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The geographical position of Gotland in the Baltic has throughout history meant that it would play in important part in politics and miliarty issues. The Swedish and Gotlandish vikings used the island as a base for their expeditions into Russia and further down along the rivers all the way to Bagdad and Constantinopel. During the dark ages the german commerce union, the hansa, used Visby as a central harbor adding to this glorious period. During this period the city wall that is still intact was built to control and to extract toll from the peasants taking their merchandise into the city. This caused a civil war between the people on the countryside and the mostly german merchants in Visby.
| In 1361 the danish king Valdemar Atterdag landed with a danish-german professional army and in two battles decisively defeated the peasant army. The massacre by the city wall has become mythical with the massgraves found in this century. The merchant city Visby was neutral and opened the gates after the peasantarmy had been crushed before the merchants eyes. During the 15th centuty the island became a nest for swedish and danish-swedish-norwegian (the Kalmarunion bound them loosely into one kingdom for about 120 years) ex-kings making a living by piracy. More wars and invasions became inevitable. After Gustaf Vasa had once and for all torn Sweden out of the Kalmarunion 1521 Gotland remained danish. For some time in the 16th century Visby was the home of the famous danish knight Sören Norby who used it as a base for his piracy. Despite Gustaf Vasas attempts to take control over Gotland it remained in danish hands. |  |
In the 17th century the island was won by Sweden along with other parts in the treaty of Brömsebro 1645 when the danish had been defated again in war. In 1676 the danish recaptured the island but were forced to return it in accordance to the treaty of Roskilde 1679 after their defat. 1715-1719 the russian navy plundered and looted the eastern coast of Gotland. Nearly a century later the russians invaded the island in 1808 during the Napoleonic wars . The swedish army recaptured the island some months later. In neither of these operations was a single shot fired! It was obvious that the navys promise to defend Gotland was worthless. Gotland had to be defended by elements of the army!
It was obvious that these elements had to be stationed on the island. There would never be time to mobilize on the mainland and then reinforce the island. A treaty between the king and the people on Gotland in 1811 resulted in the Gotlands natonal armament. This was sort of a conscript army almost a century before the rest of Sweden adopted a conscript system. All ablebodied men had an excercise and mobilization obligation. This resulted in 20% of the population becoming available. The officers were appointed by the king and other leaders by the units. This treaty was in effect until 1892 when Sweden adopted a system that was the start of a conscriptsystem. In 1887 the unit became known as Gotlands infantry regiment. I27 (27:th infantryregiment). In 1901 the conscriptsystem completely superseded the old system with a standing army.
| The troops consisted of infantry and attached artillery. In the early 1910:s a bicykle company was added to act as cavalry. This was the start of something new. Today tourists on Gotland often travel by bicycle since the island is small enough to be quickly travelled by especially since it is very flat, yet it is much to large to walk over. The disarmamentdecision by the parlament in 1928 that practically left the army toothless by disbanding a great many units meant that the regiment was reduced to an infantry corps. Since I18 had been disbanded its number became available. The new designation thus became Gotlands infanterikår (infantry corps), I18. Nevertheless, during the following three years the corps was completely reorganized into a bicykleunit with motorized logistics. There was no need for any horses any more. The rest of the Swedish infantry reached this "peak" only in the late 1940:s. |
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| 1941 The left photo shows a 37mm anti-tank gun with crew. This weapon knocked out many russian tanks in the finnish winter war of 1939-40. Weapons like this was in use in many armies at this date but it remained in service in Sweden for a longer time than in most other countries. | 1941 The middle photo shows a 20 mm AA/AT automatic cannon in the anti-tank mounting. Effectiveness against tanks at this date would probably be lower than required. The low profile of the weapon is commendable however. | 1942 The photo to the right shows part of the assaulting rifle team supported by the squad automatic weapon, a Kg m/37 which is something like a BAR. Note the stickgrenades tucked i the nearest infantrymans belt. |
The re-armamentdecicion in 1937 again gave I18 regimental status, with a clear ambition for armor support. The new threat of airborne assault with parachutes and gliders was recognized early. Some joint maneuvers were held with an armored car squadron from K1 (1:st Lifeguards cavalryregiment) but nothing more happened. Only in 1941 before the expected german attack on Soviet an armored carsquadron from K3 was attached. In the fall of 41 this returned to the mainland. Via some temporary solutions P1G (Gotland detachement of 1:st armor lifeguardsregiment) came true in 1943. This was a "platoon" of fifteen light tanks, Strv m/37. A year later an armored car company with armored car m/41 was added. When the German defense in the Baltic states started to collapse a medium tank company with Strv m/42 was added. This was to be replaced by two armored car companies after 1946.
