The presence of the military on Gotland results from the Swedish island's strategic military importance in the Baltic Sea for most of the nation's history. Gotland has been fortified in stages since the 13th century.
During the 20th century, infantry, artillery, air force and naval elements were stationed on Gotland as part of Sweden's defence system, until all permanent military units were stood down in 2005. With tensions in Northeastern Europe and Russia escalating in 2014–2015, the Swedish government has taken a new interest in remilitarizing the island. And in September 2016 regular troops were once again stationed on the island, albeit as an interim measure until a permanent garrison could be reestablished. , Gotland has re-established the Gotland Regiment.
History 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.W Blunt The Compleat Naturalist. A Life of Linnaeus William Collins London. Part 3, chapter 2. 1971Carl Linnaeus 1741 Öländska och Gothländska Resa. Stockholm och Upsalla (Facsimile Malmö 1957) 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.
Cold War
In 1989 at the end of the Cold War the garrison of Gotland consisted of the following units:
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
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. In a recognition of this, the Swedish government decided in March 2015 to begin reestablishing a permanent military presence on the island, starting with an initial 150 troop garrison, 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.
After the standing down of the original garrison, a battalion of the Swedish Home Guard is based on Gotland for emergencies as part of the Eastern Military Region (MR E). The unit, 32:a Gotlandsbataljonen (the 32nd Gotland battalion, also known as the Gotlandshemvärns bataljonen) acts as a training/reserve element of the regular 1st Marine Regiment (Amf 1) based at Muskö island, itself part of the Swedish Amphibious Corps. 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. Tentative plans to deploy the RBS 23 BAMSE short range air defence system on Gotland were scrapped with the shutdown of the garrison in 2005, and the air force has not generally operated interceptors or other tactical aircraft from the island since the early 1990s. However on 1 July 2019, it was announced that the Luftvärnssystem (Air Defence System) 23 would be deployed to the island of Gotland.
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.
Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and Sweden's accession to NATO, military readiness on Gotland increased, with the Swedish government spending 150 million euros to expand military infrastructure on the island.
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. Although, the "new" garrison was just the latest in a long line of Swedish military forces protecting the island, and consequently the rest of Sweden, continuously since the 1640s. The exception being the 23 days when Russia occupied the island during the Finnish War (1808–1809), after Gotland had been left undefended due to errors in overall Swedish strategy early in the war.
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). The existing regiment defending Gotland under that system was reorganized into two new regiments, the Gotland Infantry Regiment and the Gotland Artillery Regiment. Those two units would go on to provide the bulk of the garrison forces both directly and indirectly, throughout the various crisis that threatened to overtake Sweden (including two World Wars and the Cold War), for most of the next two centuries right up to the final dissolution of the garrison in 2005.
Garrison structure From 1811 to 1873, the commander of military forces on Gotland (at that time, effectively a military district in its own right) also served as the governor of the island and during the existence of the Gotland National Conscription (1811–1892) the commander was by default the senior officer of that regiment. Under the military reorganisation of 1892, the then commander and his successors (up until 1937) automatically became the senior officer of the Gotlands infanteriregemente that succeeded the Gotlands nationalbeväring. He remained in charge of army troops on the island, even though Gotland was no longer the center of a military district under the new 5 area (district) system which lasted up to shortly before World War II.