Helge Jung

General Helge Victor Jung (23 March 1886 – 3 January 1978) was a Swedish Army officer. Jung's senior commands include the post of Chief of the Army Staff and the General Staff Corps, commander of the 2nd Army Division, military commander of the II Military District and the IV Military District. He served as the 2nd Supreme Commander from 1944 to 1951.

Helge Jung
Birth nameHelge Victor Jung
Born(1886-03-23)23 March 1886
Malmö, Sweden
Died3 January 1978(1978-01-03) (aged 91)
Stockholm, Sweden
Buried
Djursholm cemetery
AllegianceSweden
Service/branchSwedish Army
Years of service1906–1951
RankGeneral
Commands held
RelationsBengt Liljestrand (son-in-law)

Early life

Jung was born on 23 March 1886 in Malmö, Sweden, the son of the headmaster Victor Jung and his wife Maria (née Levan).[1] Jung passed mogenhetsexamen in Malmö in 1903 and then studied history at Lund University for a couple of semesters 1903–1904.[2]

Career

Early military career

He was accepted as a volunteer at the South Scanian Infantry Regiment (I 7) in 1904 and graduated from the Military Academy Karlberg in 1906 and was commissioned into the Swedish Army the same year as a underlöjtnant in the same regiment[3] where he was promoted to Lieutenant in 1909.[4] From 1912 to 1916, Jung served as a regimental adjutant in the South Scanian Infantry Regiment,[5] whereupon he attended the Royal Swedish Army Staff College from 1916 to 1918. He was a cadet officer at the Military Academy Karlberg from 1919 to 1922: first at the reserve officer courses during 1919 and then at the officer courses from 1919 to 1922. He was an assistant teacher in martial law and service regulations on the officer course at the Military Academy Karlberg from 1921 to 1922.[3] In 1921 he was promoted to Captain in the South Scanian Infantry Regiment.[6]

During this time, Jung took an instructor course at the Royal Central Gymnastics Institute from 1907 to 1908,[5] and served as company commander in 1st Division's (I. arméfördelningen) volunteer school in Halmstad from 1908 to 1909 and from 1909 to 1910. After that he was a company commander at the reserve officer volunteer school in Karlsborg in 1910, and commander of the conscripts selected for special winter service (ski service) from 1910 to 1911, company commander at the reserve officer volunteer school in Karlsborg in 1911 and adjutant at the Infantry Officer Volunteer School (Infanteriofficersvolontärskolan) in Karlsborg from 1914 to 1915.[3]

War history and defense debate

From 1922 to 1926, Jung served in the War History Department of the General Staff, after which he was a teacher in war history and strategy at the Royal Swedish Army Staff College from 1926 to 1928. He was promoted to Major in 1928, after which he was acting head of the War History Department in the General Staff from 1928 to 1929 and regular head of the same from 1929 to 1933.[3] He was secretary of the issues regarding the Swedish Army in the 1930 Defence Commission from 1930 to 1935.[2][3] In 1933 he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, after which he was head of the Foreign Affairs Department in the General Staff from 1933 to 1936.[2] He was secretary of the Committee on Defence during the Riksdag of 1936.[7]

As head of the War History Department, he led the work on Sveriges krig 1611–1632 ("Sweden's war 1611–1632"), a book in eight volumes published 1936–1939.[2] He himself conducted war history archive research in Latvia and Estonia in 1922, in Germany, Danzig and Copenhagen in 1923, in Finland in 1925 and 1926 as well as archival research and battlefield surveys in Danzig, Poland and Germany in 1927. He led archival research and battlefield research in Belgium, Netherlands, Czechoslovakia, Germany and Austria in 1929 and in several other countries in 1930.[3]

The Defence Act of 1925 with its extensive downsizing of units and personnel, left its mark on Jung's generation of officers and instilled in many paralysis of action. In this situation, Jung deservedly took the lead for those who did not want to give up the fight for a modern defence with a broad base and adapted to society's resources. During his service in the War History Department, he gathered around him a group of younger talented army officers for a debate on defence issues[8] and eventually founded Ny militär tidskrift ("New Military Journal") in 1927,[9] whose editor he was 1927–1930.[7] The circle of soldiers around this came to be called Jungjuntan ("Jung's junta") and it consisted of Axel Rappe, Carl August Ehrensvärd, Per Sylvan, Henry Peyron, Gustaf Petri, Axel Gyllenkrook, Gunnar Berggren with Jung as editor and unifying force. Jung was also behind the publication Antingen – eller ("Either – Or") (1930). Through the work of the 1930 Defence Commission, he had a decisive influence on the Defence Act of 1936 and it came to consist of a ten-year rearmament plan.[9]

