Chief of Army (Sweden)

The Chief of Army (Swedish: Arméchef, AC) is the most senior appointment in the Swedish Army. The position Chief of Army was introduced in 1937 and the current form in 2014.

Chief of Army Arméchef
Command flag of the Chief of Army.
Incumbent Major general Karl Engelbrektson since 1 June 2016
Swedish Army
Reports to	The Chief of Swedish Armed Forces Training and Development[1]
Seat	Lidingövägen 24, Stockholm, Sweden
Nominator	Minister for Defence
Appointer	The Government
Formation	1937
First holder	Oscar Nygren

History

In 1937, the staff agency "Chief of the Army" (Swedish: Chefen för armén, CA) was created to lead the army in peace time. The CA would under the King in Council exercise the highest military leadership of the Land Defense (Swedish: Lantförsvaret). At his side, the CA had an Army Staff to assist the CA in his duties.[2] Before 1937 the Chief of the General Staff was considered to be the Chief of Army, but he was not usually to the rank of chief, but formally only the king's chief of staff in his capacity as Supreme Commander of the Swedish Armed Forces. The oldest general was chairman of the special preparatory body called the Generals Commission (Generalskommissionen).[3]

Following a larger reorganization of the Swedish Armed Forces in 1994, the staff agency Chief of the Army ceased to exist as an independent agency. Instead, the post Chief of Army Staff (Swedish: Chefen för arméledningen) was created at the then newly instituted Swedish Armed Forces Headquarters. In 1998, the Swedish Armed Forces was again reorganized. Most of the duties of the Chief of Army Staff were transferred to the newly instituted post of "Inspector General of the Army" (Swedish: generalinspektören för armén). The post is similar to that of the "Inspector General of the Swedish Navy" (Swedish: Generalinspektören för marinen) and the "Inspector General of the Swedish Air Force" (Swedish: Generalinspektören för flygvapnet).[4] It was later renamed to "Inspector of the Army" (Swedish: Arméinspektören).[3]

On 1 January 2014, the "Chief of Army" (Swedish: Arméchefen, AC) position was reinstated in the Swedish Armed Forces. The position has not the same duties as before.[5]

Tasks

Tasks of the Chief of Army:[6]

• Lead the units which the Chief of Swedish Armed Forces Training and Development has distributed
• To the Chief of Swedish Armed Forces Training and Development propose the development of the units' abilities
• Being the foremost representative of the units
• Represent the units and the area of ability in international contacts

Heraldry

The command flag of the Chief of Army is drawn by Brita Grep and embroidered by hand by the Kedja studio, Heraldica. Blazon: "Fessed in yellow and blue; on yellow two blue batons of command with sets of yellow crowns placed two and one in saltire, on blue two yellow swords in saltire."[7]

List of chiefs

Chiefs of the Army

No.		Chief of the Army Chefen för armén	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Prime Minister	Ref
-		Lieutenant general Oscar Nygren (1872–1960) Acting	1 July 1936	1 October 1937	1 year, 92 days	Axel Pehrsson-Bramstorp Per Albin Hansson	[8]
1		Lieutenant general Per Sylvan (1875–1945)	1 October 1937	1 October 1940	3 years, 0 days	Per Albin Hansson	-
2		Lieutenant general Ivar Holmquist (1879–1954)	1 October 1940	31 March 1944	3 years, 182 days	Per Albin Hansson	[9]
3		Lieutenant general Archibald Douglas (1883–1960)	1 April 1944	30 September 1948	4 years, 182 days	Per Albin Hansson Tage Erlander	[10][11]
4		Lieutenant general Carl August Ehrensvärd (1892–1974)	1 October 1948	30 September 1957	8 years, 364 days	Tage Erlander	[12][13]
5		Lieutenant general Thord Bonde (1900–1969)	1 October 1957	30 September 1963	5 years, 364 days	Tage Erlander	[13][14]
6		Lieutenant general Curt Göransson (1909–1996)	1 October 1963	30 September 1969	5 years, 364 days	Tage Erlander	[14][15]
7		Lieutenant general Carl Eric Almgren (1921–1996)	1 October 1969	1976	6–7 years	Tage Erlander Olof Palme	[16]
8		Lieutenant general Nils Sköld (1913–2001)	1 October 1976	1 April 1984	7 years, 183 days	Olof Palme Thorbjörn Fälldin Ola Ullsten	[17][18]
9		Lieutenant general Erik G. Bengtsson (born 1928)	1984	1990	5–6 years	Olof Palme Ingvar Carlsson	-
10		Lieutenant general Åke Sagrén (born 1935)	1990	30 June 1994	3–4 years	Ingvar Carlsson Carl Bildt	[19]

