| Show swiss watch ramparts again ready to ward off attacks Cy against year neutrality nw A A 7 Z STUDS at a moments notice steel barricades can shoot up from these innocent looking round spots on the swiss highway controlled by a concealed electric button bland BERNE ERNE little switzerland whose neutrality has been preserved and respected years in the face of repeated warfare on all its frontiers is once more watching its ramparts on every frontier well armed troops stand guard to ward off belligerent planes or stop a sudden attack though aged and peaceful switzerland is not missing any bets her defenses are up to the minute giving protection against any modern weapon a foeman may send against her typical is the fortress system surrounding her entire frontier the novel automatic aw 31 ag ax 11 A W SKY SOLDIERS swiss alpine troops maneuvering on an ic icy slope of the trient glacier tank barriers which shoot out from swiss highways at the press of a button and her keen eyed anti ai air r craft battalions which are rat rated ed among the worlds best new border threats time was when switzerland worried only about her northern and southern frontiers bordering on germany and switzerland but the nazi juggernaut captured austria so the resourceful swiss fortified on the east then just for good mea measure s I 1 they arranged protection aga against dinst any possible threat from france swiss army organization is at once the worlds most unique and most efficient voluntary frontier troops organized in independent companies and highly mobile with their horses bicycles and trucks are assigned to ward off surprise attacks until regular army units can reach their positions at the moment of invasion every man belongs to the army youngsters climb into alpine positions and oldsters take easier jobs in keeping with their individual capabilities men fully equipped mobilization is lightning fast only in a democracy like this can every soldier keep his complete outfit at home ammunition excepted cavalrymen have their horses and cyclists their bicycles equipment is checked periodically under a severe control system when mobilization is called it can thus be made an actuality within a few days or even a few hours it if necessary light brigades which consist of cavalry cyclists light artillery on trucks and machine guns on motors form the vanguard of the army and may be thrown into a defense post at a moments notice one thing worries the swiss their electrified railroads which could be de commissioned in a few hours with well placed bombs hence the ardys infantry units and their arsenals are widely decentralized to be within reach of a majority of men within a few hours generals are scarce only three times in its history has switzerland had a military corn com mander in chief under its constitution a supreme commander with powers over military and civil resources can be appointed only in times of general mobilization and then only by election such a commander was general dufour who was commander in chief during the interior war in 1847 general herzog in power during the franco german war of 1870 and general wille commander from 1914 to 1918 there have been no others between such emergencies the head of the swiss military department is head of the army he presides over the tongue twisting lan or the board of national defense granite fortresses the swiss are proud of their defense works on the south they need worry chiefly about st gott hard and the simplon passes the former is protected by fortresses which have always been kept up to date cut into solid granite rocks fortifications at mount ceneri to the south are an outpost for st gotthard the simplon entrance is through a tunnel which can easily be made impassable and the road is guarded by a fort in the gorge of gondo for the most part other defenses in less mountainous regions are constructed ted as block blockhouses hoWes or underground fortifications but most of all the swiss rely on their traditional neutrality to keep them out of war within earshot of the actual fighting they have kept a peace which other nations much farther away may well envy |
