SWISS NEUTRALITY

SWISS NEUTRALITY

On a bombing raid on German military installations near the German/Swiss border on April 1, 1944, a force of 23 B-24 bombers from the USAF 392nd Bombardment Group, on its 59th mission, inadvertently entered Swiss air-space and owing to a navigational error mistakenly bombed the Swiss town of Schaffhausen. Fifty Swiss civilians were killed. The real target was to have been the chemical works at Ludwigshafen, 120 miles away. In 1949, the US agreed to pay $64 million in compensation. This was an attempt to secure Switzerland as an ally in the 'Cold War'. The greedy Swiss demanded that interest be paid on the $64 million, claiming that the damaged property had not been able to earn any money since the bombing. This demand was rejected.

The British Royal Air Force also flouted Swiss neutrality a couple of times and attempted to bomb a ball-bearing factory in Basel suspected of producing ball bearings for the German Army but both times the bombs missed the target. During the war a total of 167 American bombers and 12 British bombers made emergency landings in Switzerland. Severely damaged in combat over Germany and unable to return to their bases in England their only alternative was to head for neutral Switzerland. In one day, on March 18, 1944, no less than eleven American bombers made emergency landings at the Dubendorf airfield. The crews were interned by the Swiss authorities in camps at Adelboden, Grippen, Les Diablerets and in the notorious punishment camp at Wauwilermoos (for escapees). They were supposed to be treated like POW's under the rules of war but in many cases living conditions were little better than German concentration camps.

In all, around 1,500 American servicemen were interned in neutral Switzerland.

Does anyone have any more information on the Wauwilermoos punishment camp?

http://members.iinet.net.au/~gduncan/1944.html

 

Bankers to the core! Nice try

 

Good story ! I read about it some years ago but did not know the amount paid or that the RAF also bombed the country too.

About 10 years ago the Swiss got sued and had to release alot of money that the Germans took from the Jews in WWII.

I would give you some rep, but the sign says I have to spread my manure around some.

 

Thanks TA152 . Maybe another time LOL?

 

I remember Barnes & Nobles bookstore had a few books about that subject a few years ago. I wanted to buy one in particular, (can't recall title) that was written by an American who was interred @ both: Adelboden and then Wauwilermoos.

I don't know if ti was in this mans book or not but, I thought it fairly funny that Americans were allowed to make emergency landings but, the Germans were not. Anyway, this book talked a bit about the Swiss's shootings down of German fighters. An what might seem odd-though it aint-was that German Messerschmitts were shot down by Swiss Messerschmitts. That must have been a sight to see. Also, the book said that the Swiss actually preferred killing any German who strayed into their space-instead of allowing him to leave or land and surrender.

 

I always liked reading about the little undeclared war between the Luftwaffe and the Swiss Air Force.

"After the Swiss shot down a few German planes in June 1940, Luftwaffe bombers deliberately flew into Swiss territory with an escort of Messerschmitt Me-110s on June 8, meaning to punish the Swiss-only to get the worst of the ensuing engagement from determined Swiss pilots flying German-built Messerschmitt Me-109Es."

Jon Guttman for WWII Magazine

 

Same here. There isn't that much out there on that "Dirty-little-secret-of-WWII. About 2 years ago, I found maybe 1 or 2 sites on the internet that was about this. Sadly, I did not write down their site addys.

 

I remember first reading about this in the old Ballentines series book on the ME-109

 

Here is a review of a book with some more information,


Halbrook, Stephen P. Target Switzerland: Swiss Armed Neutrality in World War II. Rockville Centre, NY: Sarpedon, 1998

ISBN 1-885119-53-4
320 pages Preface; Prologue; maps; photos; Epilogue; Chapter Notes; Bibliography; Index.
​

