Re: Rectifier Tube Type Help now OT chitchat


Bret Ludwig wrote:
Peter Howard wrote:


Herman Goering, Nuremburg Jail, 1945.

A true student of human nature and realpolitik, Herman.

Speaking of Switzerland, the Nazi government had plans ready for the
invasion of Switzerland. It was unnecessary to actually do it for after 1942
the Swiss were effectively surrounded, dependent on Germany and its
satellites for cross-border trade and thus easily persuaded to make Swiss
transport, banking and industry available for the purposes of the Third
Reich. Indeed, German military resources were fully committed elsewhere
after 1942 but in the period immediately after the fall of France in 1940,
Switzerland could have been reduced....at a price.


Both the Germans and the Allies thought about it. Both reached the
same conclusion: it was possible, but would be horribly expensive, and
since Switzerland has no natural resources and the Swiss would make
singularly poor forced labor workers (being a nation of gun nuts and
often having excellent chemical and watchmaking skills....) why bother?


In all fairness it must be said that Switzerland was more neutral to
some countries than others. Since German is a major language and
ethnicity in Switzerland, since they share a border, and since Swiss
business is after all in business they did a lot of trade with Germany,
which helped the German war effort to be sure. And the Luftwaffe could
operate over Switzerland with a certain freedom the Allies could not.

Nonetheless the Swiss were not involved in the Third Reich and were in
fact neutral, which permitted them to interact with the outside
world.....POW mail and affairs were dealt through Switzerland, as were
diplomatic negotiations between combatants. Plus which, Swiss young men
didn't go to the Russian Front, or anywhere else for Der Fuhrer.

Surprisingly, very few German men thought to become Swiss, in the
manner of Americans going to Canada during Vietnam. Of course, the
Swiss government would have turned them over, but many could have
pulled it off had they wanted. They didn't.

.

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