Why didn't Hitler invade Switzerland?

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Erm, hello?

Image: Victorinox

No one wants to fight a man who has time to file his nails, open a bottle of wine and then stab you.

Seriously though, let’s look at what happened.

In 1937 Adolf Hitler made many reassurances that:

at all times, whatever happens, we will respect the inviolability and neutrality of Switzerland.

There you go then. If he said it, you can trust him. It’s not like Hitler would lie.

Unfortunately, Hitler would change his tune a little bit in later years. In 1941 he gossiped with fellow dictator Mussolini, and stated that:

Switzerland possessed the most disgusting and miserable people and political system. The Swiss were the mortal enemies of the new Germany.

In 1942 he went even further, calling them:

a pimple on the face of Europe.

Now that’s just mean.

Hitler and Germany had actually started planning Operation Tannenbaum (the invasion of Switzerland) once France had surrendered, back in 1940.

Why didn’t it go ahead? Well, Switzerland’s mountainous terrain meant that an invasion would be a drawn-out and costly affair. There wasn’t that much strategic gain to be had, either. What did Switzerland have that other occupied countries didn’t?

The answer? Not much.

Well…

Worth it. You can’t get that in Poland. (Image: Swisstime)

Even though Hitler had said some nasty things about it, lil old Switzerland wasn’t really a threat to Germany either. While Germany could have successfully invaded, it was just a bit pointless to direct resources towards that goal.

In the end, Hitler never gave the order. Simply put, the costs outweighed the benefits.