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Hitler viewed the Swiss people as a "wayward branch of the German people", their Democratic, multilingual and decentralized country was an anti-thesis of the National Socialists' pan-germanic dream. The annexation of Switzerland in the German Reich was a necessity for him. Soon after the fall of France, the german leadership started planning for the invasion of Switzerland, this operation, nicknamed "Tannebaum" (Fir Tree), would have involved over 26 German and Italian divisions, however the ongoing Battle of Britain prevented the operation from carrying out, nonetheless the Swiss noticed the military build up, the recently elected General Henri Guisan called for Mass Mobilization, within a year the Helvetic Army reached a total of 600,000 soldiers, but the high command had to accept that their country couldn't do anything against the might of the Wehrmacht, this Realization made Guissan choose to focus on the strategy of the "National Redoubt": a large defence line around the swiss alps where the army could retreat, Guissan hoped that the casualties inflicted at the enemy would dissuade them from invading.

After launching the Invasion of the USSR, Hitler became unable to commit the ressources needed to attack Switzerland, but he still had an aversion for the country that traded freely with the most repulsive enemies of the Reich, at the same time the Helvetic Confederation was spending hundreds of million of francs toward building up the Redoubt defence, the facilites were centered on three fortress: The cities of St-Maurice, Sargans and the St-Gotthard Pass, the main communication line between Germany and Italy, they lines had hundred of armor part and stocks to feed hundred of thousands for up to 6 months, and Underground Hangar were built to store the Air Force's planes.

But germany emerged as a victor in the gigantic mess of the eastern front, in mid-43 it was becoming clear that, barring a miracle, the Soviet Union would slowly wither and collapse. At that time operation Tannebaum reappared in the high command, and a number of generals became convinced that they could at last spare the manpower for this invasion, in july 1943 Hitler reformed the Army Group C and put Field Marshall Albert Kesselring at the in charge. Hitler met Mussolini to plan the invasion and partition of Switzerland, the next few weeks were spent preparing the attack, which would start by a feint in the Jura near the French speaking areas and Drops of "Fallschirmjäger", the parachute infantry, it would then be followed by a joint attack in the North by Tank Divisions and an Italian Offensive in Ticino, the offensive would push the Swiss army in the alps, were the Axis would starve them until they can find a weakness in their defense. The operation was set to begin on September 26, 1943.

Before Dawn that day, Ju-52s carrying paratroopers took off from german bases and dropped them on the Swiss capital, Bern and near the Fortress of St-Maurice. Shortly after the Jura infantry divisions started advancing into the cities of Geneva, Neuchatel and Lausanne, the first two were quickly taken but the later wouldn't fall so easily, a few hours later the main Panzer and Infantry groups hurtled from the north, the attack was accompaned with joint german and italian attack in the help with the hope of taking advanced positions before the swiss army would retreat, however most of them were unsuccesful at breaching the Redoubt. After one day and a half of fighting Guisan ordered the retreat of all the armies behind the Redoubt line, this order would become controversial later because it meant leaving millions of civilian in german occupation. The Wehrmacht quickly secured Bern and Zurich but faced tough resistance as it advanced closer to the Redoubt line near Lucerne and Spiez, and the 305th Infantry Division suffered a severe setback near Glarus after overstretching. By the Third day over 85% of the Swiss army was inside the National Redoubt, half a million soldiers would spend the next months in one of the largest siege of history.

The first battle to take place was the air one, skilled swiss pilots took of on German bought Bf-109 carefully parked in underground hangars, the rough landscape and the defences initially prevented the Luftwaffe from getting an advantage, but its sheer size quickly turned the tide of the battle and by the third week of the siege Swiss sorties were limited to reconnaissance flight, but the deep fortification of the Redoubt rendered german bombing nearly harmless.

Life in the Redoubt was challenging, over half a million soldiers were cramed in defence lines and rationing had to be strict, and the majority of the troops didn't have any combat experience. In these circumstances locals started to smuggle messages, food and weapons to rise moral the stories of their life threatening mission would spread and become the basis for many novel and movies after the liberation. However the winter took its toll on the soldiers' will to fight and dwindling stocks didn't help, and on February 21 1944 a mutiny took place in the fortress of Sargans, the Heer took advantage of it and launched the final offensive against the redoubt, combat was intense, and despite the better shape of the german soldiers, mines and triggered avalanches slowed them and rendered armors nearly useless, and the total german air superiority helped them to slowly take over all of the swiss defence, after 3 weeks of combat nearly all of the fortifications had been taken, in an ultimate act of opposition Swiss troops blew up the St-Gothard tunnel, essential for transport between Germany and Italy. Some resistance would continue until the summer. To the German's dismay many factory had their tooling dismantled and several dozens of ton of gold had been evacuated before the invasion.

Switzerland was partitioned, Italy occupied and annexed the Italian Speaking Ticino and Grigioni while Germany occupied the rest, the French Romandy was put under a different administration than the German Speaking areas. Occupation was rather loose in the latters despite a very relunctant population and occasional small attacks, and the region was completely integrated in the Reich by 1947, its citizens now having the great honour of occupying russia. Romandy had a much harsher occupation and French was forbidden and restrictive laws pushed dozen of thousands of french to leave for France. Meanwhile the Nazi government promoted colonisation of romandish lands in an attempt to germanize it, and spreading non standard german in switzerland, the calmer political climate attracted many colonists who were hesitant to settle the unstable eastern expanses. These colonist were frowned upon by locals and several terrorist attacks were carried out, hundreds of Swiss were killed in retaliation. The full integration of Romandy, initially planned in 1948 was pushed back to 1955, but as we all know, history would decide otherwise.

