Swiss Defence late cold war

[Wolf]

I'm curious about the organisation and intentions of the defence of Switzerland, late cold war, a subject I know very little about.

Especially the use of armour. I read somewhere that the Swiss moved towards a more mobile/active/manouvre thinking in the 1980s..? Also how many Leopard IIs did they have in the late 1980s, and how did they intend to use them...?

[Simperator]

Hi,

I will try to explain this to you.
The following infos are from a book from 1988 ("Die Armee", Mondo-Verlag).

Switzerland had at this time a strength of 625'000 active soldiers and 45'000 reservists. Active means they had to serve each year some weeks of repetition exercises. Combined this equals to 675'000 soldiers.

Ordre de Bataille was as follows: the whole Swiss Army consisted of 3 Field Army Corps (FAK; No. 1,2,4) and a Mountain Army Corps (No. 3) plus Air Force and AA troops.

A Field Army Corps had as Corps Troops: 1 Infantry Regiment, 1 Bycicle Regiment, 1 Engineer Regiment, 1 Corps Regiment (Staff, Helicopters, Signals, Police, Construction, Anti Tank Rockets).
Subordinated under the FAK were 2 Field Divisions (Motorized Infantry), 1 Mechanized Division (Tank Division), 2 or 3 Border Brigades and the Territorial Zone it was operating in.
The task of the 3 FAK was stop the enemy in the flat terrain and to destroy him with the mechanized elements.

The Mountain Army Corps had as Corps Troops: 1 Mountain Infantry Regiment, several independent Mountain Rifle and Fusilier Battalions, 1 Engineer Regiment, 1 Signal Regiment, 1 Staff Battalion, 2 Horse Transport Battalions, 1 Police Battalion, 2 Helicopter Units, 2 Construction Units.
Subordinated under this Corps were 3 Mountain Divisions, 9 Border/Fortress/Reduit Brigades and the 3 Territorial Zones it was operating in.
The task of the Mountain Army Corps was to hold the Alps as long as possible, to fight enemy parachutists and other landing troops and to secure the flanks and back of the 3 FAK.

The standard Field Division of the FAK (Motorized Infantry) consisted of 1 Staff Battalion, 3 Infantry Regiments (with 3 Fusilier and 1 Infantry Battalion each), 2 Tank Battalions, 1 Artillery Regiment (with 2 Self-Propelled Howitzer Battalions and Heavy Artillery Battalions), 1 Engineer Battalion, 1 Mobile Light AA Battalion, 1 Signal Battalion, 1 AT Rocket Battalion and 1 Construction Unit.


The Use of Armour:

The Field Divisions recieved in this time the second best armour, that would be the Panzer 68/88 and the Centurions. The new Leopard 2 would go to the Tank Battalions of the three Mechanized Divisions of the three FAK.

But very soon (with the end of the Cold War) the divisional structure was abandoned and the older tanks put out of service, the Leopard 2's went to the new Panzer Brigades in the 1990's.

Switzerland had at the end of the delivery 380 Leopard 2.
At the end of the 1980's, our Army had in total about 900 tanks, 1'400 Armoured Personnel Carriers and 1'400 Artillery Pieces.

Just as an addition: these days are gone. This strength does not exist anymore, as well as the will to give the Army the financial background it needs. With the end of the Cold War, everything was reduced to a shadow of itself...

Hope I could help.
Regards,
Simon

[Simperator]

Grenzbrigaden = Border Brigades
FAK 1, 2, 4 = Field Army Corps 1, 2, 4
Geb AK 3 = Mountain Army Corps 3
Reduitbrigaden = Reduit Brigades
Festungen = Fortresses (circular thingies)

[henryk]

From 1974, and probably before, to the mid 1980's, there was an anti-tank barrier near the Swiss town, Kreuzlingen, along the German border, before the German city, Konstanz. It crossed highway 1. I presume there were similar defences elsewhere along the border.

[phylo_roadking]

Hi Simon - regarding the numbers...

Switzerland had at this time a strength of 625'000 active soldiers and 45'000 reservists. Active means they had to serve each year some weeks of repetition exercises. Combined this equals to 675'000 soldiers.

