Ernst Linder

Ernst Linder (25 April 1868 – 14 September 1943) was a Swedish-Finnish military officer and accomplished equestrian. He began his military career in Sweden, becoming a second lieutenant in the Life Guards of Horse in 1889. He trained extensively in Sweden and Germany, attending the Swedish Infantry Gunnery School, the Military Riding Institute in Hanover, and the Royal Swedish Army Staff College. He served as a military attaché in Paris and London (1909–1911), during which he promoted aviation by establishing Sweden's first aviation prize. Linder held key leadership positions in the Swedish Army, including chief of the Army Riding and Horse-Driving School, and rose to major general in the reserve by 1927.

During the Finnish Civil War in 1918, Linder resigned from Swedish service to join the Finnish Army, becoming the first Swedish officer to do so. He commanded the Satakunta and Savo Groups, leading operations that captured key towns such as Pomarkku, Ikaalinen, Kotka, and Hamina. He was promoted to Finnish major general and served as inspector to the Regent of Finland before returning to the Swedish Army reserve in 1920. Linder, then 71-years-old, also participated in the Winter War (1939–1940) as commander of the Swedish Volunteer Corps and later the Lapland Operational Area, reaching the rank of Finnish general of cavalry.

Parallel to his military career, Linder was a top-level equestrian, winning Sweden's first eventing competition and an Olympic gold medal in Paris in 1924. He held leadership roles in numerous equestrian clubs and federations and authored detailed accounts of the Finnish Civil War and Winter War, as well as publications on cavalry and equestrian training.

Early life Linder was born on 25 April 1868 at Åminne in Pohja, Uusimaa Province, Finland, the son of the landowner, politician and writer (1838–1868) and the philanthropist and donor (1846–1915). Linder's father, a liberal and politically active member of the Diet of Finland of 1863/64 and 1867, died a few weeks after his son's birth; he had contracted typhus while helping those affected by the severe crop failure of the 1867 famine, who had gone south in large numbers. In 1872, Linder's mother remarried to the consul and donor .

He later participated in the Tampere operation, liberating Pori and Rauma and occupying the entire Pori railway line. Subsequently, he became commander of the Savo Group, taking Kotka and Hamina. After the fall of Tampere, Linder was promoted to Finnish major general. He remained in the Finnish Army until 1920 and served as inspector to the Regent of Finland in 1919.

He was master of the Stockholm Cross Country Riding Club from 1896 to 1900, secretary of the from 1905 to 1907, member from 1908 and vice chairman from 1933 to 1943. He was an honorary member of the Stockholm Cross Country Riding Club (from 1918), the Stockholm Racing Society (Stockholms kapplöpningssällskap) (member from 1915, vice chairman 1931-33, honorary member from 1930), the Finnish Equestrian Federation, and the Danish Astronautical Society, among others.

2) Married 13 September 1905 in Stockholm, , to Baroness Märta Johanna Fredrika Cederström, born 13 November 1873 at Lövsta, , Uppsala County, died 15 July 1925 in Djursholm, daughter of Lieutenant Baron Claes Edvard Cederström and Baroness Märta Leijonhufvud, and previously married to Chamberlain Baron . The funeral service took place on 20 September 1943 in Engelbrekt Church in Östermalm in Stockholm, after which the cremation took place in the Northern Crematorium. He was interred on 2 October 1943 at Norra begravningsplatsen in Solna.

Dates of rank Linder's ranks:

Foreign

Honours Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences (1927)