Lithic Disguise

[roo_ster]

http://bldgblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/various-forms-of-lithic-disguise.html

I finally had a chance to read John McPhee's book La Place de la Concorde Suisse, his somewhat off-puttingly titled 1984 look at the Swiss military and its elaborately engineered landscape defenses.

[Image: Swiss mountain pass, via Google Image Search].

To make a long story short, McPhee describes two things: how Switzerland requires military service from every able-bodied male Swiss citizen—a model later emulated and expanded by Israel—and how the Swiss military has, in effect, wired the entire country to blow in the event of foreign invasion. To keep enemy armies out, bridges will be dynamited and, whenever possible, deliberately collapsed onto other roads and bridges below; hills have been weaponized to be activated as valley-sweeping artificial landslides; mountain tunnels will be sealed from within to act as nuclear-proof air raid shelters; and much more.

The impending self-demolition of the country is "routinely practiced," McPhee writes. "Often, in such assignments, the civilian engineer who created the bridge will, in his capacity as a military officer, be given the task of planning its destruction."

Fascinating blog post.

Plus, this comment:

I have seen this with my own eyes as a foreign student in Switzerland in 1981, when a MOUNTAIN "opened" up and four jets flew out of it, near the quiet town, Martigny.

Sweet.

[Regolith]

And that's why not even the Nazis tried to *expletive deleted*ck with Switzerland.

[Boomhauer]

And that's why not even the Nazis tried to *expletive deleted* with Switzerland.

A good book
http://www.amazon.com/Target-Switzerland-Swiss-Armed-Neutrality/dp/0306813254/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1340598612&sr=8-3&keywords=switzerland+world+war+two

[just Warren]

One simply does not march into Switzdor.

[birdman]

A country with compulsory (and well received) military service, whose land is basically one big choke-point, populated by extremely patriotic and proud people?  Yeah, id rather plant my own minefield and then dance around on it than invade.

[cordex]

A country with compulsory (and well received) military service, whose land is basically one big choke-point, populated by extremely patriotic and proud people?  Yeah, id rather plant my own minefield and then dance around on it than invade.

Well yeah.  You'd know where the mines were.

[Fly320s]

And that's why not even the Nazis tried to *expletive deleted* with Switzerland.

Swiss banking laws didn't hurt, I imagine.

[Sergeant Bob]

Swiss banking laws didn't hurt, I imagine.

This right here.

[just Warren]

I was thinking about this and this is quite a lot of infrastructure. I wonder what just the maintenance costs are as a percentage of the budget.

Also the US government has lost track of a lot of the property it owns and I imagine so have they. So there might be whole areas that were built back in the day that are now forgotten and abandoned and housing supervillians squatters.

Plus, is it possible that a mountain gets so hollowed out that it becomes vulnerable to bombardment?

It might look fine, on paper, but given the quality of bombs like the MOAB etc can they be sure their mountains can take it?

Of course these are just idle questions as no one will ever want to or be able to invade them even if their defenses are not all they are hyped to be.

[birdman]

Plus, is it possible that a mountain gets so hollowed out that it becomes vulnerable to bombardment?

Yes, but they are no where close.

It might look fine, on paper, but given the quality of bombs like the MOAB etc can they be sure their mountains can take it?

You mean MOP (MOAB is an air burst device).  And yes.  The MOP is inefficient compared to even surface-burst nukes, which are not that hard to harden against in reality.

[RevDisk]

Switzerland is defended as much by their banking system and rigid neutrality as they are by their pikes, er bunkers and whatnot. Plenty of rifles and well prepared engineering does help, of course.

[drewtam]

Swiss banking laws didn't hurt, I imagine.

I've heard this argument before, but I don't quite follow it. If the country had been invaded & conquered by 1930's Germany, what are the bankers going to do? Refuse to surrender the vault key? Evacuate to Italy? Move to France? Hide in Germany and Austria? Fly to Britain?

I'm not sure that holding the gold & debt of a ruthless empire is a safe position to be in. Especially for a country where 2/3rds are germanic speaking citizens and the other 1/3rd is conquered french. That is a slow pitch for 1930s Germany's propaganda for war.

Here's video of their defense structures
http://theswissriflesdotcommessageboard.yuku.com/topic/10145/Swiss-TV-hidden-jets-bunkers-and-guns-all-over-the-country#.T-jyd7RYuBM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEOLonBfaD8


Other interesting Swiss facts...
They copied our US constitution in 1850's/1860s and by it created the major underpinnings of their federalist system. Instead of independent States, they have independent Cantons. Since they never went through our Civil War and New Deal, their/our federalist system remained intact. The Federal gov't is so weak that most people don't even know or care who the president is.

[birdman]

I think the advantage gained my the Swiss banking laws, and the fact everyone uses them, puts Switzerland in the same category as subsea telco cables...basically, no one attacks them, as everyone is vulnerable to the same attacks.  If one country attacks Switzerland, basically, everyone has a stake in making that not happen...