Carl-Axel Torén

After graduating from secondary school in 1906, Carl-Axel Torén attended the military school and became a second lieutenant in the Life Regiment’s Hussars four years later. In 1917, he was promoted to lieutenant while attending the Military Academy (1916-18). He then served as a cadet officer in the rank of captain at the war school from 1925–1929. Torén rose to the rank of a major in the army and in the cavalry in 1933/34. He was then transferred to the Norrland Dragoon Regiment and seconded from 1937-40 as military attaché in Warszawa (Warsaw), Praha (Prague) and București (Bucharest). Torén was further promoted to lieutenant colonel and later to colonel. In 1940 he became second in command of the Life Regiment on Horseback a position that he held until his retirement in 1947.

In his youth, Torén was one of the best Swedish track athletes. In 1906 he won the Swedish championship in the 400 metres, setting an unofficial national record later that year. He was also known as a good skater and an avid equestrian. At the 1912 Olympic Games, he competed in individual show jumping, placing 13th.

Torén was greatly interested in natural sciences and particularly in botany and became a member of the board of the Swedish Botanical Association in 1947. He published articles on military politics, history, and botany and was co-author of a textbook on horses for the Royal Swedish Military Academy. He was made Commander of the Order of the Sword, Knight of the Order of Vasa and was awarded the Order of the German Eagle.

Carl-Axel was the son of general major Gabriel Torén and married Lilly Sophie Nordenson in 1919. They had two daughters and one son. After his first wife’s death, he married again in 1941, Augusta Anna Maria “Anita” Bennet.