Art
09-27-2020, 10:13
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FILxoQyKzDg
In WWII neutral Switzerland became involved in an undeclared air war with the United States.
U.S. Bombers that had been damaged and couldn't make it home often landed in Switzerland if they could make there. American bombers would also attempt to cross Swiss airspace to avoid combat with the Luftwaffe. The Swiss began intercepting these U.S. formations and air combat ensued, especially since the U.S. Airforce sometimes bombed Swiss cities by mistake. These "mistakes" happened often enough that the Swiss began to question how "accidental" they were especially since the Swiss did banking business with the Nazis during the war and Nazi trains sometimes transited Switzerland.
American airmen who strayed into Switzerland and became prisoners were warned by their captors in the strongest terms against trying to escape. Escaping Americans were sometimes shot. Americans who tried to escape and were recaptured were not sent to the relatively comfortable camps they were held in previously but to the "punishment camp," Wauwilermoos. The video describes it as the equivalent of a German camp. This would be true if the German camp was Dachau. The Camp Commandant was Capt. Andre'-Henri Beguin, was a French Foreign Legion veteran and an enthusiastic sadist. In Miller's excellent book "Masters of the Air" he tells the story of a young B17 crewman named Dan Culler who had tried to escape from the Swiss. He was recaptured and after a few days in a Swiss jail was sent to the "punishment camp. Culler said he almost passed out from the stench in his barrack at Wauwilermoos and his welcome was to be enthusiasticly and repeatedly raped. A guard had told Culler, who had never even kissed a girl, to be careful because there are "bad people here." In this case Russian prisoners who I imagine had escaped from the Nazis and also were punished by being sent to Wauwilermoos. Culler was a Quaker kid whose parents were strict pacifists. When he returned a complete emotional and physical wreck his mom wasn't too sympathetic. She told him "I told you not to go to that damn war."
The video is quite well done and one of the few documentary accounts, though a short one, of an almost unknown WWII sub-story.
In WWII neutral Switzerland became involved in an undeclared air war with the United States.
U.S. Bombers that had been damaged and couldn't make it home often landed in Switzerland if they could make there. American bombers would also attempt to cross Swiss airspace to avoid combat with the Luftwaffe. The Swiss began intercepting these U.S. formations and air combat ensued, especially since the U.S. Airforce sometimes bombed Swiss cities by mistake. These "mistakes" happened often enough that the Swiss began to question how "accidental" they were especially since the Swiss did banking business with the Nazis during the war and Nazi trains sometimes transited Switzerland.
American airmen who strayed into Switzerland and became prisoners were warned by their captors in the strongest terms against trying to escape. Escaping Americans were sometimes shot. Americans who tried to escape and were recaptured were not sent to the relatively comfortable camps they were held in previously but to the "punishment camp," Wauwilermoos. The video describes it as the equivalent of a German camp. This would be true if the German camp was Dachau. The Camp Commandant was Capt. Andre'-Henri Beguin, was a French Foreign Legion veteran and an enthusiastic sadist. In Miller's excellent book "Masters of the Air" he tells the story of a young B17 crewman named Dan Culler who had tried to escape from the Swiss. He was recaptured and after a few days in a Swiss jail was sent to the "punishment camp. Culler said he almost passed out from the stench in his barrack at Wauwilermoos and his welcome was to be enthusiasticly and repeatedly raped. A guard had told Culler, who had never even kissed a girl, to be careful because there are "bad people here." In this case Russian prisoners who I imagine had escaped from the Nazis and also were punished by being sent to Wauwilermoos. Culler was a Quaker kid whose parents were strict pacifists. When he returned a complete emotional and physical wreck his mom wasn't too sympathetic. She told him "I told you not to go to that damn war."
The video is quite well done and one of the few documentary accounts, though a short one, of an almost unknown WWII sub-story.