Description

Rest of the scenario

Its HOI4 mod in development

Discord server

Hitler viewed the Swiss people as a "wayward branch of the German people", their Democratic, multilingual and decentralized country was an anti-thesis of the National Socialists' pan-germanic dream. The annexation of Switzerland in the German Reich was a necessity for him. Soon after the fall of France, the german leadership started planning for the invasion of Switzerland, this operation, nicknamed "Tannebaum" (Fir Tree), would have involved over 26 German and Italian divisions, however the ongoing Battle of Britain prevented the operation from carrying out, nonetheless the Swiss noticed the military build up, the recently elected General Henri Guisan called for Mass Mobilization, within a year the Helvetic Army reached a total of 600,000 soldiers, but the high command had to accept that their country couldn't do anything against the might of the Wehrmacht, this Realization made Guissan choose to focus on the strategy of the "National Redoubt": a large defence line around the swiss alps where the army could retreat, Guissan hoped that the casualties inflicted at the enemy would dissuade them from invading.

After launching the Invasion of the USSR, Hitler became unable to commit the ressources needed to attack Switzerland, but he still had an aversion for the country that traded freely with the most repulsive enemies of the Reich, at the same time the Helvetic Confederation was spending hundreds of million of francs toward building up the Redoubt defence, the facilites were centered on three fortress: The cities of St-Maurice, Sargans and the St-Gotthard Pass, the main communication line between Germany and Italy, they lines had hundred of armor part and stocks to feed hundred of thousands for up to 6 months, and Underground Hangar were built to store the Air Force's planes.

But germany emerged as a victor in the gigantic mess of the eastern front, in mid-43 it was becoming clear that, barring a miracle, the Soviet Union would slowly wither and collapse. At that time operation Tannebaum reappared in the high command, and a number of generals became convinced that they could at last spare the manpower for this invasion, in july 1943 Hitler reformed the Army Group C and put Field Marshall Albert Kesselring at the in charge. Hitler met Mussolini to plan the invasion and partition of Switzerland, the next few weeks were spent preparing the attack, which would start by a feint in the Jura near the French speaking areas and Drops of "Fallschirmjäger", the parachute infantry, it would then be followed by a joint attack in the North by Tank Divisions and an Italian Offensive in Ticino, the offensive would push the Swiss army in the alps, were the Axis would starve them until they can find a weakness in their defense. The operation was set to begin on September 26, 1943.

Before Dawn that day, Ju-52s carrying paratroopers took off from german bases and dropped them on the Swiss capital, Bern and near the Fortress of St-Maurice. Shortly after the Jura infantry divisions started advancing into the cities of Geneva, Neuchatel and Lausanne, the first two were quickly taken but the later wouldn't fall so easily, a few hours later the main Panzer and Infantry groups hurtled from the north, the attack was accompaned with joint german and italian attack in the help with the hope of taking advanced positions before the swiss army would retreat, however most of them were unsuccesful at breaching the Redoubt. After one day and a half of fighting Guisan ordered the retreat of all the armies behind the Redoubt line, this order would become controversial later because it meant leaving millions of civilian in german occupation. The Wehrmacht quickly secured Bern and Zurich but faced tough resistance as it advanced closer to the Redoubt line near Lucerne and Spiez, and the 305th Infantry Division suffered a severe setback near Glarus after overstretching. By the Third day over 85% of the Swiss army was inside the National Redoubt, half a million soldiers would spend the next months in one of the largest siege of history.

The first battle to take place was the air one, skilled swiss pilots took of on German bought Bf-109 carefully parked in underground hangars, the rough landscape and the defences initially prevented the Luftwaffe from getting an advantage, but its sheer size quickly turned the tide of the battle and by the third week of the siege Swiss sorties were limited to reconnaissance flight, but the deep fortification of the Redoubt rendered german bombing nearly harmless.

Life in the Redoubt was challenging, over half a million soldiers were cramed in defence lines and rationing had to be strict, and the majority of the troops didn't have any combat experience. In these circumstances locals started to smuggle messages, food and weapons to rise moral the stories of their life threatening mission would spread and become the basis for many novel and movies after the liberation. However the winter took its toll on the soldiers' will to fight and dwindling stocks didn't help, and on February 21 1944 a mutiny took place in the fortress of Sargans, the Heer took advantage of it and launched the final offensive against the redoubt, combat was intense, and despite the better shape of the german soldiers, mines and triggered avalanches slowed them and rendered armors nearly useless, and the total german air superiority helped them to slowly take over all of the swiss defence, after 3 weeks of combat nearly all of the fortifications had been taken, in an ultimate act of opposition Swiss troops blew up the St-Gothard tunnel, essential for transport between Germany and Italy. Some resistance would continue until the summer. To the German's dismay many factory had their tooling dismantled and several dozens of ton of gold had been evacuated before the invasion.

Switzerland was partitioned, Italy occupied and annexed the Italian Speaking Ticino and Grigioni while Germany occupied the rest, the French Romandy was put under a different administration than the German Speaking areas. Occupation was rather loose in the latters despite a very relunctant population and occasional small attacks, and the region was completely integrated in the Reich by 1947, its citizens now having the great honour of occupying russia. Romandy had a much harsher occupation and French was forbidden and restrictive laws pushed dozen of thousands of french to leave for France. Meanwhile the Nazi government promoted colonisation of romandish lands in an attempt to germanize it, and spreading non standard german in switzerland, the calmer political climate attracted many colonists who were hesitant to settle the unstable eastern expanses. These colonist were frowned upon by locals and several terrorist attacks were carried out, hundreds of Swiss were killed in retaliation. The full integration of Romandy, initially planned in 1948 was pushed back to 1955, but as we all know, history would decide otherwise.