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behavior of Americans in Sweden. The American
pilots were better paid than the Swedish troops, and
it was sometimes quite difficult to mediate. In this
connection, I particularly want to stress that I
believe the criticism undue. If Swedish troops Were
in similar circumstances I am convinced that a
comparison between the two would not have been to the
disadvantage of the Americans.
An amusing incident occurred concerning the
Russian internees. One day Mme. Kollontay, the
Russian Minister in Stockholm, called on me at the
offices of the General Staff and complained that both
officers and enlisted men were billeted in the same
camp. I replied that I had done this intentionally,
as I believed this to be the situation prevailing in
her own country. According to my belief, everyone,
both high and low, was treated in the same manner,
and I therefore thought that the arrangements we
had made were fully in agreement with the policy
of the Soviet Union. She replied laughingly that
possibly that policy had been enforced before in her
country. Now, however, it had been abandoned as
distinction in rank was understood to be essential for
the maintenance of discipline in the various military
units. In this connection, I should like to state that
it was especially interesting to come into close contact
with the Russian internees. As I said before, they
were rather suspicious at the beginning but
gradually, when one got to know them, one found that
the difference, for example, between a Russian soldier
and a Swedish soldier, was very small. They were
decent and honest people who tried in every way to
do their duty as Russian soldiers, and they were
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