Transit of German troops through Finland and Sweden

After Denmark and Norway were invaded on 9 April 1940, Sweden and the other remaining Baltic Sea countries became enclosed by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, then on friendly terms with each other as formalized in the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact.

In all, close to 100,000 railroad cars had transported 1,004,158 military personnel on leave to Germany and 1,037,158 to Norway through Sweden by the time the transit agreement was disbanded on 15 August 1943.

The treaty didn't contain any provisions for troop and material transfer rights, and Finland's leadership was left with the impression that the Soviet Union would supply the base by sea.

In the summer of 1940, Nazi Germany's occupation of Norway brought to the fore the need to transfer troops and munitions not only by sea, but also through the neutral countries of Sweden and Finland.

The German transfer rights were in breach of the spirit, if not the letter, of the Russo-Finnish Moscow Peace Treaty, as well as the Russo-German Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, but the Finns greeted the agreement as a balance against the increasing pressure from the Soviet Union.

In the book a group of Swedish communists blow up a German train passing through Sweden, killing Eva Braun who is on board.

Karl Gerhard performed the revue song "Den ökända hästen från Troja" (The Infamous Trojan Horse) in 1940 and it was later banned.