If the Soviets Invaded : Sweden's Secret Underground Resistance Plan
FRHistS; independent Cold War historian and broadcaster; NYT-recommended
Essential · Edition 2026-09-18
Historian Johan Wennström reveals Sweden's Stay Behind organisation — a clandestine resistance network of farmers, factory workers, and gamekeepers trained in radio communications, sabotage, and escape routes, all prepared for a Soviet occupation that officially could never happen because Sweden was neutral. The episode gets into the operational detail of how the networks were structured, how recruits were selected from civilian life, and how Sweden quietly coordinated with NATO despite its public neutrality. A genuinely surprising story that most listeners won't have encountered before.
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