Chiefs of Army Staff

No.		Chief of Army Staff Chef för arméledningen	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Prime Minister	Ref
10		Lieutenant general Åke Sagrén (born 1935)	1 July 1994	30 March 1996	1 year, 273 days	Carl Bildt Göran Persson	[19]
11		Lieutenant general Mertil Melin (born 1935)	1 April 1996	1998	1–2 years	Göran Persson	[20]

Inspectors General of the Army

No.		Inspector General of the Army Generalinspektör för armén	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Prime Minister	Ref
12		Major general Paul Degerlund (born 1948)	1998	30 June 2000	1–2 years	Göran Persson	-
13		Major general Alf Sandqvist (born 1945)	1 July 2000	2003	2–3 years	Göran Persson	-

Inspectors of the Army

No.		Inspector of the Army Arméinspektör	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Prime Minister	Ref
13		Major general Alf Sandqvist (born 1945)	1 January 2003	31 May 2005	2 years, 150 days	Göran Persson	-
14		Major general Sverker Göranson (born 1954)	31 May 2005	1 November 2007	2 years, 154 days	Göran Persson Fredrik Reinfeldt	-
15		Major general Berndt Grundevik (born 1956)	1 November 2007	13 September 2012	4 years, 317 days	Fredrik Reinfeldt	[21][22]
16		Major general Anders Brännström (born 1957)	13 September 2012	20 December 2013	1 year, 98 days	Fredrik Reinfeldt	[22]

Chiefs of Army

No.		Chief of Army Arméchef	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Prime Minister	Ref
16		Major general Anders Brännström (born 1957)	20 December 2013	1 June 2016	2 years, 164 days	Fredrik Reinfeldt Stefan Löfven	[23]
17		Major general Karl Engelbrektson (born 1962)	1 June 2016	Incumbent	4 years, 253 days	Stefan Löfven	[23]

List of deputy chiefs

Deputy Chiefs of Army

	Deputy Chief of Army Ställföreträdande arméchef	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Prime Minister	Ref
	Brigadier general Fredrik Ståhlberg (born 1966)	September 2017	31 January 2020	-	Stefan Löfven	[24][25]
	Brigadier general Laura Swaan Wrede (born 1964)	31 March 2020	Incumbent	315 days	Stefan Löfven	[26][27]

See also

• Chief of Air Force (Sweden)
• Chief of Navy (Sweden)

References

Notes

1. "PRODUKTIONSLEDNINGEN" (in Swedish). Swedish Armed Forces. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
2. Wallberg 1987
3. Försvarets traditioner i framtiden med översiktlig historik från 1500-talet (PDF) (in Swedish). Statens försvarshistoriska museer TradN. 2015. p. 12. ISBN 9789197859554. SELIBR 17552963. Archived from the original on 2016-08-17.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
4. Nordgren 1998
5. "Nya namn på nya poster" [New names for new positions] (in Swedish). Swedish Armed Forces. 20 December 2013. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
6. Försvarets författningssamling: FFS 2013:4 (PDF) (in Swedish). Stockholm: TF-redaktionen, Försvarets materielverk. 2013-12-23. p. 18. ISSN 0347-7576. SELIBR 3683131.
7. Braunstein 2004, p. 106
8. Cronenberg 1990–1991, p. 704
9. Wikland 1971–1973, p. 288
10. "GENERAL JUNG Ö. B., general A. Douglas arméchef". Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). 2 January 1944. p. 6A. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
11. "VI DISKUTERAR: Generalens testamente". Expressen (in Swedish). 30 September 1948. p. 2. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
12. "Ny chef för armén". Dagens Nyheter (in Swedish) (63). 5 March 1948. p. 1. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
13. "Ehrensvärd". Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). 23 February 1957. p. 4A. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
14. Grafström, Bengt (16 August 1963). "400 000 gick upp i rök på en halvtimme". Expressen (in Swedish). p. 15. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
15. Skoglund 2009, p. 48
16. Jarmar 2005, p. 91
17. DN 1981, p. 8.
18. Wennerholm 2015, p. 153
19. "Sammanställning över utnämningar och nya befattningar" (PDF). Flygvapennytt (in Swedish). Stockholm: Flygstaben (1): 34. 1994. SELIBR 8257600.
20. "Vår nye armechef" [Our new Chief of Army] (PDF). Flygvapennytt (in Swedish). Stockholm: Flygstaben (4): 2. 1995. SELIBR 8257600. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
21. "Chefsbyten i Försvarsmakten" (in Swedish). Swedish Armed Forces. 1 November 2007. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
22. "Från hemvärnsrekryt till arméinspektör" [From Home Guard recruit to Army Inspector] (in Swedish). Swedish Armed Forces. 13 September 2012. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
23. "Ny arméchef utsedd" [New Chief of Army appointed] (in Swedish). Swedish Armed Forces. 4 April 2016. Retrieved 13 May 2016.
24. Owetz 2020, p. 11
25. "Fredrik Ståhlberg". LinkedIn. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
26. "Ett steg in i framtiden" (in Swedish). Swedish Armed Forces. 2 April 2020. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
27. "PÅ NY POST" (PDF). Försvarets forum: personaltidning för fast anställda och reservofficerare i svenska försvarsmakten (in Swedish). Stockholm: Försvarets forum (2): 8. 2020. SELIBR 4109339.

