Operation Christmas Tree: the plan to invade Switzerland

Swiss defences in WW2

Switzerland, neutral since 1815, with its mixed population of German, French and Italian speakers, was a possible target for German and Italian invasion in 1940.  This was Operation Tannenbaum, or in English, Operation Christmas Tree.
Hitler had made several statements regarding Germany respecting Switzerland's neutrality.  Of course, at the same time, he was forging links with the National Socialist and Fascist groups within the country.  In meetings, he secretly called Switzerland 'a pimple on the face of Europe' and the Swiss as a 'wayward branch of our folk'.  Germany demanded the unification of all Germans into a Greater Germany; this included the Swiss Germans. 
Italy also coveted Swiss territory.  The area south of the Swiss alps were eyed by the Fascist government of Italy and in talks with Germany and the planning of Operation Tannenbaum, this would be annexed by Italy, while Germany would take the northern two thirds of the country.
Operation Tannenbaum would come into effect after Germany's main opponents on continental Europe were vanquished and, along with Operation Sea Lion, the invasion of Britain, was fully expected when France fell in 1940.
In preparation for any German or Italian attack, Switzerland had mobilised its army and reserves after the fall of Poland, and France and the UK's declaration of war on Germany.  Switzerland also had a complex and comprehensive plan for the defence of territory, abandoning the indefensible and reinforcing the passes and valleys throughout their country.
It became clear to the German High Command that an invasion of Switzerland would bog down and occupy the Wehrmacht, using up men and resources which were needed elsewhere - Operation Barbarossa; the invasion of the Soviet Union.

Never forget

Russian troops on the Western Front

Russian soldiers in France

In the early days of WW1, there were stories circulating in Britain that thousands of Imperial Russian troops, including Cossacks, in heavy winter coats and still with snow on their boots had been seen travelling across Britain to the channel ports.  This, of course, was not the case.  It was an inspired piece of propaganda created by the British war office to confuse and misdirect the enemy (two German divisions were rushed from the battle of Marne to defend the Belgian coast), and also to inspire the population of the UK.
However, Russian troops did serve on the Western front.  The Russian Expeditionary Force was sent to France by the Tsar in 1916.
France had originally asked Russia for 300,000 men to be sent.  This was an enormous number, probably based on Russia's insistence that it had unlimited supplies.  Eventually, five brigades were sent to the west, mostly to France, but also to the Salonika Front in northern Greece, totalling around 45,000 men.  A further three divisions would have been sent had it not been for the Russian Revolution of 1917.

Revolution
All five brigades served with distinction, until the confusion of the Russian Revolution and the withdrawal of Russia from the Allies.  One of the camps where the Russian troops were stationed mutinied.  Russian soldiers from an adjacent camp attacked the mutineers, subduing the uprising.  The survivors were initially jailed before being sent back to Russia.

Post-revolution
The Russian troops who had stayed loyal to the Allied cause demanded that they be allowed to continue to fight in spite of the chaos in their home country and their new government's armistice with Germany.  As a result, the Russian Legion was formed which fought within the framework of the 1st Moroccan Infantry Division.  These men fought until the ceasefire of 1918 when the Russian Legion was disbanded and they either stayed in France or returned to what was by then, the Soviet Union.

Secret US plan to attack UK in the 1930s

The United States and the United Kingdom have fought against each other a few times; during the War of Independence and the War of 1812.  But who would have thought that the two countries who have been allied to one another in the closing years of WW1, from 1941 during WW2 and have enjoyed a 'special relationship' for decades would have considered that war between them was a possibility in the 1930s?
Since the 19th century, military strategists in the United States had made plans for defending against attack by an external power, using colours associated with the US - blue and the British Empire - red.  During the cold war, the colours remained the same, but the proposed red enemy was the Soviet Union.
However, it certainly seems strange to us now that at a time of fascism and communism spreading across Europe, that the USA would draw up plans for a pre-emptive strike against the British.  But this is exactly what happened.
There were elements in the US government who saw the British Empire as a threat to US aspirations as a world power.  The British Empire had dealt with any potentially rising world powers with military intervention.
Along with a general anti-British feeling in the US, the American military drew up a plan to attack Canada and British interests in the Caribbean.  Military airfields were build along the Canadian border along with a significant build up of troops and military exercises.
It has been suggested that the initial attack planned on Nova Scotia would have meant a war on the eastern seaboard of the United States which would have included 6 million combatants. 
Both Churchill and Hitler saw this as a possibility.  Hitler wanted a British victory and would have allied with the UK against the US.
Imagine what the world would be like now if that had happened!

Jacobite Machine Gun

I have been searching for information on a story I was once told.  During one of the early Jacobite rebellions, but not the '45, reports were sent back to London from Scotland about a secret weapon.
As well as the terrifying Highland charge which often sent Hanoverian troops scattering in panic, it was reported that there were great volleys from a number of muskets which seemed to outnumber the Jacobite rebels that they were facing.
It had seemed to several company commanders, who had been forced to retreat, that they had faced a sustained musket assault.  This was taken so seriously that spies, such as Daniel Defoe, were sent to find out about this secret Jacobite weapon.
Was this a very early machine gun?  Was there a genius secretly at work with the Jacobites?  Why did these reports suddenly stop and what happened to this devastating weapon?

