I skärningspunkten mellan militära och civila behov : En undersökning av arméns metoder för att tillgodose jordbruket med arbetskraft under perioden 1940–1942

In this essay the main question that was researched was how the army were to supply the agricultural sector with personnel during the years 1940–1942. The broader purpose was to create knowledge about how actors in the civil and military sector were to interract. Another purpose was to create knowledge about how the army was to handle the agricultural sector with all it’s differing needs. The main value of this study is that it was able to look at one aspect of how the interests of the military and the policy of public supply of foodstuffs were supposed to compete and/or harmonize. This topic is of importance for the broader field of study surounding the period of societal preparedness for war in Sweden during the second world war. It is also important for our understanding of the army’s role in the states policy for crisis managment of public supply of foodstuffs. The material used were orders from the organisational department of the army staff and the army operations department of the defense staff. The army was understood as an organisation with institutional baggage that had to deal with a new task. What was studied is which methods of supplying the agricultural sector with personnel were to be used. A method in this context is a way of picking out the relevant personnel and a way of getting them to the agricultural sector. Special attention was directed at how the methods were to take the agricultural sector’s needs into account. How the new task was supposed to be integrated with the existing practices and organisational structure was also researched. In doing this, categorisations, limiting requirements and priorities were studied. How domains for action were divided between the different actors in the organisational field were discussed. The essay shows that four main methods of supplying the agricultural sector with personnel from the army were to be used. In three of the methods the farmers were to be sent home to work in their home region. In one of the methods the personnel were to work in the agricultural sector at the location of their unit. The handling of the task was very varied and the methods overlapped and were changed several times. The methods were mainly targeted to different needs in the agricultural sector and several ways of taking the agriultural sector’s needs in to account was supposed to be implemented. The new task was supposed to be integrated into the army’s existing way of doing personnel management and was to be adapted to the rhythm in the organisation. The army’s domain was to take care of the personnel management. All the agricultural knowledge and instructions on what personnel was needed, when, where and for what were to be supplied from the other central or regional authorities. Suggesting that the army’s handling of this task was highly dependent on other authorities for their expertise and cooperation.