The Schmidt Rubin and Swiss neutrality...

[Sly Old Fox]

The Swiss are known for being a neutral country during both World Wars, and for their meticulous precision in things like watches. Swiss neutrality, in fact, could not have been achieved without the precision of the Swiss rifle, called the Schmidt Rubin. There is a famous question: “Why was Switzerland never invaded by the Germans?” The answer is simple. In 1912, the German Kaiser asked a Swiss soldier what Switzerland would do if Germany invaded with 500,000 troops, while the Swiss could only muster 250,000. The soldier answered: “Shoot twice and go home.”

 

[EL34/6L6]

Lol

 

[Sly Old Fox]

Lol

Well at the quarterly milsurp shoot that Andy, SKSCanuck and others arrange at the EOSC east of Ottawa, the Schmidt-Rubins do very well in more than one calibre. In fact, a challenge was jokingly made on the site found at Events & Gatherings, that the S-Rs should be barred because they were never used in battle. Nevertheless, they are accepted and if I were 40 years younger, I'd not be shooting an SKS but a S-R!

These shoots have been going on now for 10 years in January, May, July and September and are said to be the only ones in Canada with such a record. They attract shooters from Montreal east, the Ottawa and Gatineau areas, Petawawa/ Pembroke is well represented by several armed forces people and one avid collector north of Toronto comes often with his goodies. Well worth a drive just as an observer.

The May and September shoots are the full shoots whereas the other two are have less matches. As well, the shoots generate $$$ for the local food bank and last September, they were given a cheque for $1,600 plus donated food.

Hopefully, I will get to the September shoot.

 

[mkrnel]

The Swiss are known for being a neutral country during both World Wars, and for their meticulous precision in things like watches. Swiss neutrality, in fact, could not have been achieved without the precision of the Swiss rifle, called the Schmidt Rubin. There is a famous question: “Why was Switzerland never invaded by the Germans?” The answer is simple. In 1912, the German Kaiser asked a Swiss soldier what Switzerland would do if Germany invaded with 500,000 troops, while the Swiss could only muster 250,000. The soldier answered: “Shoot twice and go home.”

While this is a often quoted but never substantiated claim about why Switzerland was not invaded during WW1 we only have to consider that By November 1916, the Swiss had only 38,000 men in the army and because of widespread workers' strikes at the end of the war, the army had shrunk to only 12,500 men. A more thought out and historical correct reason was the benefit the Swiss banking system played to numerous players in the game at the time.

 

[Nabs]

I love my Swiss Vetterli and Schmidt-Rubin 1889 .

 

[mrbeil]

Also, the whole Swiss infrastructure is wired to blow in case of an invasion so what's the point of invading a country if you can't get anywhere?

 

[EL34/6L6]

You'd think the Alps played a role too as it would be nightmarish for an opposing infantry attempting an advance through them.

 

[Goo98]

The President of Japan didn't want to invade Switzerland because there was a Schmidt Ruben behind every blade of grass.

 

[grelmar]

It's a wide range of factors.

The # of men in uniform was almost irrelevant. Germany was well aware that, if invaded, the Schmidt-Rubins would come out of the closets all across Switzerland. There might have been a fair amount of internal squabbling inside Switzerland at the time, but the surest way to stop an internal family feud is to start an external one - only I'm allowed to pick fights with my cousins. Anyone else does, and we'll gang up on them.

The Alps play a serious role as well. The Swiss terrain is easily a 2 or 3 to 1 force multiplier for the defense. Combine that with the traditional 3 to 1 force multiplier given to any defending force, and very few generals would look at invading Switzreland as a smart idea.

Economically... Having neutral Switzerland in play was a benefit to all sides. The flow of money never stopped between the warring nations, and Switzerland provided a convenient mechanism to facilitate the movement of money and gold between the nations. War is war, but business is business, as they say.

 

[Eaglelord17]

Biggest factor in Germany not invading Switzerland in WWI is there is no gain. The intent of WWI for the Germans was to take out the French quickly (Schlieffen plan) and then focus on Russia. The goal was to take colonies and prestige not conquer France or Russia, the Germans were hoping for a repeat of the Franco-Prussian War not for the stalemate that happened (to be fair no one was expecting the stalemate note the British 'be home by Christmas mentality'). The Germans also were not expecting the British to join the war as well (no one expected that as before then historically Britain remained indifferent to wars in Europe (they actually liked them) as they were busy taking colonies from others and controlling the seas).

Switzerland is a heavily armed country with a very difficult to attack terrain. There is virtually no natural resources worth exploiting and even the Swiss think if someone was to invade them it would be only to take the farmland around the mountains as that is the only thing of value there.