WI Nazi invasion of Switzerland

As to looting the gold, gold alone doesn´t buy weapons. Hitler would need to find a middleman who is ready to buy the looted gold and buy/resell the things Germany needs. Switzerland, and to a lesser extent Sweden, Turkey and Portugal, fulfilled this role. But none of these countries (with the possible exception of Sweden) was under direct threat of German army - so they could, theoretically, just say "gold? what gold? You didn´t deliver any".
Switzerland was not just a neutral and a middleman - it was the only middleman that was blackmail-able enough.

In any case, precaution measures were to be taken in case of invasion - such as putting the rail car with gold in the Gotthard or Lötschberg tunnel just before blowing it up, or throwing it into one of the deeper lakes. It is of course possible to recover it from a depth of several hundred meters, but it wouldn´t be easy.
 

Markus

Banned
Switzerland wasn't overly friendly to the Nazi regime but it was more than willing to do business.

BINGO!! They had to do bussiness with the Axis as they were completely surrounded by them and this is the reason why an actual invasion makes no sense. Economically they are already at your mercy.
 
... How long could the Swiss hold out? - Would they survive until the allies begin their invasion of Europe ...

My initial thoughts are a German version of the Soviets Winter War with Finland. Not due to the climate, yet the Swiss were prepared to play a hard game if the Germans tried. I large distraction and drain on men and resources, including I think a hard sell to the German public ... even a public fed simply what the Government allowed them to see. Depending on the timing, it could effect things.
 

Valdemar II

Banned
Honerstly, I think we more likely see something like Elsass-Lothringen in WWII, annexed by Germany, with some hostility from the natives, but in end a they just accept it, the German takeover change little for the man on the street. Beside that it's likely bout Italy and Vichy France also gain Swiss territorium.

The effect of German occupation could be as little as the only thing which change is that Switzerland end up part of NATO and EEC after the war. Of course the entire economical system is going to be broken and governmental reform into a less direct democracy is also likely.
 
Without the Swiss quite a bit of gold moved to French North Africa no longer has any way to be returned to Europe, also what commerce Nazi Europe was able to perform is now crippled. Not to mention the remaining neutrals are going to be even more wary and probably quicker to stop giving any cooperation to the Axis, perhaps even having contingency plans with the British and Americans, just in case.

I wouldn't be surprised if at least one neutral tries to get on the winning side once D-Day takes place instead of diving into the UN in 1945 while life for those nations still dealing with Hitler in late 1944 and early 1945 is not pleasant once the war is over.


Military resistance to Hitler will be practically nil. The Swiss either surrender at once or carry out their plan to withdraw to the mountains. In that event a moderate German garrison surrounds the Swiss, leaving the cities, the industry, the banks and gold and the families of the military in German hands while awaiting the surrender of the poorly supplied Swiss Army once rations get short. Germany even gets virtually all of the Swiss armaments as a bonus!
 
I'm no expert on this vote (I only know it happened. Thats it) but wasn't it the international community that decided against it not the Swiss?
Though it is feasible to imagine the Italians and French not being too happy about yet more Germans.
There were a lot of factors IIRC. One of the main ones, though, was ambivalence on the part of most German Swiss and hostility to the idea by a lot of French and Italian Swiss(as you brought up). Though, you're right that the Allies also pushed against this, which I should have mentioned. I just meant that I still don't think Voralberg would be taken in because there are still a large amount of people that just don't want to deal with the trouble of taking them in and I don't know if the Allies would want to do it anyway.

Grimm, you've more or less hit the nail on the head, but there are some problems with your analysis. Most of the country will be taken quickly, and while I can see most resistance dying out quickly I think what little resistance is going on could prove costly. Most men on the street aren't really going to fight but they might be more than willing to pass along a little food and such to resistance fighters. It's not much, but combined with the difficulty of fighting in the Alps it might keep the resistance going a little bit longer than Alsace-Lorraine, for example. More or less, though, you're pretty much right.

The question is: Why is Germany invading? Coup? To get gold? Is it a slow buildup or sudden?
 
The question is: Why is Germany invading? Coup? To get gold? Is it a slow buildup or sudden?

Swiss fighters continue to intercept German violators. The Germans continue to make threatening statements but the Swiss stand firm leading Hitler to invade in May 1941.

This sort of campaign would be a disaster in the long run for Germany. The Swiss had the ability to hold out for months and were told that any announcement of surrender was propaganda and to go on to the end. They would most likely deploy a scorched Earth policy destroying all rail links which would hurt Italy quite badly.

German losses will be high but that obviously won't be their biggest problem that Barbarosaa will need to be held off until early autumn or early Spring '42 in my opinion the Nazis are better invading in the Autumn and trying to grab as much as they can before winter as in 1942 the Soviet Army will become even worse.
 
