commander of Jämtland Ranger Regiment
What position did Carl Eric Almgren take from 1960 to 1961?
Carl Eric Almgren General Carl Eric Åke Almgren ( 4March 1913 – 20May 2001 ) was a Swedish Army officer . Almgren served as Chief of the Defence Staff from 1961 to 1967 , military commander of the Eastern Military District ( Milo Ö ) from 1967 to 1969 and as the Chief of the Army from 1969 to 1976 . Early life . Almgren was born on 4 March 1913 in Linköping , Sweden , the son of captain Carl Almgren and his wife Esther ( née Tell ) . The father , Carl , who derived from a farming family , was a commissioned officer in the Life Grenadier Regiment , where he was among the more prominent representatives of his corps and had several positions both in the regiment and in the city of Linköping . Carl Eric did very well in school and was chairman of the school association . It is said to have been a disappointment for Almgrens teacher that with his striking theoretical endowment did not choose the academic path . Almgren was an avid reader and in 1930 at the age of 17 he read , according to his reading records , 198 books ; ie almost four books per week . Almgren graduated from Linköpings högre allmänna läroverket with exceptionally high grades on 4 June 1931 . A week later he stood as an officer cadet outside the barracks of the Life Grenadier Regiment , the year after his father had resigned . At Military Academy Karlberg , he would have been the top student , if he had not been too outspoken . He graduated third best in his class and at the Royal Swedish Army Staff College he graduated with some of the best grades awarded . Almgren was appointed in April 1934 to officership at Jönköpings-Kalmar Regiment . In 1936 he became a lieutenant and went through the Infantry Officer School . The winter of 1938 to 1939 , he studied Russian on a scholarship in Tallinn . Apart from Russian , he also spoke English , German and French fluently . Career . In October 1939 , Almgren was appointed assistant military attaché in Tallinn , Riga , and Kaunas . With placement in Tallinn , he became interested in the tense global political activities . The Soviet Union invasion in 1940 ended his ability to act as attaché , so he was told to observe the Soviet tanks when they crossed the Estonian border . During the war years he served , among other things , in the war preparedness organized army corps and division staffs and attended the Royal Swedish Army Staff College from 1941 to 1943 . Almgren was promoted to captain in 1942 and was an officer candidate in the General Staff Corps and the captain of the same in 1945 . In the next post-war years , he was placed at the Army Inspectorates Central Department and the Army Staffs Organization Department , while he taught at the Royal Swedish Army Staff College in tactics and staff service and a shorter time at the Swedish Air Force Flying School . In 1949 he was appointed captain of Västernorrland Regiment ( I 21 ) and he was promoted to major in the General Staff Corps in 1951 . Almgren was a teacher at the newly established Swedish National Defence College from 1951 to 1953 and was placed at the Defence Staff and then as head of the Army Staffs Tactics Department . Almgren was promoted lieutenant colonel in the General Staff Corps in 1955 . He was head of the Defence Staffs Army Department , a central post with influence over operational planning and cooperation between the central staffs . He returned to the troop service as training officer in Hälsinge Regiment ( I 14 ) in 1957 and was appointed to colonel and commander of Jämtland Ranger Regiment ( I 5 ) in 1960 . Already the following year in 1961 he took up the post as Chief of the Defence Staff , while also being promoted to major general . In 1966 he was promoted to lieutenant general , and in 1967 he was appointed military commander of the Eastern Military District ( Milo Ö ) , and also the Commandant General in Stockholm . Almgren took office as Chief of the Army on 1 October 1969 and served until 1976 . When he took office the Defence Act of 1968 had just been put into force . Having lost their previous political agreement between the Social Democrats and the centre-right parties , and it was obvious that the Supreme Commanders military and political assessments accorded less importance . The appropriations frame shrank , the fixed mark-up for technological development disappeared , and the carefully calculated price