National Redoubt (Switzerland)
The term "National Redoubt" primarily refers to the fortifications begun in the 1880s that secured the mountainous central part of Switzerland, providing a defended refuge for a retreating Swiss Army.
The National Redoubt encompassed a widely distributed set of fortifications on a general east–west line through the Alps, centering around the major fortress complexes of St. Maurice, St. Gotthard, and Sargans.
Additional positions were constructed in the area of Saint-Maurice, using mining and tunneling techniques in the steep mountainsides of the glacial valley.
[3] General Henri Guisan developed a strategy for the defence of Switzerland that recognised its limited resources in equipment and manpower compared to its potential adversaries.
Guisan proposed a delaying strategy in the broken terrain of the borders to keep an invading force out of the open country in the central plateau for as long as possible to allow an orderly retreat to the secured Alpine perimeter.
That was overcome by a proposal, authored by Guisan's chief of staff, Colonel Samuel Gonard, whose plan ratified the Saint-Maurice - Saint Gotthard - Sargans strategy, prefaced by a defence in depth.
Two days after the French surrender, on 23 June, the border zones were reduced in priority in favor of the "advanced position" or Army Line.
On 25 July 1940, the Swiss defensive plan was disseminated dictating a fallback to the Alps in the event of an Axis attack, focusing in particular on the Gotthard massif and destroying all access points as necessary once inside.
The gold reserves of the Swiss National Bank in Zürich were moved farther away from the German border to the Gotthard Pass and Bern.
[5] The National Redoubt assumed great importance to the Swiss in 1940, when they were entirely surrounded by Axis powers and thus effectively at the mercy of Hitler and Mussolini.
[8] Concessions included a national blackout and the destruction of a secret German radar system that had accidentally landed in Switzerland in exchange for a dozen aircraft.
The dense network of passive and active barriers and large and small fortifications allowed considerable flexibility in the disposition of Swiss forces and represented an almost-optimal scenario of defence in depth.
[6] The strategic importance of the Alpine crossings had only increased since the Second World War, and any incursion by Warsaw Pact forces would require them to be taken or for terms for their use to be agreed upon to the satisfaction of Switzerland.
Besides cannons and howitzers, the infrastructure consisted of dormitories, kitchens, field hospitals, rooms for the sick, bakeries, and enough space to accommodate 100 to 600 soldiers for up to several months.
Because tensions between the West and the Soviet Union, which later fell, cooled down and bunkers became increasingly obsolete because of newer weapon systems, many of the buildings were closed after the Cold War, in the mid-to-late 1990s and the early 2000s.
[17] Fort Sasso da Pigna 46°33′31.68″N 8°33′59.50″E / 46.5588000°N 8.5665278°E / 46.5588000; 8.5665278 was built during the early part of World War II, becoming operational in 1943, effectively replacing Redoubt Hospiz.
Fortress Saint-Maurice is a series of fortifications set into the mountains on either side of the valley, dominating the region as far as Lake Geneva with their artillery.
In October 2010, Defense Minister Ueli Maurer proposed closing many of the positions after mitigating environmental issues and assuring permanent safety.
Niche enterprises now occupying decommissioned sites include hospitality and leisure providers, food producers and cultural initiatives, as well as cyber-security and asset-protection specialists.
Converted into a museum in 2001, the former Faulensee artillery plant [46] in the Bernese Oberland offers visitors the opportunity to explore a typical camouflaged underground bunker complex with connecting tunnels.
Opened in 2019, the Andermatt Concert Hall project [47] transformed an underground military space initially earmarked for events and conventions into an international music venue.
[49] Several Réduit bunkers originally built to guarantee national security now provide the ultimate safe haven for safeguarding some of the commercial world’s most valuable commodities.
Underground data centers in the Bernese Oberland and the canton of Lucerne archive and protect multinational digital real estate from every conceivable hazard.
In the Gotthard region, a dedicated suite of maximum-security bunkers were constructed during the Second World War at a secret location near Amsteg in the canton of Uri.
[50] Today, however, these Gotthard vaults are maintained by specialist providers offering protected storage of precious metals and other valuable assets.
[51] In 2023, with some contemporary observers already predicting “Switzerland’s security will continue to become increasingly dependent on external inputs”,[52] debate about the relevance of the remaining Redoubt fortifications has once again come to the fore.
The resurgence of geopolitical power politics, especially the Russo-Ukrainian war, has also served to focus attention on whether the current Swiss strategy of armed neutrality will, in future years, deliver independence or isolation.
[54] A Federal Department of Defense (DDPS) report in 2018 confirmed the remaining 3,500 tons of explosive material must be removed to avoid the risk of a further tragedy – a task requiring the temporary evacuation of Mitholz residents.
Yet by September 2023, when the Swiss parliament agreed to finance the 25 years of work involved, clearance costs had risen to almost 2.6 billion francs.
[55] With the first evacuations scheduled for the summer of 2024, a DDPS disaster risk management plan has nominated the Center for Development and Environment (CDE) at the University of Bern to continuously monitor the social impact of the remediation across the lifespan of the project.
