Operation Tannenbaum
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Operation Tannenbaum was a planned invasion by Nazi Germany of Switzerland during World War II.
Switzerland had always taken a stance of "armed neutrality", but Nazi Germany were not amused by this: Hitler called the Swiss "the most despicable and wretched people, mortal enemies of the new Germany", and boasted that he would liquidate "the rubbish of small nations" and would be "the Butcher of the Swiss". In retaliation for an incident in which 11 Luftwaffe planes were shot down by the Swiss using fighters bought from Germany, Hitler unsuccessfully sent saboteurs to destroy airfields. The Swiss had also given refuge to almost 1700 American pilots after their planes were damaged while bombing Germany.
Operation Tannenbaum was one of several detailed invasion plans drawn up for the German General Staff, after France had collapsed. But Hitler never gave the go-ahead, perhaps because the Swiss had defenses no other country had. Every Swiss home was equiped with a rifle, and the alpine terrain gave a tactical advantage to Swiss general Henri Guisan and his army, which included a fifth of the Swiss population.
The Swiss government had a decentralised structure, such that even the Federal President was a relatively powerless official, without the authority to order the country to surrender. Indeed, citizens had been ordered to regard any "surrender" broadcast as enemy lies and resist to the end.
While the Wehrmacht feigned moves toward Switzerland in its offensives, it never attempted to invade. After D-Day, Tannenbaum was put on hold, and Switzerland remained neutral for the duration of the war.
External links
- Target Switzerland (http://www.davekopel.org/2A/OthWr/Target_Switzerland.htm) - lecture by Dr. Stephen P. Halbrook, promoting his book on Axis plans against Switzerland