The Wilmington morning star., 1946-03-10
Interpreting
The News
BY DEWITT MACKENZIE
AP World TrayoI.ih


war n;u! was switzerland's ability 'S e
maintain her nutrali.y ~jttis 10
she was in the midst OF m ',,,ag as
ligerents and under consts rl'' DEL DEL
sure from Hitler 10 cast ~. pres
with the Axis. Nef lot
We've found the answer bsr. :
Bern, and it's strange starr S IN
The fall of France left Sn-;..
land absolutely alone in The ', +aa
OF the Nazi Fascist combin,t lace
The world policy Of the swis ls' bns
been based on the balance Of n naa
er in Europe. They had fig poa,
that if one country attacked tbar
then another would come 10 tbai,
rescue, but. with Frances co,I.n. !
the Axis war machine was ro1Iins
free. -O'i'as
The Swiss were against va,i.
and Fascism which ran GOWN a
to their democracy and reIigior
Some eight times GERMANY frias
to get Switzerland to JOIN MI
movements Of various sorts ~.
idea being thus to drive waSr .
IN Swiss neutrality. Each time NJ,
country refused, but the dsnsas
continued great.
/. Decided to Fight
So in 1910 Switzerland d.cia.,
that, alone or not, she would fgbt
to the end to defend herself Sbs
had as her main defense the Aims
and believe me these mighty AMI
precipitous mountains are close :,
unvuinerable in themselves, cui-a
apart from strategic man.mada 70
doubts, and Notifications driven ,
mile deep into their stone sides
We have seen some Of these 10.
lenses, and there is no doubt that
they presented an obstacle which
even the mighty Hitlerian army
woldn't have liked to tackle.
The Swiss also had industries
capable of producing light war ma.
terial and their standing army was
500, 900, differed by soldiers Of lone
training. Furthermore all Swiss
men are given an intensive basic
military training. So reserves were
available.
However, the country was threat.
ened by more than military force,
for there was constant German
propaganda 70 try to destroy ma.
tional unity as well as false rumors
about Swiss problems. To meet the
danger General Henry Guisan ne
commander in chief, decided in
1910 to create a new service 10
build morale among the troops
This was done through perta
nent orientation towards the eco
nomic and political problems Of the
country, and he attacked the work
in an unusual way. The orientatiOn
was carried out by personal can'
tact between oreintation officers
and men and not by printed propa.
ganda. The Swiss principle i abb
sulute honesty was applied, that's
the idea of always telling the truth
Sense of Confidence
In this way a tremendous sense
of confidence was created between
men and officers. Naturally great
part of the orlentation program va,
devoted to clearing up the Nal
lies, and this was successfully met
by the program OF telling the exact
truth.
This task was complementsd BY
application of the constructive pol
icy of giving to each man the tsa'
son why Switzerland should be
ready to fight in self-defense AZ
| any minute. 1t was made clear 70
each soldier that he was engaged
not only in a war Of arms 0u' Oh
ideas - between the materlanSW
totalitarian way of life Of the NaA
and the democratic way Of lie Oh
the Swiss, built on the tounoaUOA
- t,rinH in1eC
This orientation took into account
the fact that Hitler was trying 70
destroy Christianity, and one OF us
chief orientation officers tells INK
that the arny's reaction 10 'nlS
produced a high morale. So S|!'l'
erland was ready for Hitler anu
despite his military strength OIL!
necessity would have SEM A1-h
against these determined 1O1A
| among their natural Alpine i0E'lH'
cations.
This orientation program va,
such a success that the Fedora
government asked General GuIsau
to organize the same sort OF 'T s..
ing for the civilian population lI'
was done in 1871 and similar "5 ~,
morale has created Throughout 'D'
country. 80,
In this manner Switzerland wa wa
saved, for Hitler constantly tess-
the Swiss spirit to find Wne'A'
thev were ready to fight.