French Secret Weapon at Agincourt 1415

On this day in 1415, England won a major battle in the Hundred Years War against France at Agincourt.  Victory in this famous battle gave England the upper hand in the war, crippling France and in due time allowing England's King Henry V's son to be made heir to the French throne.
The English victory was extraordinary.  The French overwhelmingly outnumbered the English and were fighting on home territory, while the English were hungry, illness sweeping through their ranks and weary with marching.

English War Crime
During the battle, Henry V, according to Shakespeare, commanded his troops;
"Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;
Or close the wall up with our English dead."
and
"Straining upon the start. The game's afoot:
Follow your spirit, and upon this charge
Cry 'God for Harry, England, and Saint George!"
Unfortunately, this famous victory had a dark side.  A very dark side.  During the toing and froing through the increasingly sticky mud of the battlefield, the English took several thousand French prisoners.  After the initial English victory, Henry V became increasingly concerned that the huge numbers of prisoners could re-arm themselves and were a threat to the exhausted English army.  As a result he ordered the slaughter of the unarmed prisoners, have thousands of men killed, leaving only the most valuable and highly ranked prisoners alive.
This action was considered by the English knights to be so unpalatable that they refused to take part in the massacre, leaving only the archers and foot soldiers to carry out the action.
Times and values were different in 1415; if the massacre of the prisoners had not been carried out, then the English victory may have been out in jeopardy.  But never the less, viewing the killing of unarmed prisoners of war with modern eyes, makes this event, without a doubt, a war crime.

French Weapon
The English and Welsh archers' longbow was used with deadly effect against the French, bringing down their infantry and cavalry.  Often made from Yew, the longbow was famously used in the English victories against the French at Crecy and Poitiers.  It has often been suggested that the obscene two finger 'V' sign was originally made by French soldiers at the English archers, meaning that, if caught, the archers would have their two most important fingers cut off so they would never be able to use a longbow again.
Most interestingly though, at this victory of longbows, one of the English archers was killed by a new weapon; a weapon which would supersede all others in its various forms, a weapon which is still in use today and continues to be developed to be more deadly than before.  The archer was killed by a gun.  A French gun.

The British SS Corps

By late 1940, the decision had been made to recruit foreign volunteers into the SS.  This began with Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Dutch and Belgian units, but after a short while further nationalities were added; Cossack, Swiss, Croatian amongst many others.
One unit which was created was from a German enemy; the British Free Corps.  Recruited from POW camps in 1944, volunteers were given the chance to leave the camps and fight against what Germany called a 'common enemy'; the Soviet Union.
Originally called the Legion of St George, the BFC never numbered more than 70 members and were used mostly as a propaganda tool.  It is extremely difficult to find information on the BFC, so it is unknown if they were ever actually used in combat on the Eastern Front.
So, if anyone has any further information....

The day German and Allied forces fought together against a common foe

On the 5th of May 1945, US soldiers and German Wehrmacht troops fought on the same side, defending French VIP prisoners in an Austrian castle against a veteran SS unit sent to execute the prisoners.
For two days, members of the US 12th Armoured Division, the 103rd Infantry Division, and Wehrmacht troops led by Major Josef Gangel fought against the battle hardened crack troops of 17th Waffen-SS Panzer Grenadier Division.
The French prisoners included  the ex-prime ministers Paul Reynaud and Eduard Daladier and former commanders-in-chief Generals Maxime Weygand and Paul Gamelin.
The Battle raged until the defenders were almost out of ammunition, when, at the last moment, they were saved when US troops arrived to reinforce them.
The full story of this extraordinary joining of Allied and Axis forces is told in Stephen Harding's 'The Last Battle'.

A tiny Axis power

The Principality of Monaco was officially neutral during the war. The population of the country was largely of Italian descent and sympathized with Italy. Its prince was a close friend of the Vichy French leader, Marshal Philippe Pétain, an Axis collaborator. A fascist regime was established under the nominal rule of the prince when the Italian Fourth Army occupied the country on November 10, 1942 as part of Case Anton. Monaco's military forces, consisting primarily of police and palace guards, collaborated with the Italians during the occupation. German troops occupied Monaco in 1943, and Monaco was liberated by Allied forces in 1944.

