SWISS BELIEVE IN KEEPING POWDER DRY

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 13, Issue 43, 19 January 1949, Page 5

SWISS BELIEVE IN KEEPING POWDER DRY

Hornet’s Nest Had Hitler Attacked Though Switzerland has a long-standing tradition for keeping out cf Europe’s wars, her sons once had the reputation of being the fiercest fighters on the continent and even now every able-bodied Swiss is a\ trained soldier. That, Mr Ernest Theiler, Consul of Switzerland, told the Whakatane Rotary Club last night, is probably one reason why she managed to keep out of modern foreign wars. Mr Theiler, who was passing through here on Sunday on his way to Waikaremoana, had the misfortune to break a spring and damage the, brakes of his car. He was unable to get on the road again until this morning so the Rotary Club, through the good offices of Rotarian N. McG. Bremner, was able to persuade him to give the address at last night’s gathering. An intensely interesting talker, with scintillating wit and an irrepressible sense, of humour, the genial visitor made friends of his hearers as soon as he got on his feet They in their turn thanked him with a warmth that showed they were all with Rqtarian E. T. Dawson, mover of the vote of thanks, who said it was quite the best talk the Club had ever heard. Military Preparedness This question of military preparedness loomed large in Mr Theiler’s* discussion of his country’s attitude to European strife, and he was all for the doctrine that, to assure peace, a nation must be ready for war. He put it this way: It is no use to live in a world that is to be, but is not yet. It is very foolish to live today as we hope to be able to do in the future. He amplified that by saying that those who advocated universal military service knew what they were talking about. Britain was paying heavily today for her unpreparedness before the holacaust that Hitler started. Perhaps the price of preparedness was heavy, too. But it paid. Between the two world wars it had cost Switzerland £150,000,000 to “keep her powder dry.” That was a lot of money. But it had kept a lot of powder dry. On May 10, 1940, the Swiss got the tip that the Germans were go-, ing to attack, at 2 a.m. General mobilisation was ordered. That happened three times during the course of the war. But the attack never came. Swiss Were Ready However, had it come, the Germans would have found a determined, well-armed force, numerically small but with high morale, ready to fight it out. The tactic would have been to abandon the lowlands if necessary and withdraw with a force of 350,000 men to prepared positions in the Alps, where there were enough supplies and ammunition to hold out for two years. Mr Theiler hasn’t much u§e for Germans as a people, and he said he didn’t mind going on record as having said so. Individually, he said, they could be charming and apparently excellent fellows. Collectively, they were a bunch of bullies and always had been. He claimed they always would be. Once a few of them got together,' they would get the “wierdest ideas.” They always wanted to dominate someone else. Ten minutes before the war broke, Switzerland had 500,000 men mobilised. Every housewife had her ration coupons in her letter box. There were plenty of arms and ammunition. Everv male citizen had a rifle and 60 rounds of ammunition —and would have known what to do with it if necessary. The emergency had not arisen, but the Swiss were still keeping their powder dry. Twentyfive per cent of today’s budget was military.