Could the Germans have sucessfully invaded and occupied Switzerland?

[Kalan]

Germany could certainly have beaten the Swiss army, if nothing else simple numerical superiority would ensure that. Afterwards Switzerland would be occupied and added as an other Gau to Germany.
If you define that as succes then yes Switzerland could have been succesfully invaded and occupied.

However during the Invasion:
- The transport routes from Germany to Italy would be destroyed.
- A large part of the Swiss industry would be destroyed and what survived would be subject to allied bombardation.
- An important financial hub which allowed the Germans to change the gold reserves of stolen countries into clean currency would be gone.

After the Invasion Switzerland would be full of partisan groups and require a constant garrison, certainly not as great as France or the territories in the east, but it would nonetheless be a further drain on Germanys resources.

So if you define succesfull as "strengthening Germany" then no it couldn't.

 

[kalamona]

I think the Germans would've eventually won, but at a very high cost. The Swiss fortifications were very dense and much more heavily armed than any other fortification systems of its time.

While Switzerland's standing army was small, their strength would have been amplified manyfold by their fortifications and their incredible capability of enfilade. One of the great advantages that the Swiss defence system had was that most of their fortresses, guns (and they did have heavy guns - 120mms for example) et cetera were built on areas that were very inaccessible to infantry attack and completely inaccessible to any sort of motorised attack. You'd see a lot of Thermopylae-type scenarios if the Germans tried to attack the actual Redoubt itself.

I don't think it would have been a cakewalk for the Germans, even with the major population centers down. As for the Swiss "giving up", you have to remember that the Swiss are a very nationalistic breed of people and would've likely carried out an effective resistance as long as supplies lasted, which would have been quite a while. They would not have accepted a peaceful Anschluss.

They would not have accepted an Anschluss - out of question - but i do not think, they would have commited armed resistance, at least not for long. Its not worth it, and there are much safer ways to hinder german interests. The mountains are dangerous for patrols, the rail swithces are tend to froze in winter - hell, even in summer, we are in the mountains, you know - etcetcetc.

Since it was very clear, that the swiss do not wanted to belong to the 3rd Reich, its was also clear, that an invasion and an occupation not worth the costs.
I see no reason for an invasion - they were not "in the way", they not leaned to the allies (strict neutrality), no resources to grab (practically).

 

[euromellows]

I imagine that in the event of an Axis victory the long term future of Switzerland would look bleak. Did Hitler have any concrete plans in regard to it? I can't recall seeing anything myself, but then I know his position of the eventual state of France in an Axis victory scenario ranged from a humbled neighbour to a balkanised rump state.

 

[Alex1guy]

I imagine that in the event of an Axis victory the long term future of Switzerland would look bleak. Did Hitler have any concrete plans in regard to it? I can't recall seeing anything myself, but then I know his position of the eventual state of France in an Axis victory scenario ranged from a humbled neighbour to a balkanised rump state.

I think in both situations Hitler was happy for either. if France became some limp dick neighbour then he was happy. If they were a mess of small nations squabbling among themselves, even better. I think in an Axis victory, the Swiss are going to be subject to German whims simply because they control literally everything around them in most victory situations.

 

[sendô]

This is another one of those questions that is answerable just by looking at what happened IOTL.

Germany didn't invade Switzerland because there was no strategic advantage to it. It didn't give them access to any particular area of land or sea that could be used to further the war against the allies. There were no real resources that they could gain. Switzerland as a neutral country was very useful for spying on the allies and for financial purposes.

Any invasion of Switzerland would have been costly for Germany, and would have used up valuable divisions that were better needed elsewhere.

It's more likely Germany would decide to invade Sweden.

 

[euromellows]

I think in both situations Hitler was happy for either. if France became some limp dick neighbour then he was happy. If they were a mess of small nations squabbling among themselves, even better. I think in an Axis victory, the Swiss are going to be subject to German whims simply because they control literally everything around them in most victory situations.

I wonder if Switzerland will even exist in an Axis Victory Scenario since they have significant ethnic German, Italian and French populations. Depending on the POD for victory its possible the country is partitioned between the three, probably with the lions share going to Germany.

 

[UrbanRedneck]

I read a book once about allied POW's in Switzerland and in some cases allied aircraft landed intact in Switzerland. Sometimes these were handed over to the Germans depending upon where they landed and how the war was going. So its quite possible an axis invasion would net some major intel like a Norton bomb sight

 

[HMS Warspite]

Invading and capturing Switserland in WW2 by the Germans was theoretically possible, but the price would be too high, as the resources put into this seemingly useless plan, could not be used for more logical plans. The point would be the Germans would need a substantial force to occupy a normally friendly neighbour, which therefore could not be used elsewhere.

 

[Iori]

Take the easy to capture lowland areas in a pincher movement to prevent alot from escaping into the Alps and then bombard the areas you think the remaining forces might be while basically embargoing the area and starving them out is probably the best route they could've gone.