The day Fascist Italy nearly went to war with Nazi Germany

We are used to seeing that Italy and Germany (as well as Japan) were allied against the Allies during the Second World War, albeit, with Germany as the dominant partner in Europe.  However, this was not always the case.
During the early 1930's Mussolini had a great distrust of Hitler and the Nazis.  In fact, it was not always clearly cut that these two nations would become allies, in spite on their political similarities; Italy had close links with the UK and France, having been allied with them against Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire during the First World War.
After the First World War and the rise of the Nazi party in Germany, Italy came to see Austria as a buffer state between the two countries.  Diplomatic relations between Italy and Germany fluctuated between Hitler declaring  an admiration of Mussolini and a possible military pact between the two countries to Mussolini opposing any form of German-Austrian union.
Diplomatic relations broke down on 25th June 1934.  Hitler and Mussolini had met several weeks before in Venice where Hitler had promised to respect Austrian independence for the time being.  Mussolini blamed Hitler personally for breaking this promise when Austrian Engelbert Dollfuss, Chancellor of Austria, was assassinated by members of the Austrian Nazi party.
Italian rapidly deployed several army divisions and air squadrons to the Brenner Pass on the border with Austria and warned Germany that any attempt to send German military units into Austria would result in a declaration of war.  Italy signed a pact with France to protect Austrian independence and discussions were made between the military of both counties on a possible war against Germany.
Hitler panicked and denied all responsibility for the assassination and dissolved any links between the German and Austrian Nazi parties.  Eventually, diplomatic relations were restored and Mussolini changed his views on Germany, especially after German support of his war in Ethiopia.
How different things would have been...

Italo Balbo

Italo Balbo was an interesting character from the war.  Marshal of the Italian Air Force and Mussolini's heir apparent, he was against Italy's alliance with Nazi Germany.

In 1939, after the German invasion of Poland, Balbo visited Rome to express his displeasure with Mussolini's support for German dictator Adolf Hitler. Balbo was the only Fascist of rank to publicly criticize this aspect of Mussolini's foreign policy. He argued that Italy should side with Britain. But Balbo attracted little following to his argument. When informed of Italy's formal alliance with Nazi Germany, Balbo exclaimed:  "You will all wind up shining the shoes of the Germans!".

There is something that I read somewhere, although, I can no longer find it, which told of the British 'war magician' Jasper Maskelyne, an expert in camouflage, who had made the harbour of Alexandria appear to enemy bombers to be several miles away.  This was discovered by Balbo, who instructed that dummy bombs be dropped on the dummy harbour.

On the 28th of June 1940, Balbo's aircraft was shot down by 'friendly fire'.  During his funeral in Tobruk, the RAF sent a single plane which dropped flowers.

Does anyone have any further information both on the dummy bombs being dropped and the RAF dropping flowers at his funeral?

On this day in WW2

27th September
1939
Poland surrenders after 26 days of fighting the German invasion from the west initially and then the Soviet invasion from the east.
1940
The Tripartite Pact was signed between Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and Imperial Japan.
1941
The first of the Liberty ships, built by the US under the lend-lease scheme for the UK, is launched.  Another 2,700 followed.
1942
The only US surface ship to sink a German surface warship, the SS Stephen Hopkins sinks the surface raider Stier before sinking below the waves herself.
1943
Mussolini holds his first cabinet meeting in northern Italy, while Italian resistance forces start attacking German troops in Naples.
1944
In Estonia, Soviet forces have eliminated most German resistance.

Brazil at war

Initially, Brazil maintained a position of neutrality, trading with both the Allies and the Axis Powers, while government policies indicated a leaning toward the Axis. However, as the war progressed, trade with the Axis countries became almost impossible and the United States initiated forceful diplomatic and economic efforts to bring Brazil onto the Allied side.

At the beginning of 1942, Brazil permitted the United States to set up air bases on its territory, and on 28 January the country severed diplomatic relations with Germany, Japan, and Italy. After that, 36 Brazilian merchant ships were sunk by the German and Italian navies, which led the Brazilian government to declare war against Germany and Italy on 22 August 1942.

Brazil then sent a 25,700 strong Expeditionary Force to Europe that fought mainly in Italy, from September 1944 to May 1945. Brazil was the only South American country to send troops to fight in Europe during the Second World War.

Today in WW2

26th September
1939
Soviet bombers seen over Estonian capital, Tallinn.
1940
Japan attacks French Indochina.
1941
34,000 Jews are murdered by German forces in Kiev.
1942
The August Frank memorandum is issued with plans for carrying out the Holocaust.
1943
Beginning of the Battle of Leros in Greece, where British, Greek and Italian forces were attacked by German bombers before the landing of troops on the island.  Until two months ago, Italy had been an ally of Germany and an occupation force on the island.
1944
Brazilian troops control the Serchio valley region after ten days of fighting.

At war with the French

British warships were also in battle with Vichy French forces of the coast of Africa on this day in 1940.  The French submarine Beveziers torpedoed British battleship HMS Resolution.  Interestingly, as pro-Axis Vichy France fights on behalf of its former foe Germany against its former ally Britain, Axis partner Japan threatens French Indochina, with Japanese forces soon in action against Vichy French troops.

Today in WW2

25th September
1939
Final German assault on Warsaw
Soviet troops along the Estonian border include 600 tanks and 600 aircraft and 160 000 men.
1940
Vichy French aircraft return to Gibraltar for a second day of bombings.
1941
German and Romanian troops seize the Perekop Isthmus, linking the Crimean peninsula to the Ukrainian mainland.
1942
Swiss Police Instruction denied entry into Switzerland to Jewish refugees.
1943
The German Armed Forces command issued a public decree for the removal from service of anyone classified as a 'Mischling of the First Degree', a person who had two Jewish, or otherwise non-Aryan, grandparents.
1944
British troops pull out of Arnhem with failure of Operation Market Garden. Over 6,000 paratroopers are captured.