Subject: Sweden's participation??

<<Obviously Sweden was officially neutral during the war and supplied Germany with iron ore, but what else did Sweden do during the war? Did it protect refugees, return them, supply information to either side? Does Sweden have any dirty little secrets about it's role in the conflict?>>

Sweden did plenty. It played both sides against the middle. Stockholm, like other neutral capitals such as Lisbon and Madrid, was a hotbed of espionage with plenty of Japanese agents on hand whose activities were winked at by the Swedish Foreign Ministry. Sweden and Japan had secret deals for Sweden to sell large quantities of piano wire for aircraft mfg., and also large quantities of ball bearings to Japan. The supplies reached Japan by way of Germany, Italy, and France, using blockade runners and U-Boats. Despite a promise by the Swedish foreign minister in Aug of 1943 to the U.S. Ambassador that such sales would be stopped, they nonetheless continued.

Sweden also furnished ships, personnel, and facilities for a limited exchange of internees between the U.S. and the Axis powers during the war. Some Japanese (principally diplomats) and German enemy aliens interned in the U.S. were swapped for Americans in Axis hands. The Swedish liner 'Gripsholm' was the principal ship used in these exchanges. It made only two trips in the Japanese exchange but several more in European exchanges.

As Germany was collapsing, a dozen top Japanese diplomats and military attaches in Berlin fled to Sweden where they stayed until Japan's surrender, destroying all files of intelligence value to the Allies as the end approached.

A good book containing the above information and lots more is 'Shadows Dancing: Japanese Espionage Against the West, 1939-1945' by Tony Matthews (St.Martins Press

Several postings on this subject have contained much enlightening information vis-a-vis the interception of German military messages and decoding of same by the allies. Also mentioned in this thread have been two excellent books related to the subject, Bruce Lee's 'Marching Orders,' and Tony Matthews' 'Shadows Dancing.'

I would like to mention one more book: 'Hitler's Japanese Confidant' by Carl Boyd everal postings on this subject have contained much enlightening information vis-a-vis the interception of German military messages and decoding of same by the allies. Also mentioned in this thread have been two excellent books related to the subject, Bruce Lee's 'Marching Orders,' and Tony Matthews' 'Shadows Dancing.'

I would like to mention one more book: 'Hitler's Japanese Confidant' by Carl Boyd [University of Kansas Press

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Also the German were able to read US Diplomatic messages. USA was notified about it at autumn 1944, when Finns gave them a hint about it. Unfortenately, the orginal documents are missing (as all the other STELLA POLARIS material) but summaries shown to president Ryti can found from the archives.

Jeff Noakes wrote ...

According to _Marching Orders_ by Bruce Lee, the MAGIC decryptions of Japanese diplomatic messages were considered a very fruitful source of intelligence about Germany.

During the 1944 presidential campaign, Republican candidate Dewey was considering making a campaign issue of the mishandling of intelligence before Pearl Harbor. This would have involved revealing MAGIC.

(But before you flame Dewey's memory, consider what was at stake - the Presidency. If FDR _had_ screwed up, then he was a bungler who _ought_ to be removed, even at a high price, and it would be unfair to allow him to keep his errors secret.)

Anyway, Gen. Marshall approached Dewey and asked him to keep quiet - because of the value of MAGIC to the Allies in the ETO.