Stephen Halbrook's new book sets out to explore "...Switzerland's political and military efforts to defend her independence during the period 1939-45." To set the stage for that period, in his Prologue Halbrook traces the history of Switzerland from the ancient Helvetii tribe through the "Companions of the Oath" of 1291 to armed readiness during World War I.
That "armed readiness" -- Switzerland's willingness to remain prepared, whatever the cost, to defend itself from any threat to its independence, neutrality, and way of life -- is at the heart of the book. Halbrook discusses repeatedly and at great length the valor of Switzerland's citizen-soldiers, their high state of training, and their readiness at a moment's notice to grab their weapons -- stored at home in kitchens and bedrooms -- and mobilize in defense of their farms and families. While certainly central to the story of Switzerland in the Second World War, this emphasis at times makes Target Switzerland read like a sales brochure for the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution.
From 1933 onward, with the assumption of power in Germany by Adolf Hitler, the Swiss found themselves subjected to propaganda, international journalistic revelations of "Nazi plans for invasion", and other assorted war scares. Halbrook quotes newspaper headlines and press reports to demonstrate how such alarms served only to drive the Swiss to greater resolve -- and military appropriations -- to defend their cantons. In addition to increased defense spending, the duration of military training for recruits was lengthened, new fortifications were constructed, and nationwide air raid drills were instituted.
In 1936, Wilhelm Gustloff, head of the Nazi Party in Switzerland, was murdered. (Gustloff's name was given to a German liner, later sunk in the Baltic Sea in 1945 by a Soviet submarine with the loss of as many as 7000 passengers.) Berlin denounced Switzerland as "incapable of maintaining political order within her boundaries." Relations between the two states continued to deteriorate.
Colonel Henri Guisan enters Halbrook's book in 1938 as a Swiss corps commander and one of the very few full-time professional soldiers in the country. His foresight and staunch belief in Swiss armed neutrality -- with the emphasis on "armed" -- make him the central character of the book and, in many ways, the savior of his country.
In March 1939 reserves were called up to guard the German border. Extra military training was mandated and Swiss citizens were instructed to stockpile food. On the eve of war, Switzerland's armed forces could mobilize 10% of the population, a figure that would rise during the war. At the end of August, with units undergoing annual training, the government ordered another 100,000 troops mobilized. On the 30th, Colonel Guisan was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Swiss Army and promoted to the wartime rank of general.
On 1 September 1939, as German armies blitzed into Poland, Switzerland declared full mobilization and its entire force of 435,000 citizen-soldiers reported for duty. On the 22nd, still mobilized and alert, Swiss anti-aircraft guns fired on German and French aircraft which strayed across the border. On 4 October, General Guisan issued orders that all soldiers were required to "continue resistance up to the last cartridge, even if they find themselves completely alone." Halbrook also quotes the government's no-surrender order:

If by radio, leaflets or other media any information is transmitted doubting the will of the Federal Council or of the Army High Command to resist an attack, this information must be regarded as lies of enemy propaganda. Our country will resist aggression with all means in its power to the bitter end. ​

Guisan was also authorized to call men and units to service without first receiving government approval. By the end of 1939, 600,000 men were under arms.
On 10 May 1940 Germany invaded France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The Luftwaffe overflew Switzerland, drew AA fire, and bombed a Swiss rail line. A Swiss Me 109, one of 50 purchased from Germany before the war, shot down a Luftwaffe He 111. Swiss defenses, which had been relaxed slightly over the winter, immediately returned to full mobilization. More than 700,000 soldiers, 20% of the population, prepared to defend the nation.
General Guisan issued another order, published in the press.

Everywhere, where the order is to hold, it is the duty of conscience of each fighter, even if he depends on himself alone, to fight at his assigned position. The riflemen, if overtaken or surrounded, fight in their position until no more ammunition exists. The cold steel is next.... The machine-gunners, the cannoneers of heavy weapons, the artillerymen, if in the bunker or on the field, do not abandon or destroy their weapons, or allow the enemy to seize them. Then the crews fight further like riflemen. As long as a man has another cartridge or hand weapon to use, he does not yield. ​