Jung was chief of the Military Office of the Land Defense (Lantförsvarets kommandoexpedition) from 1936 to 1937, colonel and executive officer of the Life Regiment Grenadiers (I 3) in 1936 and colonel and Chief of the Army Staff and the General Staff Corps from 1937 to 1940. He became major general of the army in 1938 and was commanding officer of the II Army Division from 1940 to 1942. Jung was then the military commander of the II Military District in 1942 and commanding officer of the IV Military District and was the Commandant General in Stockholm in 1943. He was appointed lieutenant general in 1944 and general in 1944. Jung was the Supreme Commander from 1944 to 1951.[7]

Chief of Army Staff and military commander

On 12 June 1936, Jung was promoted to Colonel and appointed regimental commander of the North Scanian Infantry Regiment (I 6) from 1 October 1936.[10] Even before he had time to take office, however, he was appointed on 30 June to be acting chief of Military Office of the Land Defence from 1 August,[11] a post he held until 30 June 1937.[12] On 13 November 1936, he was relieved of command of the North Scanian Infantry Regiment and was appointed executive commander of the Life Regiment Grenadiers (I 3) from 16 November, but was given continued leave to serve as chief of tMilitary Office of the Land Defence.[13]

As part of the Defence Act of 1936, the General Staff was divided into the Defence Staff and Army Staff. This was entirely in line with Jung's junta's argument for a unified leadership of the armed forces in a more efficient organization. As a reward for his persistent work in the 1930 Defence Commission,[14] Jung was appointed Chief of the Army Staff and the General Staff Corps on 30 July 1937 and took office on 1 July.[12] At this time, Jung advocated active action for Finland in a possible war against the Soviet Union. In the years just before the outbreak of World War II, cracks appeared within Jung's junta and it dissipated.[15] He was promoted to Major General in 1938[7] and left the Chief of the Army Staff position on 30 September 1940.[16] Thereafter, from 1 October 1940 until 30 September 1942, he was commander of the 2nd Army Division,[17][18] from 1 October 1942 to 30 September 1943, military commander of the II Military District[18][19] and from 1 October 1943 to 31 March 1944, military commander of the IV Military District[19][20] as well as Commandant General in Stockholm.[7]

Supreme Commander
Supreme Commander, General Helge Jung (left) and the Chief of the Defence Staff, Major General Carl August Ehrensvärd.

On 31 December 1943, Jung was promoted to Lieutenant General from 1 January 1944 and was appointed Supreme Commander of the Swedish Armed Forces for six years from 1 April 1944.[19] He was promoted to General on 10 March 1944, beginning 1 April.[21] In November 1949, he received an extended appointment as Supreme Commander until 31 March 1951, when he resigned.[22]

During this time he was against the Swedish extradition of Baltic soldiers in 1945 and a friend of NATO, as his speech to students at Lund University in November 1949 shows.[23] About his other activities as Supreme Commander, an obituary read: "Jung's work became very important in order to present a plan for the Swedish Armed Forces's future organization after World War II. He had to overcome many anti-defence forces, the war fatigue, the atomic bomb threat and the peace optimism. Jung worked in the same way as in the 1920s and 1930s. He gathered around him a group of skilled and useful officers and invested in a well-organized defence information. With indomitable energy, Jung succeeded in gaining the attention of the Swedish government for his proposals and in preventing the ruling organization from collapsing. He thus laid the foundation for the future development of the Swedish defence for many years. It has been said by the former Supreme Commander, General Stig Synnergren that ’the modernization and anchoring of the defence among the Swedish people is Jung's lasting effort’."[24] Historian Kent Zetterberg has stated that “Helge Jung was to a large extent a complex nature. His personality had features of cunning and tactical calculation, yes cynicism, but at the same time there were also clear elements of the ideality and selfless work for strengthening the Swedish defence.”[25]

Personal life
Jung's grave in Djursholm Cemetery.

