Did Germany invade Switzerland in World War 2?

Answer 1

where were they gonna keep their money then lol because every house had a gun and it would be very hard to attack it with tanks because its mostly mountains the axis would need lot of infantry which they didnt have (serving elsewhere) Switzerland has a policy of being a neutral country & yes, it was & is where they keep the money !

Answer 2

Switzerland was indeed on Hitler's To-Do list but the geographical layout of the land (namely the Alps) between Germany and Switzerland, plus the tremendous number of Swiss soldiers positioned there, made it almost impossible for Hitler to launch a successful invasion.

During the war, it was reported that several axis AND allied planes were shot down when entering Swiss airspace, to maintain a neutral stance and appease both sides, to ultimately avoid further conflict.

Answer 3

They had failed to achieve air supremacy during the Battle of Britain and an invasion fleet would have been in great jeoporady, in fact, the Second World War might have been lost completely by Germany in an invasion attempt.

Great Britain was too well prepared and experienced, don't forget the British invented the Royal Air Force and Navy, they were the greatest in the world not to mention the British S.A.S the most copied and sucesfull soldiers in the world still even today. ( even German troops in WW2 based themselves on the British S.A.S) Britain had every single bit of Britain coverd and ready for such an invasion, they only way in was by the air. also don't forget the British home guards ( the every day mums and dads of Britain were trained in Gurella Warfare) that's just the average mums and dads! lol

Answer 4

Germany was NOT able to cross the English Channel to invade Great Britain. It's so narrow, engineers have recently built an underwater bridge under it, for automobiles to drive back and forth between England and mainland Europe. Germany certainly did NOT have the capability to cross a wider body of water, such as the Atlantic Ocean.

Answer 5

A lot of people think they know why... but to be honest, there's no answer - nobody really knows why (especially as Germany intended to do so).

Switzerland was told to stay neutral and defend the own territory in 1815. Before this date a lot of clashes (i.e. France against Russia) had been fought in Switzerland.

In 1939 ww2 started and Germany easily took Poland and Tchechoslovakia, annected Austria. France couldn't resist for more than 40 days and England seemed soon to collapse. Italy and Russia were the allies of the Germans when war started... this means Switzerland surrounded by Axis-Powers in few months (and USA didn't enter war before December of 1941).

Some bankers gained fortunes dealing with Germany (and USA, etc.). But this can't be THE reason why...

Swiss army was mobilised in 1939 towards the northern border - this means to France and especially Germany. Air clashes between Swiss air force and the German Luftwaffe were immediately noticed in Berlin. German pioneers were stopped when trying to reach Swiss airfields. Swiss army mined all bridges and tunnels in Switzerland - to blow them up in case of invasion. And "Reduced Switzerland", the all-withdraw-plan was build up. In case of an attack Swiss army was told to go into mountainous area and leave the flat ground - and stay there defending the territory.

Germany itself "lost" their invasion of England and turned towards Russia. Hitler himself said Germany would hunt the little pig (Switzerland has more or less the shape of a wild sow on maps) when coming back from defeated Russia. But Russia turned onto Germany and probably there weren't any forces left for an invasion.

Answer 6

There are multiple theories to answer this. Some would argue that Hitler did not want to invade as he considered the Britons as part of the Aryan race. The probable truth is that it was not possible. Germany was a country that was surrounded by countries with which it was at war with. This caused Germany's resources to be stretched. The first six months of the war (called The Phoney War) was a period of very little fighting and no bombing. This period gave Britain the time to start producing weapons (the old WWI weapons would not be overly useful in WWII, especially the aircraft and ships used in WWI). Further, by the time that Germany invaded France, Belgium and the Netherlands (the countries from which it might be possible to invade Britain from), Britain had time to bolster its defenses and build up its armed forces and its air force. The Commonwealth nations also sent their troops to Britain which bolstered the defenses by millions.

The Battle of Dunkirk was probably the closest time when an invasion might have been successful. Britain was devastated by the losses at Dunkirk (many troops and ships were lost) and the RAF was not fully ready either. A combination of events prevented an invasion at that time, however. The Germany army had not massed enough troops at Channel crossing points, Germany did not have enough ships in the area to transport the troops needed, and Hitler held back the invasion favouring a different time (history has proven that Hitler was not a very good strategist).

Another factor that should be considered is that when the D-day invasion occurred it took millions of allied troops to invade and they did not even face the entire might of the German forces who were spread over the entire theatre of operations (Russia to France & Norway to Africa). If invading Britain, Germany would have needed a great deal of troops and resources as they were invading a single country that had almost all its armed forces in place within that country.

So, the basic answer is, they couldn't. No one has successfully invaded Britain since the year 1066. It's an island surrounded by freezing cold water; and the people aren't to receptive to invasion either.

Answer 7

A number of European countries declared neutrality in the years before 1939. While this did not save the low countries (Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg), both Sweden and Switzerland were preserved as independent countries despite being hemmed in on all sides by pro-Axis countries. Both countries (and also Ireland) adopted an almost Jeffersonian "honest trade with all nations, alliances with none" approach and Switzerland especially has maintained that ideology and is today touted as one of the great neutral powers of the world.

There are many reasons why Switzerland wasn't invaded by Germany. Swiss banks provided a haven for illegal German loot, but the main reason why is that, like the United States, Swiss citizens had a right to bear arms and were famed shooters (one of their national pastimes). Can't remember exactly where I read it now, but Nazi documents showed that Germany wasn't interested in fighting the Swiss population, armed and in mountainous territory - in other words, an invasion would turn into a never-ending guerrilla war. One of the things Germany got right you might say.

Answer 8

He probably thought it could wait until more vital matters were settled as Switzerland was completely surrounded by Axis territory. There was a military plan for the invasion of Switzerland, 'Operation Tannenbaum' and Hitler intended that Switzerland should eventually be part of the Reich (with a few southern areas ceded to Italy) but he never gave the order.

Answer 9

The only reason why Switzerland didn't join WWII, is the fact that they are completely NEUTRAL.