Well, one (heavily contrived
) scenario of mine would be that the Allies don't block the Voralberg vote and Voralberg joins the Confederation over the objections of Austria and inner Swiss concerns. Nothing happens at first, but it acts as a "national insult" to Austria's right-wing. Later, said right-wingers, via the Nazis or by themselves in an Austrian Civil War scenario attack. Switzerland gets dragged into a war over the annexation and probably loses the short term, leading to a resistance against occupation. After being liberated, Switzerland sees that neutrality doesn't work and ends up in the Western camp, although a few factions will see the interference in Austrian affairs as a reason for it and push even harder to isolate themselves as well. Fun times.
Maybe the Nazis get fed up with the criticism in the Swiss press and carry out their threat to 'do something about it'. In @ the Swiss essentially told the Nazis to 'come and have a go if you think you are hard enough'.
Unlikely. As has been stated before in similar threads, Switzerland was more preserved because it was fairly useful to the Axis as a neutral and that value's lost in the case of an invasion. Granted, logic has never been the Nazi's strong suit, so it's still possible. And Qianlong's scenario would actually make sense and be a very interesting timeline.
While the Swiss were politically neutral, apart from the bankers, they were fairly pro-Allied. The difference between how Allied and Luftwaffe aircraft which violated Swiss airspace illustrates this - the Allies were told they were over Switzerland and how they could quickly leave, the Luftwaffe were shot full of holes by Swiss fighters and AA guns.
"Work six days a week for a German victory, pray on Sunday for a British one" the old saying was.
Although it's worth pointing out that Switzerland had at least a few air clashes with the Allies as well. Particularly after a bombing of Zurich(whether that was completely accidental or not is up for debate. I've found sources which contradict each other on that.)
In a WW3 scenario the Soviets would probably at least taken out Berne and Geneva, plus maybe a few military airfields. In a conventional, scenario, however, they'd probably ignore Switzerland unless it was convenient to pass through its territory, or airspace.
Pretty much. Swiss strategy for the Cold War essentially boiled down to "keep your head down and hope nobody remembers we're here." At least in the case of a nuclear war, anyway. I'd probably liken the unofficial position to that of Scandanavia, though. Officially neutral, but if the chips are down and they're under threat, far more likely to side with NATO.
It was the attitude, the Swiss AA guns could have fired on. The Swiss even accepted with good grace an American apology when the 8th AF bombed them. Even those bombed were quite prepared to forgive the accident.
I'd recommend the book Target Switzerland: Swiss Armed Neutrality in World War II by Stephen P. Halbrook. Changed my attitude to the Swiss in WW2.
The fact that the Nazis absolutely loathed the Swiss (calling them 'Berg-Semiten/Mountain Jews') and it was returned. Interestingly the Swiss even smuggled bomb sights used by the RAF through Germany disguised as Swiss watches.
Hmm, now this is new. Never heard of that book, will need to check it out. I have also never heard of this "Mountain Jews" idea(isn't Berg "city" in english?)
I'm not going to defend their bankers, or those who traded with the Nazis, but Switzerland was in a difficult position for most of the war, surrounded by hostile dictatorships as it was.
The Swiss Army would have fought very hard and constitutionally the Swiss government could not order it to surrender. In fact any such order was to be regarded as being given under duress. So even if the Nazis conquer Switzerland (probably at a very high cost) they'd face continued resistance, probably for years.
While I can see continued resistance, I think the "unending guerilla war" myth is overstated. I think a lot depends on the situation at the time, especially considerations like how the Germans handle occupation. Yes, the redoubt plan means the military's out in the mountains to resist, and the population is well-armed and not exactly fond of Nazis, but the majority of the population is still in the Lowlands, which are quite a bit easier to occupy. Not to mention, ammo is limited and Switzerland's military was at least a few years behind most of Europe in terms of equipment. As I said, how long that guerilla war goes on, how the Nazis deal with it, and what the international situation is will greatly alter how the occupation goes. Norway might be a better analogue than Yugoslavia here.