In 1913, he married Ruth Wehtje (1893–1951), the daughter of the deputy district judge Ernst Wehtje and Mimmi Ahnfelt. In 1952, he married Dagmar Bager (1897–1955), the daughter of vice consul John Jeansson and Sigrid Maijström. He was the father of Stig (born 1915), Karin (born 1917) and Elisabet (born 1919–1994).[7]

Death

Jung died on 3 January 1978 and was interred on 10 February 1978 in Djursholm cemetery.[26]

Dates of rank

Awards and decorations

Swedish

Foreign

Honours

Bibliography
  • Jung, Helge (1923). Sveriges möjligheter till självförsörjning: en studie rörande jordbrukets och industriens krigsberedskap (in Swedish). Stockholm: Seelig & C:o. SELIBR 8220850.
  • Jung, Helge, ed. (1930). Antingen-eller: freds- och försvarsproblemet i saklig belysning (in Swedish). Stockholm: Ny militär tidskrifts bokförlag. SELIBR 906270.
  • Jung, Helge (1947). Vårt framtida försvar: överbefälhavarens förslag (in Swedish). Stockholm. SELIBR 1720170.
  • Jung, Helge, ed. (1947). Överbefälhavarens yttrande över 1945 års militärutrednings "Betänkande och förslag angående förhållandet mellan befäl och meniga inom krigsmakten" (in Swedish). Stockholm: [Folk och försvar]. SELIBR 1457870.
  • Jung, Helge, ed. (1957). Öst och väst och vi: grupparbete (in Swedish). Stockholm: Norstedt. SELIBR 1369365.

References

Notes
  1. Vem är det: svensk biografisk handbok. 1933 [Who is it: Swedish biographical handbook. 1933] (in Swedish). Stockholm: Norstedt. 1932. p. 424.
  2. Dahl & Bohman 1948, p. 133
  3. Wennerström 1936, p. 197
  4. Sveriges statskalender för år 1915 (in Swedish). Uppsala: Fritzes offentliga publikationer. 1915. p. 238.
  5. Hallberg 1921, p. 220
  6. Sveriges statskalender för året 1925 (in Swedish). Uppsala: Almqvist & Wiksell. 1925. p. 267.
  7. Harnesk 1962, p. 665
  8. Broomé 1978, p. 270
  9. Artéus 1996, pp. 248-256
  10. "Högre militära utnämningar". Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). 1936-06-13. p. 5.
  11. "Försvarsorganisationen har fått sina nya ledare". Dagens Nyheter (in Swedish). 1936-07-01. p. 4.
  12. "Cheferna utnämnda för armé och marin. Sex nya generaler". Dagens Nyheter (in Swedish). 1937-05-01. p. 14.
  13. "Fyra nya regementschefer och fyra överstar i armén". Dagens Nyheter (in Swedish). 1936-11-14. p. 6.
  14. Artéus 1996, pp. 257-258
  15. Artéus 1996, pp. 259-261
  16. Rönnberg 1995, p. 269
  17. "Ny fördelningschef, ny arméstabschef". Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). 1940-03-31. p. 7.
  18. "Högsta posterna i försvaret besatta". Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). 1942-07-01. p. 5.
  19. "Ny militärbefälhavare i Stockholm utnämnd". Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). 1943-03-20. p. 3.
  20. "General Jung Ö. B., general A. Douglas arméchef". Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). 1944-01-02. p. 6.
  21. "Nye ÖB general. Ny krigsskolechef". Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). 1944-03-11. p. 5.
  22. "ÖB:s förordnande förlängt ett år". Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). 1949-11-26. p. 4.
  23. Artéus 1996, pp. 269, 271
  24. Broomé 1978, p. 271
  25. Artéus 1996, p. 272
  26. "Helge Viktor Jung". www.finngraven.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 22 October 2020.
  27. Sveriges statskalender för året 1955 (in Swedish). Stockholm: Fritzes offentliga publikationer. 1955. p. 7.
  28. Sveriges statskalender för året 1931 (in Swedish). Uppsala: Fritzes offentliga publikationer. 1931. p. 35.
  29. Sveriges statskalender för skottåret 1940 (in Swedish). Uppsala: Fritzes offentliga publikationer. 1940. p. 11.
  30. Sveriges statskalender för året 1945 (in Swedish). Uppsala: Fritzes offentliga publikationer. 1945. p. 9.
  31. Sveriges statskalender för året 1955 (in Swedish). Stockholm: Fritzes offentliga publikationer. 1955. p. 209.
  32. Sveriges statskalender för året 1945 (in Swedish). Uppsala: Fritzes offentliga publikationer. 1945. p. 81.
  33. Sveriges statskalender för året 1955 (in Swedish). Stockholm: Fritzes offentliga publikationer. 1955. p. 352.
  34. Sveriges statskalender för året 1945 (in Swedish). Uppsala: Fritzes offentliga publikationer. 1945. p. 109.
  35. Sveriges statskalender för året 1947 (in Swedish). Uppsala: Fritzes offentliga publikationer. 1947. p. 109.
  36. Sveriges statskalender för året 1935 (in Swedish). Uppsala: Fritzes offentliga publikationer. 1935. p. 246.
  37. Sveriges statskalender för skottåret 1940 (in Swedish). Uppsala: Fritzes offentliga publikationer. 1940. p. 272.
  38. Sveriges statskalender för året 1950 (in Swedish). Stockholm: Fritzes offentliga publikationer. 1950. p. 101.
  39. Sveriges statskalender för året 1931 (in Swedish). Uppsala: Fritzes offentliga publikationer. 1931. p. 240.
  40. Sveriges statskalender för året 1941 (in Swedish). Uppsala: Fritzes offentliga publikationer. 1941. p. 272.
  41. Svensk rikskalender 1909 (in Swedish). Stockholm: P. A. Nordstedt & Söner. 1908. p. 191. SELIBR 498191.
  42. Svensk rikskalender 1910 (in Swedish). Stockholm: P. A. Nordstedt & Söner. 1909. p. 192. SELIBR 498191.