I realise you have said the German high command go mad ... but their is nothing in Switzerland worth them invading :rolleyes:
 
It's something about "S" nations in English. The continued neutrality of Switzerland, Sweden, and even Spain was probably more valuable to the Nazis than their occupation or (in the case of Spain) their joining the Axis. In the case of Switzerland, Germany got almost all the advantages of conquering the nation without any loss of money or life, plus the advantages of having a nearby neutral nation that could be used for diplomatic ends. Personally, I don't think an invasion of Switzerland would tie up much Wehrmacht time and effort initially, but the potential for long term resistance among the French speakers is there. I may be wrong, but I've always heard Swiss loyalty to the Cantons is stronger than their loyality to the confederation. Perhaps Germany would partition Switzerland - giving the French-speaking areas to Vichy and keeping the German areas.

I agree with what has been said about the banking industry.
 
It's something about "S" nations in English. The continued neutrality of Switzerland, Sweden, and even Spain was probably more valuable to the Nazis than their occupation or (in the case of Spain) their joining the Axis. In the case of Switzerland, Germany got almost all the advantages of conquering the nation without any loss of money or life, plus the advantages of having a nearby neutral nation that could be used for diplomatic ends. Personally, I don't think an invasion of Switzerland would tie up much Wehrmacht time and effort initially, but the potential for long term resistance among the French speakers is there. I may be wrong, but I've always heard Swiss loyalty to the Cantons is stronger than their loyality to the confederation. Perhaps Germany would partition Switzerland - giving the French-speaking areas to Vichy and keeping the German areas.

I agree with what has been said about the banking industry.

If the Swiss continued to protect their airspace then the Germans will not feel Switzerland is quasi-conquered
 
IIRC there was a Swiss general named Guisan who had drawn up a blueprint of resistance in case the Germans invaded. In any event, there would have been resistance, and it would have been a challenge for the Germans to hold to the country because all the Swiss have compulsory military training.
 
There is.
Cotrol of north-south traffic chokepoints.

Which will be destroyed during the inavsion. And besides Switzerland already let the germans transport everything. A germand diplomat in Switzerland said: "It would be the end of Switzerland, if anything happens to the coaltransports to Italy." Therefore the swiss ensured that nothing happened
 
The Swiss plan of resistance was a bad joke.

Abandon the cities, the industry, the banks and so forth and have the army abandon their own women and children, then retreat into the mountains with a limited supply of food stored. All the Germans need to do then is starve out the Swiss, which won't take long.

Fighting will be practically nil since most of the valuable parts of Switzerland are surrendered without a fight, the Swiss can't attack the Germans successfully and the Germans don't need to push on into the mountains.
 
The Swiss plan of resistance was a bad joke.

Abandon the cities, the industry, the banks and so forth and have the army abandon their own women and children, then retreat into the mountains with a limited supply of food stored ...


I remembered the plan being more of a controlled defense with specific points of defense located to maximize difficult entry and transit points for the invader. Areas were abandoned but, only to release forces to defend strategic and sustainable regions more effectively. I'm not that aware of specifics but it always seems to me that the Swiss would have planned and thought out such ventures in the greatest detail ... a tough nut to crack as it were. I realize that's based on a lot of assumptions but it also seems hard to believe that it's as simple as you say. I'm not saying the Swiss could stand up to a full German or French invasion but I do think they could make it bloody enough in certain areas for the power considering such action to think twice. But perhaps that's just the image and not fact I see.
 
The Swiss plan of resistance was a bad joke.

Abandon the cities, the industry, the banks and so forth and have the army abandon their own women and children, then retreat into the mountains with a limited supply of food stored. All the Germans need to do then is starve out the Swiss, which won't take long.

Fighting will be practically nil since most of the valuable parts of Switzerland are surrendered without a fight, the Swiss can't attack the Germans successfully and the Germans don't need to push on into the mountains.

If it was such a bad joke, why was (and still is) the entire countryside in Mittelland plastered with thousands of infantry and artillery bunkers from late 1930s? Why are there tank ditches everywhere?

The Swiss commanding officers of 1939-41 were not quite as stupid as you might assume.
 
None of which matters if Germany lunges in to seize the cities(Geneva, Zurich, etc) and then simply sits back and starves the mountain redoubts into surrender. Defenses don't count for much if the enemy isn't attacking those defenses.
 
None of which matters if Germany lunges in to seize the cities(Geneva, Zurich, etc) and then simply sits back and starves the mountain redoubts into surrender. Defenses don't count for much if the enemy isn't attacking those defenses.

Again: there is A LOT of defensive structures in the countryside between the cities and the German border. The plan you refer to was formulated in 1938-39 when the idea was to fall back and hold out a month or two until France weighs in (neutrality only goes so far). Nobody thought about falling back to the mountains in 1941 any more.
It is easy to take Geneva and Basel since they sit immediately at the border. But for Zürich or Bern the Wehrmacht has to go through quite a lot of defensive structures, thrown up hastily in great numbers between 1939 and 1941.

It has been known after the war that most of the "secret" fortification systems were actually known to Germany - the German espionage network in Switzerland was much larger than immediately assumed. But except for that the Swiss defense system of 1941 (NOT 1939) had a fair chance to extract quite high cost from Wehrmacht, Yugoslavia-style, before falling.
 
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