Isolated but Defiant
As Austria ceased to exist as an independent state, the Swiss Parliament issued the following declaration: "It is Switzerland's mission in Europe to guard the passage over the Alps in the interest of all. It is the unanimous and unshakeable will of the Swiss people to assure the respect of its independence at the price of its blood the Swiss people are united in the determination to defend at any cost, to the last breath, and against anyone, the incomparable country which is theirs by God's will."

They also noted that while "the Swiss people are prepared to consent to the sacrifices necessary for the National Defence, but the military armament of the country would be useless, if it did not rest on the spiritual and moral forces of the whole people."

Military service was extended. Fighter planes and tanks were purchased, pill-box fortresses were built along the Italian, Austrian, French and German borders. A New York Times article in 1938 noted: "Switzerland is the oldest republic in the world, the purest democracy in the world, an island of liberty in a sea of dictatorship... a citadel of peace through stormy centuries grimly waiting in their calm, undramatic way with loaded rifles and fixed bayonets."

Hitler and Mussolini now ruled a combined 120 million people. The Swiss numbered but 4 million. Zurich, it's largest city, numbered 300 000.

Disarmed and Dismembered
Yet, instead of its expected attack on Switzerland, the Nazi's next turned their attention to Czechoslovakia. Czechoslovakia resembled Switzerland in that its people consisted of an ethnic and linguistic mix, and were neutral. However, Czechoslovakia had a highly centralised government, and a mostly disarmed people. They were ripe for Hitler's attention. Through bullying, bluffs and intimidation, Czechoslovakia was dismembered, piece by piece, and fell without a shot being fired. The country ceased to exist and was absorbed into Nazi Germany.

The Swiss were well aware that, from the first day of the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia, posters were placed up in every town, ordering the inhabitants to surrender all firearms. The penalty for disobedience was death! To the Swiss, the connection between firearms and freedom was obvious.
Tyrants prefer disarmed victims. Those who want freedom must be willing to fight for it.

Armed and Resolute
As the Gestapo were energetically disarming citizens all over central Europe, the Swiss government were ensuring that every home was well equipped with weapons and ammunition. The Swiss also lowered the age for national service and increased the obligation to serve in the Swiss military to age 60.

General Guisan, in his book "Our People and its Army" asserted that military defence has two essential components: moral force and material force. Guisan emphasised some of the special Swiss customs: "a young man at his confirmation received a sword and could not marry unless he possessed a Bible and firearm." The local assemblies (Landsgemeinde) of law makers each carry a sword as a symbol of liberty when they gather for legislation. Days of military recruitment were festivals with processions, flags and music. "Being capable of military service is a physical certificate of health; our girls know it well!" The warrior spirit exhibits itself in the arts, literature and architecture. The army is the incarnation of the Federal Republic. "The people are the army, the army is the people."

The army provided education for citizenship. Switzerland's strength was based on diversity. "It would be as vain to want to unify Switzerland as to attempt to level her mountains!" We must be "united, strong and vigilant."

The League of Nations had failed, only the Swiss army itself could preserve Switzerland's neutrality and sovereignty. "We have a small army, yes, but it is made strong by our traditions." "The nation would continue to exist only if it was strong enough to defend itself." Guisan insisted that "the oldest army in Europe must know neither defeatism nor fear; dignity forbids it!"

The SSV published this plea: "We owe it to our ancestors, who always appreciated freedom and independence but we owe it also to those who will live after us we must trust in God on high and never be intimidated by the power of man. It is better to die than to live in slavery!"

Preparing for War
The Swiss established anti-aircraft batteries around all major towns. Most households were equipped with gas masks. Mines under all bridges and roads leading into Switzerland were in place already from 1938, and all these roads and bridges were under 24-hour guard. During one emergency, the entire Swiss army was mobilised within 2 hours. The population was instructed to stockpile food. Vast quantities of foodstuff and ammunition were stockpiled in fortified emplacements in the Alps. Many women's groups also began to get armed and firearms training.

Blitzkrieg
There were many attempts by the Nazis to intimidate Switzerland into curtailing their free press from criticising the Third Reich. Spies and saboteurs were a constant danger, and on 1 September 1939, WW II was launched by Hitler's invasion of Poland. For the first time in history, the world witnessed the tactics of blitzkrieg- lightning war in which tanks would slice into and surround an enemy's front and planes would swarm behind the enemy lines as mobile artillery. Much of the Polish Air Force was caught by surprise and destroyed on the ground. As Warsaw fell, the Nazis conducted house-to-house searches to confiscate all firearms. Persons found in possession of firearms were executed.

