Free download: Combat Manual of the Swedish Armed Forces

The information in it will make you and your military unit more dangerous to the enemy. This book is designed to fight Muscovy, which has a numerical advantage, in any weather and in any terrain. The methods described here have proven their effectiveness in combat, including in the defence of Ukraine.

To preview the book

• Respect all your comrades, both senior and junior in rank.
  Fighting is a team game in which you do not know in advance who will be a hero and who will show weakness. Any rope will break as soon as the connection between its fibres is weakened. Your squad, platoon and company need exactly the same cohesion. Help the weak and work as a team. Perhaps one day the person you helped will save your life.
• Always listen to your inner voice.
  If your inner voice tells you that you need to change your wet socks into dry ones, exercise more, or repeat something before going to bed, then do it. The difference between a mediocre soldier and an excellent one is not in running speed or shooting accuracy, but in the ability to develop yourself for the sake of yourself and your fellow soldiers.
  
• Put your knowledge into practice as often as possible.
  Read this book, discuss it with your comrades and, most importantly, try and experiment. Pay the most attention to the sections on Fire, Defence, Combat and Medicine. Train and experiment in your squad and platoon using the methods described here. Practice professionally, and always summarise not only WHAT you need to improve, but also HOW you need to improve it. The constant striving to become better is a defining feature of real fighters. Always develop!
• Do not think you know better than others.
  Overconfidence can lead to death, and building a strong team and successfully completing a combat mission is more important than a reputation as a know-it-all. Soldiers and officers will quickly notice that you are pretending to know something. Especially when someone dies because of you. If your men don’t offer any suggestions or ask questions about certain decisions, you’re not a good leader. Remember that you are building a team, not gathering fans. You can only build a strong team if you can justify your decisions and your team members understand your motives. The task must be completed even if you die and your deputy takes over. Therefore, cultivate initiative and independence, encourage the ideas of others and evaluate the results! The more independent your unit is, the more dangerous you will be to the enemy!
• And finally: never fucking give up!
  Captain “Ranger,” a tank officer, voluntarily translated this work. Today, I am researching military education, and in the course of my work, my fellow instructors told me about the need to translate this book. I would love to hear about your combat experience, both out of curiosity and for research purposes. Every opinion is important, because this way we can provide better education for our colleagues both in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and in the Swedish Armed Forces. Feel free to write to me at soldfzsu@gmail.com in English, Russian or Ukrainian. Unfortunately, I do not speak Ukrainian, but I will translate your letter.

I have the honour to be,
Captain Daniel Smith

Volunteers have shared their knowledge and time with me in the work on this book

The translation was done by the following people:

 Jan Almgård

Julia Popivnyak

Diana Johansson

Mykyta Nykonchuk

Olena Kryvonos

Andrii Chernenko

Iryna Ivanova 

Olga Tarab

Daniel Rzhenetskyy

Angelina Gusar

Tamara Lönngren

Richard Schleenvoigt

Ilona Jansson

Anastasiia Lenenko

Valentyn Zhuravel

Hanna Maren Bohman

Yevheniia B.

Tania Matvyeyeva

Olga Khan

Viktoria Gnatenko

Galyna Voshchevska

Iryna Iaremchuk

Vitalik Golovko

The content is the responsibility of the Swedish Armed Forces

Mats Walldén, Land Warfare Centre (MSS)

Johan Skullman, Land Warfare Centre (MSS)

A joint volunteer project of the Swedish Armed Forces, Astrolabe Publishing and the Lviv Institute of Military History.