Military on Gotland

Since the Iron Age, Gotland has occupied a strategic location in the Baltic Sea from both a trade and military perspective. Periods of major fortification The various known establishment of fortifications on Gotland can be roughly broken down into the following broad time periods: • First known period: From around the late 4th century BC (sometime shortly before 200 BC) to the 10th century AD, which may consist of two or more overlapping periods. • Second period: From the 12th century to the 15th century. A time of great discord and open warfare between various polities and interests. The era saw the end of Gotland as an independent kingdom. The fortified town of Visby was built and expanded during this time (founded around the 11th century). • Third period: From the 16th century to the mid 17th century. An unsettled time in both politics and on the battlefield eventually led to the end of Gotland's time as an autonomous entity and it becoming an integral part of Sweden. In 1741 the renowned Swedish scientist Carl Linnaeus was sent to the island to assess its strategic and economic assets, in the light of serious fears that Russia might attempt an occupation. • Fourth period: From the 1810s to around the 1880s. This period included an industrious time during the 1860s and 1870s when a number of well-designed, major artillery forts, like Fårösund Fortress and Enholmen Fortress, were constructed. These and other fortifications on Gotland would later serve to help ensure Sweden's neutrality in World War I. • Fifth period: 1939 to 1989. A massive new round of major construction began as the world headed for a new world war, which continued right on into, and throughout the Cold War. From the late 1940s, most of the northern part of Gotland became an even more heavily fortified, military only zone, a status that was only rescinded in the early 1990s. • MKG - Gotland Military Command in Visby had operational control of the brigade and independent battalions in case of war. • Headquarters and Staff Battalion in Visby • PB 18 - Gotland Brigade in Visby: • Headquarters and staff company • 1st Armored Battalion with a staff company, 12 × Stridsvagn 102R tanks in one company, 28 × KP-car m/42 wheeled armoured personnel carriers and 24 × rifle squads with 8 × Pvpj 1110 90mm recoilless rifles in two companies, 4 × M/40 105 mm howitzers in an artillery battery and a logistic company • 2nd Armored Battalion with a staff company, 12 × Stridsvagn 102R tanks in one company, 28 × KP-car m/42 wheeled armoured personnel carriers and 24 × rifle squads with 8 × Pvpj 1110 90 mm recoilless rifles in two companies, 4 × M/40 105 mm howitzers in an artillery battery and a logistic company • 3rd Armored Battalion with a staff company, 12 × Stridsvagn 102R tanks in one company, 28 × KP-car m/42 wheeled armoured personnel carriers and 24 × rifle squads with 8 × Pvpj 1110 90 mm recoilless rifles in two companies, 4 × M/40 105 mm howitzers in an artillery battery and a logistic company • Artillery Battalion with 12 × 155mm Haubits m/F towed howitzers in three batteries • 18th Armored Reconnaissance Company with 6 × KP-car m/42 wheeled armoured personnel carriers, 12 × Jeeps, 12 × Recon Teams, 2 × rifle squads and 4 × Pvpj 1110 90 mm recoilless rifles • 18th Anti-tank Company with m/48 recoilless rifles and Bantam anti-tank missiles • 18th Engineer Company • Logistic Battalion • P 18 - Gotland Regiment in Visby. Tasked with training all units of the Gotland Brigade and Gotland Military Command, except for artillery and air defence units. • A 7 - Gotland Artillery Regiment in Visby. Tasked with training field artillery units on Gotland. • KA 3 - Gotland Coastal Artillery Regiment in Fårösund trained and fielded a wide variety of units, which in case of war would have come under direct command of the Gotland Military Command: three mobile Coastal Guard Platoons (Sjöbevakningspluton) armed with light Robot 17 anti-ship missiles. One heavy anti-ship missile battery armed with Robot 08 missiles. The 7th Coastal Artillery Battery in Bunge with 3 × mobile 152mm M/37 cannons. Besides these mobile units the regiment also controlled the following fixed artillery positions: 4 × batteries of three 75 mm Tornpjäs m/57 automatic guns each at Kappelshamn, Ljugarn and St Olofsholm on Gotland and at Ryssnäs on Fårö, 1 × battery of three 120 mm Tornautomatpjäs m/70 automatic guns at Slite and 1 × battery of three twin-barreled 152 mm Kustartilleripjäs m/51 heavy coastal