Martin Ekstrom (6 December 1887-28 December 1954) was a military adventurer from Sweden who fought for the German Empire in World War I, Finland in the Finnish Civil War, Winter War, and Continuation War, and Estonia in the Estonian War of Independence. After his adventures, he formed the far-right National Socialist Bloc in 1933.
Biography[]
Martin Ekstrom was born on 6 December 1887 in Galsbo, Sweden, the illegitimate son of a maid. He served in an artillery regiment of the Swedish Army before leaving in 1911 to join the Persian Gendarmerie in Persia, taking part in anti-brigand actions and rising to the rank of Captain by the time of his departure in 1915. Ekstrom entered the service of both the German Empire and Persia during World War I and fought against the Russian Empire at Hamadan. In 1916, he decided to return to Sweden, but in 1918 the Russian Revolution set off a series of wars closer to home that he sought to take part in. Ekstrom fought for Finland's Finnish White Army in the Finnish Civil War, taking Vyborg on 29 April 1918 with the Vasa Regiment. In 1919 he led a 400-man volunteer corps from Finland during the Estonian War of Independence and served in the Battle of Utria, but he later returned to Finland, his adoptive country. Ekstrom founded the National Socialist Bloc, something he later called the stupidest thing he had ever done. Ekstrom then commanded a Finnish army during the Winter War and Continuation War, leading a part of the Swedish Volunteer Corps. Ekstrom died in Helsinki in 1954 at the age of 67.