Invasion was once more believed to be imminent, but combat was restricted to aerial dogfights over Swiss territory with intruding Luftwaffe aircraft. By the end of the campaign in France, eleven Luftwaffe planes had been downed at the cost of three Swiss machines. According to Halbrook, Berlin demanded return of the Messerschmitts purchased by Switzerland before the war. British bombing, notoriously inaccurate at this stage of the campaign, killed five and injured fifty on 12 June.
On 25 July 1940, General Guisan gathered 600 of his highest ranking officers at Rutli Meadow -- by legend, site of the birth of the Swiss Confederation -- on the shores of Lake Lucerne. There he impressed upon the leaders of his army that they must gird themselves for a long period of struggle and uncertainty, that they must expect to fight to the bitter end to preserve their way of life, and they must imbue their fighting men with the same spirit. Switzerland would never surrender. This dramatic occasion is generally cited as the emotional turning point of the war for Switzerland.
After the fall of France, the Wehrmacht drew up a series of contingency plans for invading Switzerland. General Guisan, now that his forces could be attacked from any and all directions, revised his defensive plans. In the event of invasion, his army would fight a delaying action with light forces along the border while his main body withdrew into a well-prepared and well-stocked redoubt in the Alps from which it could deny Axis use of the vital St Gotthard and Simplon rail tunnels and resist for an extended period of time. Such a scheme would have abandoned much territory and population, but would have made a German invasion relatively expensive; in any event, Hitler had other plans in the East for his armies.
In November 1940 Bomber Command formations violated Swiss airspace and drew AA fire en route to targets in Italy. In February 1941 the RAF accidentally bombed Basel and Zurich, killing fifteen people.
At the end of 1942, unoccupied Vichy France was seized by German divisions and Switzerland's last route for direct contact with the outside world was lost. For the next two years, the neutral state was entirely surrounded by Axis territory.
As Allied strategic bombing of Germany intensified, more and more American bombers strayed over Switzerland. On 18 March 1944, sixteen crash-landed. On 1 April, 39 civilians were killed when a raid mistakenly hit Schaffhausen. On the 13th, thirteen US bombers overflew Switzerland; twelve were forced to land by Swiss fighters while the other, refusing to obey, was shot down. On 22 February 1945, American bombers accidentally hit Switzerland yet again and killed sixteen people. More deaths and damage resulted from raids on 4 and 11 March at Basel and Zurich. During the war, 166 American aircraft crashed or landed in Switzerland and 1700 American flyers were interned there.
On 25 August 1944, spearheads of American forces advancing from their landing beaches in the south of France reached the Swiss border near Geneva to re-establish a non-Axis frontier. Afterwards, more than 9000 Allied troops who had escaped into Switzerland during the course of the war -- most from Axis POW camps -- were released since they were classified as refugees. Interned Allied airmen were finally released in February 1945.
With a line of communication to the Allies reopened, Switzerland began to reduce commerce with Germany and allow additional refugees into the country, but continued to permit non-military freight shipments by rail from Germany through its tunnels into northern Italy.
This soon became a moot point. In April the French First Army crossed the Rhine in Germany and began clearing the northern border of Switzerland. In the first days of May, Allied spearheads in Italy crossed the Po River and reached the southern Swiss border. The war was over, and Switzerland's independence and neutrality -- backed by armed readiness -- had survived.
His book is a military history, so Halbrook understandably devotes little attention to issues such as Axis rail traffic through Switzerland; espionage and intelligence operations on Swiss soil; economics and commerce; refugees; and Swiss wartime banking practices (which have received considerable scrutiny in other recent works).
On the other hand, for a military history, there is a bare minimum of order-of-battle information (Halbrook mentions three corps with nine divisions and some independent mountain brigades, but identifies a single division); nothing but the most vague generalities on unit dispositions; no tables of organization and equipment; nothing on tactical doctrine save a repeated emphasis on Swiss prowess at sharpshooting; and no hard data on numbers, locations, or specifications of fortifications.
Target Switzerland thus proves to be limited both in breadth and depth, making it unfortunately a rather superficial overview. Although offered as "...Switzerland's political and military efforts to defend her independence", it usually sounds as if Halbrook is writing about armed forces for the general public, and in that sense his book can be very frustrating for anyone seeking a serious work of military history. Still, there's not much out there in English on Swiss military forces and planning during World War II, so Halbrook's book should be of some interest to anyone studying Switzerland during the war years.

Second World War Books: Review

 

" A Bf 110G-4b of 5./NJG 5 that lost an engine after pursuing a Lancaster into Swiss airspace and was forced to land on Dubendorf airfield, near Zurich, on April 28, 1944. The Bf 110 was equipped with FuG 220 Lichtenstein SN 2 radar, and "Schrage Musik" guns, both of which the Germans were keen not to let the Allies examine. An agreement was reached that Switzerland would be permitted to buy 12 Messerchmitt Bf 109G-6 fighters from Germany, if the aircraft was burned in the presence of German embassy officials. This was duly done, but not before the Allies had extracted all the info about the devices"

 

I saw a link somewhere in the forum posted by, I believe, Adam (von Poop) of the internment camps the Swiss had for the interned Allied fliers. These camps were only a little, highly emphasized little, better than the concentration camps of the Germans. I cannot find it but it did surprise me.

 

Hi Ike, I might have also seen Adams post but can't remember for sure? Anyway, from what I remember from the few books and websites, is that you are correct, their camps were little betetr than Concentration Camps. One thing I do remember of importance, was that the author of one of the books I saw, to this day still has much hatred towards the Swiss because of their harsh treatment of allied POWs-Americans in particular.

 

I once worked in Switzerland for three months, couldn't wait to leave.