As Britain and France declared war on Germany, the Swiss faced a new threat. The French considered invading Germany through Switzerland's Geneva Gap. The Swiss mobilised to resist both German and French invasions. From 22 September, Swiss anti-aircraft batteries began firing on German war planes, violating Switzerland's air space. They also had to fire on French war planes near Basel.

On 30 November 1939, the Soviet Union attacked Finland. The Swiss were encouraged by the effective resistance of the Finns, also a nation of marksman on skis. The Finns demonstrated throughout the winter war that a small population could, in fact, successfully resist a strong aggressor.

Neutral Nations Fall
The Nazi press began a systematic journalistic barrage, which always preceeded a Nazi invasion. Swiss Intelligence learned of Germany's plans to invade Denmark and Norway in April, and passed this information on to the allied chiefs of staff, who discounted it. When the German invasion of Denmark and Norway came, they were ill prepared. For the first time in history, air transport played a major role in an offensive, placing German forces in key positions behind and among the Norweigan defences. Even when the Germans enjoyed no numerical superiority, they won easy victories. General Dietl's mountain troops at Narvik, although numbering only 4 500 against the 25 000 allies, routed the British, French and Norweigan troops. The Swiss noted that a German attack on the Swiss Alps would inevitably employ paratroopers, gliders and specially trained mountain divisions. Switzerland recognised that they were facing the greatest threat in their history.

Total Resistance
In sharp contrast to the highly centralised structures in other countries, the distinctive Swiss command was for each individual soldier to act on his own initiative: "Where no officers or non-commissioned officers are present, each soldier acts under exertion of all powers of his own initiative." The entire nation was mobilised for invasion, and the Widerstandsgeist (the resistance spirit) was the most determined and pervasive in Europe.

As Berlin complained about the incessant anti-Nazism of the Swiss press, the Swiss government responded that it was: "the duty of our press to reject the domestic and foreign policies of the national socialists clearly and forcefully."

Aerial Dogfights
As the Western front opened on 10 May 1940 with a German invasion of Holland, Belgium and France, 27 bombs were dropped by the Luftwaffe on Northern Switzerland, and Swiss anti-aircraft guns drove away German bombers and fighters. A Swiss squadron of pursuit planes engaged the Luftwaffe and a Swiss ME-109 shot down a Heinkel-111, twin-engine bomber. This was the first of many instances in which the Swiss used aircraft, initially purchased from Germany, to shoot down Luftwaffe warplanes.

German reconnaissance aircraft, equipped with cameras flying over the fortified Northern frontier of Switzerland, were driven away by anti-aircraft fire. On 1 June, 36 German bombers entered Swiss air space and were attacked by Swiss ME-109's. Two HE-111 bombers were shot down. The next day another HE-111 was shot down by a Swiss fighter. On 4 June, as the British army was being evacuated from Dunkirk, and Winston Churchill was making his famous "We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender" speech, the Swiss Air Force was engaged in an intensive dog-fight with 29 German planes. Both Luftwaffe and Swiss planes were shot down. One German aircraft had the following order on board: "Lure the Swiss fighters into battle and shoot down as many as possible." On 8 June, it was David against Goliath again 15 Swiss aircraft engaged 28 Luftwaffe planes, resulting in the downing of 2 Swiss and 3 German aircraft

"Invasion Inevitable"
World wide, the question was not whether the Wehrmacht would attack the Alpine Republic, but when. By 13 May, over 700 000 Swiss soldiers were mobilised- nearly 20% of the Swiss population, the highest percentage of any country in the war. As Italian troops massed on their Southern border, more divisions were rushed to the South. The League of Nations, the International Red Cross and the American Consul fled Geneva, Zurich and Basel in anticipation of the inevitable invasion. Aerial dog-fights between German and Swiss aircraft intensified. The USA urged all Americans in Switzerland to evacuate immediately. Holland and Belgium folded, and the British and French armies reeled back in retreat..

To guard against sabotage, over 70 000 old rifles were issued to the Ortswehren or local defence units. And in reaction, the German government complained that the Swiss military was dispersing ammunitions and organising local citizens to wage partisan war if invaded!