Talk:Reduit

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[edit] Airports

Are the stories of the catapult-launched planes really a myth ? I though that the Swiss FA/18 were a naval version because they needed to have catapult-launching capabilities ? Rama 19:54, 9 January 2006 (UTC)

They really are a myth. The Swiss F/A-18 are the very same aircraft the US Navy uses, but in Switzerland, there are no catapults, even if they still have tailhooks. Some air bases are equipped with arrestor wires, though - if there are technical problems with the landing gear, an "carrier landing" is performed. Several Swiss army pilots have the needed licences to operate from US aircraft carriers (possibly because of an educational exchange between the two armies). Additionally, the myth about military aicraft catapult-startet from cavern seems to root in the cold war, when Switzerland didn't have a Navy-type aircraft. --Keimzelle 23:32, 22 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Political influence

"To the younger generations it became clear that it was political and economic cooperation with Germany, and not the army, which saved the country from an invasion."

This is extremely simplistic and biased. I do not think this belongs in an encyclopedia. The Bergier commission made no conclusions about why Hitler did not invade. Regardless of what "younger generations" think, almost all historians agree that the military deterrent was real and that both it and economic cooperation were necessary for Switzerland to survive. To omit this fact and then add talk about crazy conservatives wearing t-shirts presents a very slanted view. Either add this fact or delete the whole section.

Also I suggest you read the actually reduit strategy. The reduit was used as propaganda, but it is also a valid military strategy. The point was not to win. The point was to make it obvious to Hitler exactly what the cost of an invasion would be (high), and to present limited economic cooperation that would make any invasion not worthwhile. Combined with distractions (the invasion of normandy and the attack on russia), Switzerland was able to survive. The belief that Hitler would have somehow left Switzerland alone even if the Swiss Army did not exist is ludicrous. The actual extent of cooperation with and benefit to the Third Reich was not nearly as great as it would have been if Switzerland had been occupied. (tens of thousands of jews would probably have been sent to camps, and the allies would probably have had to spend blood and money rooting the Nazis out of the alps). Swiss leaders saw Neville Chamberlain's "piece of paper" from Hitler. They were not completely naive.

If you do not think the cost of invading a mountainous country is high, see Afghanistan, or the French armies in the French Alps. Terrain can hugely amplify the effectiveness of an army: Finland vs. Russia, Thermopylae. the list goes on and on.

Bababoef 23:36, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Airport caverns

some military airfields are located adjacent to caverns, where aircraft and maintenance personnel can be sheltered; and the airfield of Meiringen is an example of this

Can't see the caverns. Any chance of specifying where they would be? Englischy (talk) 21:17, 7 December 2007 (UTC)