Why No One Ever Invades Switzerland...

Reaganite Republican ^ | 24 April 2014 | Reaganite Republican

[Reaganite Republican]

Switzerland's ceaseless determination to remain neutral has kept them out any and all foreign engagements ever since the time of Napoleon... 

In order to guarantee this neutrality, every eligible Swiss male between the age of 18 and 42 are called up for service in the Swiss military. On a person/square mile basis, only Israel fields a larger army. Swiss gun culture is deeply imbedded in Swiss society, and it's not unusual to see arms toted around in public.

Every man in the country is issued a rifle and ammunition which they keep at their home in case of national emergency. And throughout history, the rifles issued to the citizens are real serious business... dependable with world-class accuracy:

1878 Vetterli

The first Swiss national rifle issued was the Vetterli, initially adopted in 1869. The Vetterli was the first magazine fed rifle adopted for universal service in Europe. While at the time of it's adoption, this firearm was the most advanced service rifle in Europe.

1889 Schmidt-Rubin

It was replaced in the late 19th century by the Schmidt-Rubin series of rifles.  There were several models in this series, including the 1889, 1896/11, 1911 Rifle and Carbine, and the K31. The Schmidt-Rubin series was issued from 1889 to 1957, and many K31s stayed in service for decades afterwards.  

Stgw.57

In 1957, the Schmidt-Rubin series was replaced by the Stgw 57.  The Stgw.57 was a marvel of modern craftsmanship, and -like the related handgun SIG210- is considered by many to be the finest battle rifle ever constructed.  Stgw.57's continued to be issued to Swiss soldiers until 1990, when it began to be replaced by the Stg.90.  

The Stg.90 (also know as the SIG 550) began limited service with the Swiss in the late 1980s, and went into full scale production in 1990.  The Stg.90 may well be the most accurate assault rifle in the world, as well as one of the best. It is designed to destroy any target at a range of 400m. Although no longer in production, 600,000 units have been produced.

There's currently one of these daunting 'assault rifles' in virtually every single Swiss home... just like Ukraine probably should have done. 

And can you imagine robbing houses there for a living?  

Video at Reaganite Republican...

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Wikipedia   Swiss Rifles   GunFunTV   h/t Kirby

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

Switzerland has incredible defensive capabilities almost unique to it. To start with, about the only ground entrances to Switzerland are tunnels. Very long tunnels. And tunnels the Swiss are more than willing to dynamite if threatened by invasion. Likewise lots of very high bridges that would become impassable if blown up.

Attack by air? Not recommended, in that airborne forces would basically have to deploy with HALO jumps, on oxygen, in extremely cold and violent air.

Oh, and the Swiss are also firm believers in anti-aircraft weaponry.

Then, and only then, do you have to contend with a whole bunch of armed Swiss. Kind of the icing on the cake.

[newfreep]

Best. Self. Correction. Ever.

[Leaning Right]

On the other hand if Europe became the new Reich how long would Hitler have tolerated a independent Swiss territory?

Hitler seriously considered invading Switzerland. Plans were drawn up and units were assigned. Then Hitler got distracted by Russia.

Wikipedia has an interesting article about this. I came across it by accident awhile back.

Operation Tannenbaum

[DManA]

Also they never attack anyone.

[longfellow]

not enough coffee.

[DManA]

Assume it was a typo dink.

[Reaganite Republican]

Agreed!

At first I thought ‘who IS this jerk coming down on some poor guy so harshly for a spelling mistake’ but then I figured it out lol

[USNBandit]

They also have really, really nice ranges to shoot those weapons on.

[longfellow]

If he did he wouldn’t have caught the mistake.

[Sam Gamgee]

Interesting. A few lessons to be learned. Those nations that relied on another’s charity to protect their neutrality like Belgium, were squashed like bugs

[Former Fetus]

How about the French Army Knife?

[PieterCasparzen]

Wrong.

It’s because they let international banking have their run of the place.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_International_Settlements

is the debt collection “accountant” for internatonal governments.

I know it’s so much to ask people to read source documents, but for the non-clueless, BIS, on their website

http://www.bis.org

have annual reports going back to pre-WWII that have a lot of information in them.

Speaking of WWII, during the war, an AMERICAN was in charge of BIS, and BIS was essential for German payment transfers and gold shipments during the war.

FYI, Allen Dulles was posted in Switzerland during the war.

[DoodleDawg]

A couple of things you overlooked. Every person having one of those assult rifles had to go through military training first. You cannot purchase a firearm without a permit from the government, except for single shot rifles, antique firearms or some hunting rifles. You cannot purchase more than three firearms. Private sales of guns requires the seller do a background check and establish citizenship by checking IDs. You cannot buy automatic weapons or silencers. You cannot get a carry permit unless you can prove a need to carry to the government and complete a training course. You cannot open carry a loaded rifle or any rifle unless you can show a valid reason for doing so.

All in all I'll take our laws over the Swiss ones.

[DesScorp]

I'm as pro-gun and pro-militia as anyone... and I'm a big fan of the Swiss and their model of government. But can we please dispense with the myth that Switzerland wasn't invaded by Nazis because they had guns? If Hitler really thought Switzerland was an important invasion target, he'd have taken it in a week. I'ts not like Germans and Austrians are unfamiliar with mountain warfare.

Hitler... and everyone else... left Switzerland alone for reasons that had nothing to do with guns: it's small in area, and doesn't have much in the way of natural resources compared to other tempting targets like the fertile fields of Poland or the vast, black soil steppe of Russia. Switzerland has money, but gold in banks is not enough reason to invade a country alone. Hitler would have eventually gotten around to Switzerland on general principles, but he never invaded them simply because he didn't consider them very important and didn't thing Swiss territory was of any strategic importance. His troops were needed much more elsewhere... namely that minor territory he was trying to steal called the Soviet Union.

[null and void]

[JoeProBono]

[Former Fetus]

Beautiful! But I love the built-in white flag of the French army knife.

[Leaning Right]

‘their’ you moron.

Don't be so tough on yourself! You probably typed "their" correctly in the first place. But then it was changed to "they're" by the NSA snoops, just to make you upset.

[null and void]

Believe what you will.

I've been to Switzerland. I've seen the fortifications (everywhere!).

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

In point of fact, about 29% of Swiss households have a gun of some sort, compared to about 43% in the US. Also, Switzerland has a higher burglary rate, 758 per 100K population, than the US (714 per 100K).