compensation system previously in force was replaced by a less favorable net price index . Among Almgrens contributions during his six years as Chief of the Armys was to improve leadership , staff treatment and training methods , as his predecessor Curt Göransson had initiated and that despite no small resistance pushed through a merger of regiments and defense area staffs ; the provincial regiments thus regained its original role to both coordinate the defense of their own counties and train brigades for national defense . These far-sighted reforms survived , unfortunately , not the so-called restructuring in the 1990s . By the time of his retirement as army chief , he was promoted to general . Other work . Alongside the traditional career had his services been used in numerous investigations and special assignments . Almgren was secretary of the Army Officers Training Committee from 1943 to 1946 , member of the 1948 Air Defense Committee , expert in the committee for voluntary defence in 1949 , expert in the ÖB investigations of 1947 , 1954 , 1957 , 1962 and 1965 , expert in the 1962 Defence Committee and the 1965 Defense Investigation , member of the board of the Swedish Civil Defence League ( Sveriges civilförsvarsförbund ) from 1956 to 1957 , the Total Defences head-board ( Totalförsvaret chefsnämnd ) , the Total Defences information board ( Totalförsvarets upplysningsnämnd ) , the National Singal Security Board ( Statens signalskyddsnämnd ) and the presidium of the Central Association of Society and Defence . Almgren was also a military employee of Stockholms-Tidningen in two periods 1943-1946 and 1952–1954 . During his time as Chief of the Army 1969-1976 he was at the same time chairman of the Swedish Army Museum . He put a great effort in the Fältjägare Association ( Föreningen Fältjägare ) in Stockholm and often attended meetings of the Swedish Military History Commission ( Svenska militärhistoriska kommissionen ) and could occasionally find amusement in the cultural evenings with the Idun Society ( Sällskapet Idun ) . At the military academy Almgren had served as a palace poet . He became an honorary member of the Royal Swedish Society of Naval Sciences and a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences in 1952 . Almgren was chairman of the academys Section I , Land Warfare Studies from 1970 to 1975 and was president of the academy from 1969 to 1971 . Later life . In the obituaries Almgren was termed as extraordinarily talented and extremely hardworking . It also appears that he could be perceived as harsh in his criticism of the persons who in his opinion did not measure up . It also emphasizes that he gladly wrote verse that he performed on various occasions . He also had a strong Christian faith . After his resignation he got involved in The Salvation Army . In 1983 he entered the Salvation Armys counsel and worked actively to plan the activities in crisis situations . In the early 1990s , he followed closely the efforts to build the organization in the Baltic states . Among his former colleagues the perception of him was diverse . Lieutenant General Carl Björeman said that when you asked Almgren a question and came up with a proposal that he did not like , you felt as a subordinate officer but still not dejected . The opposite was not unusual . Almgren was for many years an active member of Försvarsfrämjandet , an organization that primarily works with advocacy for a strong defense . Personal life . In 1938 he married Lisa Salomonsson ( 1910–1988 ) , the daughter of Anton Salomonsson and Edla ( née Sköld ) . Almgren was the father of Bo ( born 1943 ) and Åke ( born 1946 ) . Dates of rank . - 1934 – Fänrik - 1936 – Lieutenant - 1942 – Captain - 1951 – Major - 1955 – Lieutenant Colonel - 1960 – Colonel - 1961 – Major General - 1966 – Lieutenant General - 1976 – General Awards and decoration . Swedish . - Commander Grand Cross of the Order of the Sword ( 6 June 1968 ) - Knight of the Order of Vasa - Home Guard Medal of Merit in Gold - Swedish Central Federation for Voluntary Military Training Medal of Merit in silver - Swedish Civil Defence Leagues badge of merit in gold ( Sveriges civilförsvarsförbund förtjänsttecken i guld ) - SLSM ? - Central Board of the National Swedish Rifle Associations silver medal ( Sveriges skytteförbunds överstyrelses silvermedalj ) Foreign . - Finnish War Memorial Medal ( Finsk krigsminnesmedalj ) External links . - Article about Almgrens reading habits