artillery guns at Bungenäs. Furthermore, the regiment trained a few smaller units, which maintained minefields with controlled mines along the coast of Gotland and Fårö. Additionally the regiment fielded a limited number of 75 mm m/65 automatic cannons, which were a mobile version of the 75mm Tornpjäs m/57 automatic guns and the small minelayer HSwMS Fårösund (16). • Lv 2 - Gotland Anti-Aircraft Battalion in Visby with Robot 69 and Robot 70 man-portable surface-to-air missiles, as well as 20mm lvakan m/40-70 and 40mm lvakan m/48 anti-aircraft autocannons. • 4th Independent Armored Battalion in Visby with a staff company, 12 × Stridsvagn 102R tanks in one company, 28 × KP-car m/42 wheeled armoured personnel carriers and 24 × rifle squads with 8 × Pvpj 1110 90 mm recoilless rifles in two companies, 4 × M/40 105 mm howitzers in an artillery battery and a logistic company • 5th Independent Armored Battalion in Fårösund with a staff company, 12 × Stridsvagn 102R tanks in one company, 28 × KP-car m/42 wheeled armoured personnel carriers and 24 × rifle squads with 8 × Pvpj 1110 90 mm recoilless rifles in two companies, 4 × M/40 105 mm howitzers in an artillery battery and a logistic company 21st century gun bunker) located near Brucebo, Gotland County Despite expectations at the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century bringing with it a new millennium, Gotland's strategic importance has continued. consisting primarily of elements from the Swedish Army. It has been reported that the bulk of this initial garrison will make up a new motorised rifle battalion, alternatively referred to in other reports as a "modular-structured rapid response Army battalion". , it is unclear whether the Gotland Regiment and the associated Gotland Brigade as well as the Gotland Artillery Regiment, key components of the previous garrison (disestablished in 2005), will also be reconstituted. Prior to the closure of the original garrison, there had been a continuous Swedish military presence on Gotland in one form or another, for nearly 200 years. Among the residual war reserve stocks reported to be still in storage on Gotland in March 2015, were 14 tanks (Stridsvagn 122s) at the Tofta firing range (the Tofta skjutfält), but without any crews or dedicated maintenance personnel assigned to them. Between 2005 and 2019, Gotland had no local air defence capability. Despite its importance as a naval base in the past, , there are no naval units based out of Gotland. Since 2000, there have been no coastal artillery units or facilities operational on Gotland. == Gotland Garrison ==

The original Gotland garrison, also known as the Visby Garrison, could trace its roots back to at least 1811. That was the year the Gotland National Conscription was formed to strengthen the islands defences after the Russians had briefly occupied the island two years before. In 1887, a new country wide conscription system replaced a number of previous regional recruitment and reserve systems, including the Gotlands nationalbeväring (the Gotland National Recruitment). In 1957, during the Cold War, Gotland became part of the (now defunct) Sound Naval District, headquartered at the Muskö Naval Base. The Sound Naval District itself came under the new joint Eastern Military District in 1966, with operational control of naval units (including coastal defence forces) in the area of the former Gotland Naval District being returned to the commanding officer of the new MKG centered on Gotland. In the short term, the navy and government attempted to address these issues with various emergency measures and programs, such as the hasty revamping of the Ytattack-81 (the Surface combatant-81) project into what would become the Stockholm corvette program. Another hastily introduced program was the construction of four new heavy coastal missile batteries based around the Rb 15 missile, one of which was placed on Gotland. Delivery and installation of the systems was to take place from 1987 to 1992. Existing installations such as coastal gun batteries and mine stations were continuously upgraded. In an echo of events from over 60 years earlier, the navy would lose its Marinflyget in 1998, with its helicopter units being absorbed by the air force's new 'joint' Swedish Armed Forces Helicopter Wing (the Army also losing its helicopters to this new wing). The air force then promptly retired the former navy ASW helicopters without any immediate replacement. The resulting lack of ASW helicopters, along with