Print

• Braunstein, Christian (2004). Svenska försvarsmaktens fälttecken efter millennieskiftet [The flags and standards of the Swedish armed forces after the turn of the millennium] (PDF). Skrift / Statens försvarshistoriska museer, 1101-7023 ; 7 [dvs 8] (in Swedish). Stockholm: Statens försvarshistoriska museer. p. 106. ISBN 91-971584-7-X. SELIBR 9815350. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-05-22. Retrieved 2018-06-04.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Cronenberg, Arvid (1990–1991). "Oscar E Nygren". Svenskt biografiskt lexikon (in Swedish). 27. National Archives of Sweden. p. 704. Retrieved 2015-07-28.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Owetz, Josefine (2020). "Fredrik Ståhlberg ny vicerektor vid FHS" (PDF). Officerstidningen (in Swedish). Stockholm: Officerarnas riksförbund (1). SELIBR 3614713.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Jarmar, Håkan (2005). Wedin, Lars; Åselius, Gunnar (eds.). "Torsten Rapp som ÖB: En studie av maktens fördelning inom det militära försvaret under 1960-talet". Militärhistorisk tidskrift. 2005 (in Swedish). Stockholm: Militärhistoriska avdelningen, Försvarshögskolan. ISSN 0283-8400. SELIBR 10098614.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Skoglund, Claës (2009). Det bästa försvarsbeslut som aldrig kom till stånd: ett kontrafaktiskt uppslag (PDF). Publikation / Försvaret och det kalla kriget (FOKK), 1652-5388 ; 17 (in Swedish). Stockholm: Svenskt militärhistoriskt bibliotek. ISBN 9789185789573. SELIBR 11704940.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Wikland, Erik (1971–1973). "C A F Ivar Holmquist". Svenskt biografiskt lexikon (in Swedish). 19. National Archives of Sweden. p. 288. Retrieved 2017-04-25.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Wennerholm, Bertil, ed. (2015). Så kom JAS-projektet till: vittnesseminarium kring beslutsprocessen om JAS 39 1979-1983 : 11 november 2013. Forskningsprojektet Försvaret och det kalla kriget (FOKK), 1652-5388 ; 45 (in Swedish). Stockholm: Forskningsprojektet Försvaret och det kalla kriget (FoKK. ISBN 9789198049886. SELIBR 18205009.
• "Ledningen möbleras om". Dagens Nyheter (in Swedish) (312). 17 November 1981. Retrieved 24 April 2020.

Web

• Nordgren, Annika; et al. (24 February 1998). "Motion till riksdagen 1997/98:Fö3" (in Swedish). Riksdag. Retrieved 11 March 2016.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Wallberg, Evabritta (1987-01-13). "5. Arméstaben > Förteckning" (in Swedish). National Archives of Sweden. Retrieved 2015-07-28.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)