Viking Tamm

Viking Sebastian Henricsson Tamm (21July 1896 – 25November 1975) was a Swedish Army officer. He was serving as an instructor in Ethiopia two times (1934–36 and 1945–46) and was a volunteer in the Winter War in Finland in 1940 commanding the II. Battlegroup of the Swedish Volunteer Corps. In Swedish service he eventually became Chief of Army Staff (1948–53) and commander of the I. Military Area (1953–61) before retiring as a Lieutenant General in 1961.

Career
Tamm was born in Stockholm, Sweden and was the son of the bank director and later finance minister Henric Tamm and Louise Tham. He became a second lieutenant at the Svea Life Guards (I 1) in 1916 and was promoted to lieutenant in 1919. Tamm attended Krigshögskolan from 1925 to 1927 and became captain of the General Staff in 1930 and at the Svea Life Guards (I 1) in 1934. He entered the Ethiopian Empire service in 1934. Captain Tamm and the then Chief of Air Force, Major General Eric Virgin, who was employed as the emperor's military political adviser, as well as four other senior military officers entered together into the Ethiopian service to organize the country's only military school for the training of Ethiopian officers. He re-entered into the Swedish Army as captain of the General Staff in 1936 and was a teacher of tactics at Krigshögskolan in 1936. Tamm became major of the General Staff Corps in 1937 and was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in 1939. During World War II, he was a member of the Finlandskommittén and in 1940 he entered into Finnish service and became commander of the II. Battlegroup of the Swedish Volunteer Corps during the Winter War.

He was a lieutenant colonel of the General Staff Corps and head of department at the Army Staff's education department in 1940. Tamm was colonel of the General Staff Corps in 1941 and head of Krigshögskolan in 1941 and commander of the Southern Scanian Infantry Regiment (I 7) from 1942 to 1944. Furthermore Tamm was Inspector of the Infantry from 1944 to 1946 and was back again in Ethiopian service from 1945 to 1946. He was deputy military commander of the I. Military Area in 1946 and was promoted to major general and was Chief of Army Staff and the General Staff Corps from 1948 to 1953. Tamm was military commander of the I. Military Area from 1953 to 1961 and was inspector of Kristianstad Higher General Secondary School from 1953 to 1958. He was promoted to lieutenant general in 1961.

Other work
Tamm wrote articles in military journals and became a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences in 1939.

Personal life
Tamm married for the first time in 1919 with Katarina Lagercrantz (born 1900), the daughter of the envoy Herman Lagercrantz and Hedvig (née Croneborg). He married a second time in 1938 with Suzanne Kartavtzeff (born 1909), the daughter of the captain Wsevolod Kartavtzeff and Marta von Haartman. Tamm was the father of Annika (born 1920), Per-Henric (born 1922), Hedvig (born 1926) and Kristina (born 1930). Tamm died in 1975 and was buried at Film Cemetery in Östhammar Municipality.

Awards and decorations
Tamm's awards:
 * Commander Grand Cross of the Order of the Sword
 * Commander 1st Class of the Order of Vasa
 * Grand Cross of the Order of Menelik II
 * Commander Grand Cross of the Order of the Lion of Finland
 * Grand Officer of the Order of the Star of Ethiopia
 * Commander of the Legion of Honour
 * Commander of the French Ordre du Mérite sportif
 * Knight 1st Class of the Crosses of Military Merit (with White Decoration)
 * Officer of the Ethiopian Order of the Holy Trinity
 * 3rd Class of the Order of the Cross of Liberty with swords
 * Finnish War Memorial Medal
 * Landstorm Silver Medal (Landstorm-silvermedalj)
 * Army Shooting Medal (Arméns skyttemedalj)