 

[Bernard Woolley]

Theoretically yes, but the cost would have been enormous and the Swiss planned to blow up everything of value in their country if invaded. It should also be remembered that nobody in Switzerland had the authority to order a surrender and orders had gone out that if any such order was sent out it was to be ignored as enemy propaganda.
The Swiss were also very anti-Nazi and a lot of them were even itching for a fight with the Germans if they invaded.

 

[Alex Richards]

I imagine that in the event of an Axis victory the long term future of Switzerland would look bleak. Did Hitler have any concrete plans in regard to it? I can't recall seeing anything myself, but then I know his position of the eventual state of France in an Axis victory scenario ranged from a humbled neighbour to a balkanised rump state.

I wonder if Switzerland will even exist in an Axis Victory Scenario since they have significant ethnic German, Italian and French populations. Depending on the POD for victory its possible the country is partitioned between the three, probably with the lions share going to Germany.

Having done a bit of looking into this for the Swiss administrative/territorial history series I've been working on, I can say that there were at least three plans for the partition of Switzerland floating around. Initially it was to be a simply partition plan along the ethnic divisions with Romandy (the French bit) given to Vichy France. Then they decided they'd annex the section from the Mouth of the Somme to Lake Geneva to Germany, effectively annexing Romandy as well, and I'm pretty sure some versions of the SS-Burgenland included Romandy. Italy meanwhile varied from simply wanting to annex the Ticino and small Italian communities of Graubunden to a maximalist plan that would set the border on the Western Alps, giving Italy the whole of the Valais and the majority of Gemanophone Graubunden as well.

 

[Tony]

In Fatherland, Germany, controlling most of Europe, was having a cold war with the United States. Switzerland was not invaded, and became a spying paradise for both ideological camps. Many of the story took place in neutral Switzerland indeed.

 

[mowque]

I'm sure the Nazis could subdue Switzerland, it just probably would not be worth it.

I wonder if the Nazis would loot all the banks openly?

 

[Richter von Manthofen]

IIRC the swiss could muster around 500.000 troops + 200.000 support (=Hilfsdienst).

The Germans thought that even with surprise the swiss could hould out (some time) at the "border" and "long" in the Reduit. and subduing the would be "costly".

Its funny theat the brits thought (june 1940) that Switzerland was "lost" - they were more pessimistic than the Germans

German overall strategy called for an occupation of Switzerland only AFTER a sucessful Barbarossa - that never came.

Concluding
Switzerland woudl eventually fall to Germany if Germany could concentrate on Switzerland, but it would cost Germany dearly...

 

[Kalan]

I wonder if the Nazis would loot all the banks openly?

Given the fact that they did so in every other country they invaded the answer would be yes

 

[altamiro]

Because they had a population of 4 million people, 60% of whom were ethnic Germans.

In the same sense as the population of Australia is 90% ethnic English.

 

[altamiro]

Given the fact that they did so in every other country they invaded the answer would be yes

Switzerland in the 1940s wasn't the banking central it was in the 1970s and 80s. They would certainly loot the banks but it would not net them much more than looting Czech or Belgian banks.

 

[KACKO]

Nope, not at all.

Actually there were couple of far right parties and politicians supporting some form of fascism or national socialism in Switzerland. Some of these parties were banned when war started. For puppet regime you do not need huge support for these parties and politicians. You just need them to exist and use them. Quisling's Nasjonal Samling never had huge support either.

 

[EnglishCanuck]

The initial German attack would probably be repulsed with heavy losses IMO. The Swiss Defences were thick and the Germans would really have to attack if even just to probe them. Cue air battles. Cue second offensive, heavy losses but success. Swiss forces withdraw, resistance continues in the lowlands. Attacking the Redoubt becomes the Nazi plan but it is expensive and still incurs heavy losses. Resistance will continue for some years of course, but will probably peter out after four or five.

In short Nazi's could win, but it would be at a heavy cost and I agree with the German planners that it isn't really worth it.

 

[BigWillyG]

Like Yugoslavia? You mean a practical civil war with multiple sides? Well, not likely.
Partisan activity/resistance level would be low and would have been concentrated around the routes to italy (mostly information gathering) - and yes, i think, the germans would have occupied Switzerland if they wanted to.
Once they were surrounded by enemies, why would they held out? To inflict heavy casualities to the enemy, by the means of decimating their own? The swiss redoubt was a well backed bluff, but simply not worth it- and the swiss are pragmatic people. They would never accept the occupation, but they are patient folk.

No I was thinking of partisan activity being heavy and organized enough for partisans to be almost standing armies. I don't think the resistance would be as passive as as you think. Remember the Norwegians and Dutch were considered peaceful and militarily weak but they had some of the most successful resistance and partisans in the western theater.