Target Switzerland: Swiss Armed Neutrality in World War Ii [Paperback]

I had never given much thought to the Swiss experience in the Second World War. About the only current material I had seen on Switzerland tended to be critical of it for staying neutral and maintaining a certain level of commercial cooperation with Hitler and his allies. Jean Ziegler's THE SWISS, THE GOLD AND THE DEAD, is an example of contemporary Swiss bashing.

Halbrook's book provides a well-written, thorougly researched antidote. He describes how a polyglot republic with a population of only 4 million could defend its territory while surrounded by 120 million Nazis and Fascists devoted to Hitler's and Mussolini's dreams of conquest.

Switzerland placed an unprecedented one-fifth of its population under arms in the process. That didn't leave enough people for agriculture so the Swiss were hungry throughout most of the war, and cold. German coal heated most of their homes.

Yet, when Luftwaffe aircraft invaded Swiss airspace they came under attack and several were shot down. It is interesting to compare the Swiss response to that of the Great Powers and their policy of Appeasement.

I enjoyed this book and came away with a new found respect for the Swiss and their determination to keep the Holocaust off of their soil.

Unfortunately the myth of a armed and well motivated Swiss army as a major deterrent for the German forces to invade Switzerland is still holding up and this book does not really contribute to give a more balances account on the reasons why Switzerland wasnt invaded.

New information made available in the last months from the archives of the German secret service during WWII shows that the Germans had very precise and detailed knowlege about the organization of the Swiss army, it's units, orders and fortifications. Unfortunately a large number of Swiss did in fact spy for the Germans during WWII which resulted also in more than a dozen executions during this period.

All in all are we still waiting for a book that really puts Switzerland in its place... Between exagerated criticism accusing Switzerland of collaboration with Germany and the exagerated glorification of the role of the Swiss army.

The way the author insists in the fact that Swiss men keep their weapon at home makes me wonder if this isnt a semi-hidden attempt to justify the legal right to own guns in the USA. He seems to forget that the reason why Swiss soldiers keep their weapons at home is that we do not have any professional army... We have a milita system and therefore need the soldiers to be mobilized within hours and days. Therefore his personal equipment must be available at home. Its nothing more than that.