Viking Tamm

Viking Tamm
Lieutenant Colonel Viking Tamm studying the situation in Finland during the Winter War.
Birth name	Viking Sebastian Henricsson Tamm
Born	(1896-07-21)21 July 1896 , Sweden
Died	25 November 1975(1975-11-25) (aged 79) Vä, Sweden
Buried at	Film Cemetery, Östhammar Municipality
Allegiance	Sweden
Service/branch	Swedish Army
Years of service	1916–34 (Sweden) 1934–36 (Ethiopian Empire) 1936–39 (Sweden) 1940 (Finland) 1940–46 (Sweden) 1945–46 (Ethiopian Empire) 1946–61 (Sweden)
Rank	Lieutenant General
Commands held	Army Staff (1948–53) I. Military Area (1953–61)
Battles/wars	Second Italo-Ethiopian War Winter War

Viking Sebastian Henricsson Tamm (21 July 1896 – 25 November 1975) was a Swedish Army officer. In addition to the years he served in the Swedish Army, Tamm led a group of Swedish officers who developed the Ethiopian military school's officer training (1934–36 and 1945–46) and he was a volunteer in the Winter War in Finland in 1940 commanding the II. Battlegroup of the Swedish Volunteer Corps. Back in Sweden 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.

Tamm was born in , 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 the Royal Swedish Army Staff College 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 military officers (the lieutenants Nils Bouveng, Arne Thorburn, Gustaf Heüman and Anders Nyblom) entered together into the Ethiopian service to organize the country's only military school for the training of Ethiopian officers. A Swedish military academy for cadets was established in Holeta Genet under captain Tamm who, with his staff, stayed on in Ethiopia after the outbreak of the Second Italo-Ethiopian War despite pressure by the Swedish government to return.

Tamm re-entered into the Swedish Army as captain of the General Staff in 1936 and was a teacher of tactics at the Royal Swedish Army Staff College 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.