Why didn't Hitler invade Switzerland?

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Answered by 

Alessandro13

 

Jun 4

Why didn't Hitler invade Switzerland?

The Nazis certainly had a plan to invade Switzerland: Operation Tannenbaum.

Hitler's objective had always been the creation of the so-called Lebensraum (' living space '), a geographical framework within which all the Teutonic populations could coexist peacefully under Nazi rule .

The Teutonic representation in Switzerland was massive, even more so if we consider that of the 4 historical Swiss subdivisions ( French, Romansh, Italian and German ), the latter has always been the richest, most populated and most territorially extensive .

It should also be considered that Hitler's expansionist aims would in all likelihood have spread to South Tyrol , just think of the possibility of optional expatriation granted to all German-speaking South Tyroleans by Mussolini himself (forced to do so willy-nilly) at the end of the 1990s. 30.

The reasons which, however, led the Nazis to cancel Operation Tannenbaum (and therefore not to invade Switzerland) were of 3 types :

• Switzerland had a particularly grim mountainous and Alpine territory to invade . It is as if a natural quarry had been formed within which several bunkers were present and scattered , the result of a precise defensive strategy (that of the National Redoubt ) which made the operation an impressive waste of resources, men and time.

• Switzerland would later serve as a very useful buffer zone between Italy and Germany. Precisely for this reason it was primarily Mussolini who fought for Swiss independence, and it was probably Hitler who spontaneously desisted also and above all to avoid creating discontent within the Axis , especially considering the various fronts on which the Nazi-Fascist troops were engaged during the Second World War. World War .

• Lastly, the Nazis personally kept personal treasures of inestimable value in Switzerland . The gold value of the Nazi ingots still preserved in Swiss territory is still unknown. The banking importance and economic relevance of Switzerland, seen even then as the true 'bunker of the world', would have caused it to lose even that reduced virginity that the Third Reich possessed .