Germans Resented Swiss Friendliness To British In War

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 13, Issue 44, 21 January 1949, Page 5

Germans Resented Swiss Friendliness To British In War

During the war, though the Swiss were neutral, they were much more kindly disposed towards the British and their Allies than they were towards their neighbours, the Germans, according to Mr Ernest Theiier, Swiss Consul, who has just completed a short visit to Whakatane. He told a couple of amusing anec-* dotes to illustrate the point. Naturally, he said, it was a violation of Swiss neutrality for British bombers, on their way to Italian targets, to fly over Switzerland, and the Swiss, who were known to have the best “ack-ack” guns in the world, frequently fired upon them, but never brought any down. This annoyed Goebbels, ‘who published the following alleged report of a radio conversation between a Swiss ack-ack post and a British bomber. Swiss: You are over Swiss territory. British; We know it. Swiss: We are firing at you. British: We know it, but you . are about 1,000 feet short. Swiss: We know it. Dirt! Swiss newspapers, by favouring the British and the Allies at the expense of the Germans, got themselves unpopular with the Nazis, who, when they found they could not intimidate their neighbours, resorted to cheap abuse. One of their allegations was that Swiss editors had their heads stuffed with dirt instead of brains. That crude attempt at humour appeared to the German mind and, one morning, Swiss guards found a basket on their side of the border full of dirt and labelled: “Brain material for Swiss editors.” Next morning there was a basket full of butter on the German side of the border, with the note: “Each gives of that of which he has most.”