Defence Act of 1936 (Sweden)

The Defence Act of 1936 was a defence act passed by the Swedish Riksdag on 11 June 1936 which remained in effect until 17 June 1942.

Background

edit

The Act increased the yearly budget of the Swedish Armed Forces from 118 million SEK to 148 million, roughly 1.5% of the Swedish GDP.[1] The budget of the Swedish Air Force received the largest increase in funding, bumping its previous allowance of 11 million crowns to 28 million. A domestic aircraft industry was taking shape during this time, composed of Svenska Aeroplan AB (SAAB) and AB Svenska Järnvägsverkstädernas Aeroplanavdelning. The Navy and Coastal Artillery branches were slightly expanded and modernised.[2]

It was decided that certain Army infantry regiments were to be composed of one infantry and one armoured battalion each. At first, the Life Regiment Grenadiers (I 3) as well as the Skaraborg Regiment (I 9) were considered. In November, however, it was agreed that the Södermanland Regiment (I 10) would be reorganised instead of the Life Regimental Grenadiers (I 3). When Göta Life Guards (I 2) was disbanded in 1939, its armoured battalion was split into two battalions which were assigned to the Skaraborg Regiment (I 9) and the Södermanland Regiment (I 10).[3]

The Air Force was significantly expanded with six air wings.

Reorganisation

edit

Reorganisation within the Armed Forces until the Defence Act of 1942:

Army

edit
  • The number of Army Divisions was increased from four to six.
    • I Army Division was established in Kristianstad.
    • II Army Division was established in Östersund.
    • III Army Division was established in Skövde.
    • IV Army Division was established in Stockholm.
    • Gotland Military Area was established in Visby.
    • Troops of Upper Norrland were established in Boden.
  • Göta Life Guards (I 2) was disbanded in 1939.
  • Fortress Battalion of the Kronoberg Regiment (I 11 K) was disbanded in 1939.

Air Force

edit
edit

References

edit
  1. ^ "Historisk monetär statistik för Sverige" [Historical monetary statistics for Sweden] (in Swedish). Sveriges Riksbank. 2018-02-01. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
  2. ^ Glimvall, Peter (2001-05-21). "Svensk anpassningspolitik under 1900-talet - Ett säkerhetspolitiskt vågspel?" (PDF) (in Swedish). Swedish Defence University. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
  3. ^ Högman, Hans (24 March 2013). "Kongl Södermanlands Regemente". Algonet. Archived from the original on 6 September 2014. Retrieved 5 March 2018.

Further reading

edit
edit