the operationally incomplete state of the Visby-class corvettes, were issues that would become apparent just under a decade and a half later, during the 'October 2014 Submarine incident' when the military made a prolonged search without any public results, for alleged underwater activity. Elements of the former garrison: Air Force 1920s–1980s Since the late 1920s, the Swedish Air Force have also played an important part in Gotland's defence, especially during World War II and the succeeding Cold War. Created by the amalgamation of the air arms of both the Army and the Navy in 1926, the formation of the new air force would leave the navy without an air branch until it was reestablished in the late 1950s with the navy's first helicopters. For Gotland, this meant the air force was not only able to operate out of Visby Airport (especially after its BAS-60 upgrade in 1968) and its existing airfields such as Bunge and Roma, but also from semi-prepared sites such as the Visby 1 and Visby 2 highway strips, which were officially classified as dispersed emergency (wartime) airfields as per Sweden's general overall Cold War doctrine. As the decade went on, fears grew that the Soviet Union would be at least just as likely to violate Sweden's neutrality in this manner; such fears regarding the two superpowers were only partially eased by the advent of the (effectively defunct ) INF Treaty. Late 1980s plans to reinforce the air cover over Gotland, including one for the reactivation and deployment to the island of an additional J 35 Draken squadron to take place in the early 1990s, were to be overtaken by world events such as the Revolutions of 1989 and the Soviet dissolution. 1990s– After the end of the Cold War, the air force's presence on Gotland had rapidly diminished to practically nothing by 1992, with the final withdrawal of deployed elements of the Bråvalla Wing (F 13) including a Saab 37 Viggen fighter detachment from Visby Airport. This was a direct result of the initial cutbacks by Swedish politicians seeking the peace dividend in order to, among other things, to fund increasingly costly social programs in an economic downturn (in part caused by the fall of the Soviet Union). Due to this, the Bunge airfield was closed in 1991. The Roma airfield had been deactivated in 1988. In the 2010s, the relatively dilapidated state of the county's defences had to be addressed by the Swedish government, with a newly resurgent Russia stepping up probes of Sweden's defences alongside those of her neighbours with both air and sea incursions. The most noted of these to date occurred in March 2013, when two Russian Tupolev Tu-22M nuclear capable bombers, escorted by four Sukhoi Su-27, were able to enter Swedish controlled airspace unimpeded and simulate strikes against targets in and around Stockholm with the Swedish Air Force unable to effectively respond at any time during the incident. During their operation, the Russian aircraft skirted around Gotland. In the aftermath of this highly controversial failure to avert the intruders, the air force for the first time in many years deployed a detachment of four Saab JAS 39 Gripen fighters to Visby Airport. This short lived deployment was followed by another smaller one the following year, consisting of two Gripens. However, because of their strictly limited nature, these deployments were seen by observers as unsuccessful PR exercises rather than a coherent response. By the close of 2014, Swedish public confidence in the government's ability to defend the country had dropped to 20% or lower, depending on the poll. This was a continuation of a general trend that could be traced back to even before the Stockholm incident, but which had rapidly worsened in its aftermath. In late March 2015, it was reported that plans were at an advanced stage for a support helicopter squadron and a "fast response Gripen jet squadron" to be based on Gotland in order to support the new garrison and further reinforce the island's defences. == Tofta firing range ==

) during an exercise at the Tofta skjutfält The Tofta firing range (also known as the Tofta Tank firing range), is a military training ground which is located south of Visby. Another less common name for the range is the Toftasjön firing range. Tracing its origins back to 1898, as of 2008 the range extended over . It was a major training and storage facility for the Gotland garrison during its existence, and was still occasionally used for training by various elements of the Armed Forces since the garrison was shut down in 2005. However, from the second half of 2014 onwards, there has been a marked increase in the use of the range, especially by armoured units (mostly company sized), == Gotlandsgruppen ==

