did you know ..........

[Stijn David]

Hello,


Since I did not find a appropriate place to post this trhead I decided to post it here , did you know that during the western campaign some He 111 where shot down by Swiss aircrafts ?

The Swiss airforce was equiped with the BF 109 ( yes indeed the German fighter ) during 1939 and on 01.06.1940 the Swiss airforce intercepted parts of the KG 53 over Switzerland ( the German's did violate Swiss neutrality on that day !!!!!!! ) who's task it was to bomb. targets in the South of France !!!!

* the first He 111 was shot down at about 18.00 Hour between Blamont & Delle ( the crew is stated as MIA ) on 01.06.1940

* the second He 111 was shot down at about 22.00 hour the same day ( 01.06.1940 ) over the " Bieler See " , the entire crew did not survive !!!!!!!

Quite tragic and mostly unknown facts.

Are there more such cases known where Swiss fighters did score a victory over German or any other country's airforce during WW II ?

Cordial Greetings,

[erichcraciun]

I have done a lot of research on the Swiss during the War. They indeed shoot down German aircraft, with their own 109e and French made Moranes. The Swiss were later able to acquire G versions of the 109 for the destruction of a ME 110 with secret radar qequipment on board. (very interesting story!). The Swiss even interred German aircrews (who were eventually sent back to Germany), they also shot down American bombers and had quite a collection of US aricraft at war's end. One American raid actually hit Schaffhausen (a Swiss city). The US later paid Switzerland a "Wiedergutmachung" after the war. I don't have any of my sources at hand, but I am sure there are people out there who know about this aspect of the war.

If you are interested I have much more info.

Erich Craciun

[David S]

Swiss Air Aces

That is something I never knew !

All I was aware of was that they interred aircrews and aircraft that landed on their territory.

Puts a new spin on those knives !!!!

[Stijn David]

swiss BF 109 's

Hello,


Thanks for the additional information Erich, I really appreciate it => do you have a clue where to find books on this subject ? I came across it when reading the new first class book " Schafsweide " written by : Braatz Kurt , 2001 : that handle's about the Fliegerhorst " Zellhausen " also known as a famous training ground for glider units ( such as the Erganzungsgruppe ' S ) 1 , etc ... )


Cordial greetings,

ps : should those Swiss pilots have received a distinction from their superiors for shooting down planes ?

[paddywhack]

actuly the americans ended up bombing swizterland so much that the US sent over a ammbassader to go and lay a wreath(???) at the funeral of a previous acitental bombing raid and during the ceramony the u.s airforce bombed a city near by by mistake AGIAN!!!!! also british bomber crashed and were shot as well not just the germans and americans,theres a good book on this subjet which i cant remember at the moment but it has loads of great pictures in it!!
also after the war load of plane wrecks were taken up from lakes in swizterland!!!!

[Stijn David]

swiss aces

Hello,


Thanks for the additional info => could you find the title of that book to wich you are referring to ? , it would help quite a lot


Cordial Greetings,

[erichcraciun]

I have a few books about the Swiss during the war. The one I was referring to was the Book, Die Schweiz am Rande des Krieges, but some polish Autor who does a lot of WWII books (forget his name at the moment!) GREAT fotos and really nice accounts of German/Swiss interaction - the only thing that was not mentioned was the madical unit that the Swiss sent to the Ostfornt - anyone have any information on this unit???? Once FINALLY get out of the office and infront of my books and computer I will send out a list of books!

Thanks,

Erich

[erichcraciun]

the book I was talking about is entitled, Die Schweiz am Rande des Krieges, by Janusz Piekalkiewicz. Great book - lots of fotos of both Swiss and German soldiers and aircraft.

It is sull of information about all the German and Allied aircraft that crashed or landed in the Schweiz during the war. For example, on 24. April 1944 in the course of 115 minutes 14 viermot US bombers landed or crashed in the vicinity of Zuerich! At the end of the war there were 186 US bombers intered in the country. The book just has too much info in it for me to copy here.

Also, the description of the German operation Tannenbaum, the planned invasion of the Schweiz, in Kameraden a few years was very good. It is interesting to note the the Swiss were prepared to fall completely in line with the French if the Wehrmacht attacked France from the Freibrug/Briesach (southern Germany) area.

Has anyone else studied the Swiss army and its role during WWII?

Erich Craciun

[Stijn David]

swiss during WWII

Hello Eric,


Thanks my friend for the info on the book, once again im going to start a new search after this particular book and hopefully lots of good info

Can you give the ISBN number ? ( just to make the tracing more easy )


Cordial Greetings,

[erichcraciun]

3-7766-1952-X

That's the number on the book. Good luck,


Erich Craciun

[Klaus O.]

David,

As a Swiss I couldn't resist to post some interesting links on the subject:

http://www.f4aviation.co.uk/Hangar/m...r-web/dubi.htm
http://www.thirdreichforum.com/phpBB...pic.php?t=7066
http://history1900s.about.com/librar...ssairforce.htm

Enjoy the reading and viewing...

Ciao,

Claudio

[Alp Guard]

Hi. I'm new here on the forum.

1. I found another link with some pictures and a full chronology of the dogfights in May/June 1940:

http://www.kczum.ch/aviation/content_1940.htm

Sorry it is in german.

2. Not only Schaffhausen were bombed by the americans but also Zurich and Basel.

3. Most of the allied aircraft were not shot down, but fled to Switzerland when hit over France or Germany. The normally were guided to the airbase of Dübendorf. The crew (total 1'600 men approx!) were interned in Hotels near Adelboden and in Davos. Those who had try to flee were sent to the punishment camp at Wauwilermoos.