In the organization of 1949 I18 became a armor-reinforced bicyklebrigade of five infantrybatallions. Each batallion had one fivetankplatoon with Strv m/37, which during the 50:s was replaced by company of Strv m/40 or by a selfpropelled assaultgun company with Ikv-102. The armored car companies remained independant and started to be replaced by Strv 74 at the end of the decade. By this the quality had been raised enough to quickly defeat an airborne assault and force an enemy to include heavy tanks in an amphibious assualt. The upgunning to 7,5 cm continued during the 60:s with the Pvkv m/43 (Tankdestroyer m/43).
In 1963 P1G was merged with I18 and became P18,18th armored regiment. The banner of P1G is still used as the companybanner of the company that trains tankunits at P18, Lärbro company. The new armored brigade to be trained by the regiment was named armorbrigade Gotland to destinguish it from the differently organized brigades on the mainland, was to be a large one. There was still to be five batallions. The three riflecompanies traded their bicykles to KP-car m/42 (wheeled APC). The tankcomponent in the batallions was increased from one company to two with either Strv 74 or Pvkv m/43. The brigade thus organized fifteen armored infantry companies and ten tankcompanies! In the early 70:s the Strv 74 and the Pvkv m/43 started to be phased out and replaced by the Strv 102 Centurion. The brigade was reduced to three battalions and the other two became independant batatlins for use by the military command to reinforce the coastal artillery brigades land component or to protect the brigades flank etc. Soon the batallions size were cut by taking away one tank coy and one armoured infantry coy leaving rather weak battalions of one tank coy and two armored infantry coys (plus a howitser coy and a staff and logistical asset as always).
During the early 90:s the regiment was closer connected to its most important wartime product, the brigade, and was renamed MekB18 (18th mechanized brigade). The wartime brigade was organized on the same lines as the brigades on the mainland with only minor differances (the MekB 90 organization). The Strv 102R was retired and replaced by Strv 104 and at the same time the modified KP-car m/42 was replaced by Pbv 302. The brigade also recieved the Pvrbbv 551, the Rb 56 BILL and the Lvrbbv 701. Since the late eighties the brigade has been equipped with minerollers.
Tanktraining was discontinued in 2000 and training on Pbv 302 and CV90 continued for use in the new brigades that were trained jointly by several regiments ending the localgeographic connection that had served Sweden so well. In 2005 the regiment was finally disbanded due to the changed strategic situation when the baltic nations have entered NATO meaning that Sweden is surrounded by NATO or Finland radically improving the national security situation.
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This picture shows a Strv 104 with minerollers. The tanks performance was not seriously affected and it does in no way interfere with the abilty to fire the gun. It took a trained crew about twenty minutes to attach the rollers to the tank. The rollers performed well in most sorts of terrain. The main problem assaulting through a minefield is not technical, but tactical.The tanks with rollers are of course priority targets and must be protected. This calls for coordination and lots of artillery and direct fire support. |
| The brigade resided just south of Visby and had done so since 1905. The main traningground was located 10 km south of the barracks and was connected to it by a road for tracked vehicles. There was a small trainingground at the barracks, enough for the basic excercises. Additionally, there were more traininggrounds on the island. ) The main buildings were named after persons in the Gutasaga, the story of how people came to live on Gotland. These are Graip, Gute, Gunnfjaun, Havde and Bysen. |  |
Miscellaneous.
The brigades colors were blue and white.
The regimental and brigade banner
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The brigades mascot was the ram Harald II. The race Gutafår is special regarding that both males and females have horns. The race dates back to medivieal times at least. Harald I was in active duty 1979 - 1989 and ended with the rank of second lieutenant and honorary corpral. The last mascot was Harald IV. |
