijoukkueteltta
http://finn-savotta.fi/en/tuotteet/20-h-tent/
There seems to be lack of canvas or capacity in Finland, as lot of tents were made of Insulite fiber board or plywood.
http://www.palasuomenhistoriaa.net/kuva ... des/64.jpg

[B Hellqvist]

According to Soldatreglemente Materiel, 1983, p. 295, the Förläggningstält 20 (m/39) is intended for 16-20 men.