Print
  • Artéus, Gunnar, ed. (1996). Svenska officersprofiler under 1900-talet (in Swedish). Stockholm: Militärhögsk. ISBN 918707219X. SELIBR 7762137.
  • Broomé, Bertil (1978). "Minnestal över bortgångna ledamöter". Kungl. Krigsvetenskapsakademiens handlingar och tidskrift (in Swedish). Stockholm: Kungl. Krigsvetenskapsakademien. SELIBR 3417415.
  • Dahl, Torsten; Bohman, Nils, eds. (1948). Svenska män och kvinnor: biografisk uppslagsbok. 4 I-Lindner (in Swedish). Stockholm: Bonnier. SELIBR 53803.
  • Hallberg, Severin, ed. (1921). Svensk officersmatrikel 1 Generalitetet, generalstaben och infanteriet (in Swedish). Stockholm: Tullberg. SELIBR 2860421.
  • Harnesk, Paul, ed. (1962). Vem är vem? 1, Stor-Stockholm [Who's Who? 1, Greater Stockholm] (in Swedish) (2nd ed.). Stockholm: Vem är vem. SELIBR 53509.
  • Rönnberg, Lennart, ed. (1995). Arméns ledning från vasatid till nutid (in Swedish). Stockholm: Probus. ISBN 9187184427. SELIBR 7762926.
  • Wennerström, Thorsten (1936). Kungl. krigsakademien och Kungl. krigsskolan: åren 1792-1935, personhistoriska uppgifter (in Swedish). Stockholm: GLA. SELIBR 24473.

Further reading
  • Konow, Jan von (1999). Helge Jung: opinionsbildare, försvarets nydanare, överbefälhavare (in Swedish). Stockholm: J. von Konows förl. ISBN 9163084716. SELIBR 7454079.
Military offices
Preceded by
Hugo Cederschiöld		 Life Regiment Grenadiers (I 3)
1936–1937		 Succeeded by
Axel Gyllenkrok
Preceded by
Ernst af Klercker		 Chief of the Army Staff
General Staff Corps
1937–1940		 Succeeded by
Folke Högberg
Preceded by
Ivar Holmquist		 II Army Division
1940–1942		 Succeeded by
Björn Olof Karlsson
Preceded by
None		 II Military District
1942–1943		 Succeeded by
Henry Tottie
Preceded by
Erik Testrup		 IV Military District
Commandant General in Stockholm
1943–1944		 Succeeded by
Arvid Moberg
Preceded by
Olof Thörnell		 Supreme Commander
1944–1951		 Succeeded by
Nils Swedlund
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