Succeeding the MDG since 2005, the Gotlandsgruppen (the Gotland's Group) is an administrative group currently consisting of about eight regular officers at any one time. It is nominally responsible for overseeing the maintenance of military facilities along with related activities on the island, though in practice any real authority lies either with the Swedish Fortifications Agency or else the 1st Marine Regiment (1 Amf). In theory, the Gotlandsbataljonen also comes under the purview of the Gotlandsgruppen but again in practice they report directly to their current parent regiment, the 1st Marine Regiment, except for the day to day tasks that the Regimental HQ delegates to the Gotlandsgruppen officers on the ground. Much the same arrangement exists at the Tofta firing range; , the range comes directly under the 1st Marine Regiment for administrative and most operational matters. For work directly onsite, including oversight of any civilian contractors on long term contract or call, the job is again delegated to the Gotlandsgruppen, who have their offices in the range. The unit crest of the Gotlandsgruppen is the same as that of the former Gotland Military Command. == Battlegroup Gotland ==

In April 2015, The recruitment started in September 2015. The Battlegroup Gotland is to consist of 300 personnel, half of which are soldiers and half a permanent staff. , the main issue of where to house the battle group was still unresolved. Since 2006, the property is used by the Gotland County Administration and several private companies. The re-militarization of Gotland once again reopened the debate about a possible threat to Sweden from Russia and Sweden's accession to NATO. The Battlegroup Gotland (18th Battlegroup) will fall under administrative control of the Skaraborg Regiment, which will also train the troops destined for Gotland. The battlegroup will be based at the Tofta firing range near Visby and will field 301 men. • 18th Battlegroup (18. Stridsgruppen): • 180th Staff Company "Havdhem" • 181st Armored Infantry Company "Roma" with 12 × Strf 9040B infantry fighting vehicles, 1 × Bgbv 90 armored recovery vehicle and 1 × Bandvagn 309 tracked ambulance vehicle • 183rd Tank Company "Lärbro" with 11 × Stridsvagn 122 main battle tanks, 1 × Epbv 90 forward observation vehicle, 1 × Bgbv 120 armored recovery vehicle, 1 × Strf 9040B infantry fighting vehicle and 1 × Bandvagn 309 tracked ambulance vehicle • 185th Logistic Company "Garde" In the meantime, before the 18th Battlegroup is ready for deployment on Gotland (originally scheduled to begin in 2018), it was hoped that a combination of an increase in training rotations by mainland based regular army units to the Tofta range, combined with some rather public exercises around the island by the Särskilda operationsgruppen since late 2015, would be enough to discourage any Russian adventurism. However, by Autumn 2016, the regional situation was considered to have deteriorated even further. So much so that following representations from the current Supreme Commander Micael Bydén, the Swedish Government reluctantly agreed that Gotland's defences would have to be reestablished on a much shorter timescale than previously mooted (despite ongoing major divisions within the current ruling parties with regards as to the strategy & resources required to defend Sweden). To this end, the Supreme Commander announced on 14 September 2016 that not only would the deployment of the 18th Battlegroup to Gotland would be moved up to the first half of 2017, but also a rifle battalion from the Skaraborg Regiment which was then in the middle of a training rotation at Tofta, would now be held in place on Gotland as an interim garrison. A few Giraffe 40s normally on the strength of the Air Defence Regiment (Lv 6) are to be attached to the battalion to provide some early warning capability. Despite this though, neither air defence vehicles such as the Luftvärnskanonvagn (lvkv) 9040, nor MANPADS have been attached to the garrison battalion to take advantage of this local radar coverage. The plan is to within a few months relieve the battalion with another battalion or an equivalent formation, which will then remain in place until the 18th Battlegroup is ready to take up its posting. == See also ==