...that makes the regular Field Army about twice the size of its WWII 330-340,000-soldier size. Where did the "extra" numbers actually come from - was Switzerland's population double that of the 1940s...or were age classifications etc. for initial conscript service and subsequent reserve status just widened to include more of the population as a percentage of the whole?

Wolf - note this bit...

A Field Army Corps had as Corps Troops: 1 Infantry Regiment, 1 Bycicle Regiment, 1 Engineer Regiment, 1 Corps Regiment (Staff, Helicopters, Signals, Police, Construction, Anti Tank Rockets).
Subordinated under the FAK were 2 Field Divisions (Motorized Infantry), 1 Mechanized Division (Tank Division), 2 or 3 Border Brigades and the Territorial Zone it was operating in.
The task of the 3 FAK was stop the enemy in the flat terrain and to destroy him with the mechanized elements.

The Swiss always intended during the second half of the 20th century to defend its northern-northeastern flatlands as long as possible...it just wasn't always the job of the regular Field Army As part of the Reduit-based defence policy during WWII It was IIRC for the border defence units and home guards etc. to stall an invader on the lowlands as long as possible while the Field Army retreated into the Reduit....that is, until Gen. Guisan moved the Field Army into the Reduit permanently in 1941 Leaving the border units eyeing the German frontier with some trepidation...

Prior to Switerland becoming in effect "surrounded" by its potential enemies as of June 1940, the Swiss actually had a quite developed/matured defence line in the lowlands, the "Limmat Line", making best use of a number of river lines and fixed defences...and it intended to fight there.

[Simperator]

[quote="phylo_roadking"]Hi Simon - regarding the numbers...

...that makes the regular Field Army about twice the size of its WWII 330-340,000-soldier size. Where did the "extra" numbers actually come from - was Switzerland's population double that of the 1940s...or were age classifications etc. for initial conscript service and subsequent reserve status just widened to include more of the population as a percentage of the whole?

Hi,

Switzerland's population grew (about 4,3 Mio. in 1940 compared to 6,8 Mio. at the end of the 80's), and the army in WW2 was smaller in structure (about 9 Divisions compared to 12). The "Armee 61" plan, which was the doctrine from 1961-1995, consisted of the largest armed forces in Swiss history.

http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/de/i ... .Image.gif

Regards,
Simon

[Simperator]

From 1974, and probably before, to the mid 1980's, there was an anti-tank barrier near the Swiss town, Kreuzlingen, along the German border, before the German city, Konstanz. It crossed highway 1. I presume there were similar defences elsewhere along the border.

Of course! The "Armee 95" had:

2'000 mined bridges and other objects,
4'000 tank obstacles,
2'000 fortresses and bunkers with more than 3'000 guns of different calibers,
2'000 bunkers for men and officers with more than 100'000 sleeping places,
2'000 km of telephone cables.

If you're interested, here's much more to see, you can visit many places today:

http://www.unterirdischeschweiz.ch/index2.html

[Simperator]

Here's more:

http://www.festung-schweiz.ch/

[Wolf]

I will try to explain this to you.

Thank you!

Judging from that picture it would seem as if FAK 4 was responsible for the region around Altstätten. Do you know any details about how the defence would have been conducted in this area?

I imagine the bridges would have been demolished. Maybe there were fixed defences as bunkers etc for the Grenzbrigade units? A quick look on google maps shows a lot of seemingly flat farmland between the border and Altstätten. Looks like terrain suited to armoured units...

[Simperator]

No problem, my pleasure.

I guess you mean Altstätten in the Canton St. Gallen? This is in the Rhine valley where, because the valley is suited for tanks (as you mentioned correctly), was the Festung Heldsberg and a Bunker line to stop the enemy with AT guns and to cut the road and trainway between Altstätten and Gais (Canton Appenzell):

http://www.festung.ch/index.php?id=60

In general, very often seen obstacles in Switzerland (to this day) are the "Dragonteeth" or "Toblerone" -like tank obstacles, combined with streets where you could put in railway tracks vertically in holes to close the way for the enemy. All of this was, of course, always covered with AT guns and MG's, as an obstacle without fire cover is worthless.

[Wolf]

I guess you mean Altstätten in the Canton St. Gallen?

Yes.

Good info, thanks.