If a neighbours if they had a trivial complaint they'd call the police rather than tell you. I forgot to take my dustbin in.

Honestly thought it would be a lovely place, well the scenery was nice.

 

Yeah, I was going to say that I remember reading an article about this in World War 2 magazine. If you can find, check it out - very interesting.

 

hmmm...happened more than once in history. a swiss engineer managed to leak away (pages at a time) the secret blue prints of the latest french mirage fighter to the mossad. those plans became the basis for the kfir fighter.

 

"No European country remained truly neutral during WWII. Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland all worked to some extent with the Axis. In Switzerland, the people who lived through the war wanted to believe that it was their army and fortifications that kept the Nazis out. Historical research and documents clearly show that if the Nazis wanted to invade Switzerland, it would have been quick and relatively easy. The reason Germany spared its tiny neighbor to the south was because Switzerland proved much more useful as an independent state than as a satellite. The Swiss made many useful weapon components (aluminium for the Luftwaffe, spark plugs for jeeps taken from the Russians, timing devices for bombs, among other things), and thus their factories were not bombed every night. The Swiss National bank bought gold from the Reichsbank, the Reichsbank was given Swiss francs in exchange, and used them to buy cobalt, nickel and tungsten from the other “neutral” countries. The Turks, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish, who were all under heavy pressure from the Allies not to accept direct gold payment from the Reichsbank, then exchanged the Swiss francs for gold. The problem was that the German gold came from the Belgian National bank reserves (not from concentration camps as some sensationalists would have it) and the neutrals knew it. Finally, the Swiss allowed trains to carry food and non-weapon supplies from Germany to Italy, with dozens of trains every day on their way to Africa. But did Switzerland have any other choice? Probably not. Totally surrounded by the Axis, most of its coal supply came from Germany every week, and all of its exports had to go through Axis controlled territory. For a landlocked country with no natural resources, this meant the Swiss had to work out some form of accomodation with their neighbors. The problem is that the postwar generations have been raised to believe that it was the Swiss army, and not the country’s usefulness to the Germans, that protected it from the wrath of war. The Swiss are now coming to terms with this part of their history, as for example the people of France and Japan have. As a foreigner, it is best to avoid passing judgment on them and giving lessons, at the risk of offending your hosts."

Switzerland during WWII

 

Straflager Wauwilermoos

Established in 1940, Wauwilermoos Military Prison was located in Lucerne, Switzerland. The prison held many nationalities, including Swiss criminals. Surrounded by several rows of barbed wire, the compound was patrolled day and night by armed guards with attack dogs. The barracks were wooden single-wall construction, and prisoners slept on boards covered with dirty straw. Lice and rats also inhabited the barracks. The latrines consisted of slit trenches inside or outside of the barracks, and no hygiene facilities except the chance to be hosed-off every few weeks. Food was poured from slop pails into troughs or tin pans. Internees lacked medical care, proper nutrition, Red Cross contact, or access to any mail or aid parcels. Most prisoners left Wawilermoos severely underweight, and covered with boils or other ailments. American internees were sent to Wauwilermoos without any trial or legal due process, and were kept there indefinitely until the American Legation found out and petioned their release. Although the Red Cross inspected the camp on a few occasions, they simply noted that sanitary conditions could be improved, and prisoners were not aware of the length of their sentences or why they were in the camp in the first place.

The commandant of Wauwilermoos was Swiss Army Captain Andre Beguin. Although serving in the Swiss Army, Beguin was also a Nazi, as member of the National Front. He was known to wear the Nazi uniform and sign his correspondence with "Heil Hitler." He was given his command at Wauwilermoos despite his prior dismissal from the Swiss Army in 1937 for financial fraud and various confrontations with the police. While in command, he publicly bereted Americans, sentenced them to solitary confinement, and denied requests for Rules of Conduct required under the Geneva Convention on the basis that Switzerland was not a signatory. In 1946, Beguin was court-martialed in a trail that lasted 149 days. He was convicted of administrative misdemeanors, dishonoring the Swiss and her army, embezzlement, and withholding complaints from inmates. In its decision, the court described Beguin as a "crook, embezzler, con-man and inhuman." Beguin was sentenced to several years of inprisonment, fined, and stripped of his civil rights.

Straflager Wauwilermoos

 

Thanks JC, this stuff is good to know ;-))

 

Nice! Thanks dude!

 

Just found this- gives some interesting perspective-
The Avalon Project : War Trade Between Switzerland and the Axis Powers : Exchange of letters at London December 19, 1943