Having been reminded of the Swiss and their supposed deterrence to Germany, it should be borne in mind that the Swiss generals themselves had no intention of resisting the Germans, at least not seriously in the majority of the country. Guisan intended to surrender the entire plateau to the Germans in his National Redoubt plan which called for stocking food and supplies in the Alps to protect the government and what troops could be sustained. In other words, theyd abandon their people to the mercy of Germany without a fight. Which may seem treacherous and cowardly, but in actuality was extremely wise. As Switzerland possessed no tank force, whatever forces it had in the low lying plateau would be annihilated in days, perhaps even hours, as the Germans sliced through the Swiss lines with a combination of panzers and airpower which the Swiss could not resist. By standing their ground on the plateau all the Swiss would achieve is condemning thousands of their soldiers to rapid death and POW camps in Germany providing that the soldiers even bothered to resist the Germans (which was unlikely given the conduct of German-speaking populations throughout Europe). So like Austria, like Czechoslovakia, like Denmark, like Norway, Switzerland too did not intend to offer any serious resistance to the Germans and would essentially capitulate immediately. The government may have been able to hid in the Alps for some time, but as a long term solution it was unrealistic. The Germans need not even have fought them, theyd simply starve in the Alps until compelled to surrender formally. Indeed they may even have done so without bothering to retreat to the Alpine stronghold. So if any of you continue to believe that the Swiss being armed deterred Germany, they would be well advised to read about the ideas of the Swiss generals themselves who did not consider their forces able to hold the Germans for even a week. Let alone actually repulse the Germans.
Posted on: Wed, 16 Oct 2013 06:24:10 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015