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Neutrality (Not Taking Sides)

The Neutrality Act - a law passed by the U.S. Congress and signed by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in Aug., 1935. Was designed to keep the United States out of a possible European war by banning shipment of war materiel to belligerents at the discretion of the President and by forbidding U.S. citizens from traveling on belligerent vessels except at their own risk. The demand for this legislation arose from the conviction of many Americans that U.S. entry into World War I had been a mistake. This conviction was strengthened by the well-publicized investigations by a Senate committee headed by Gerald P. Nye of American war loans to the Allies. The Neutrality Act was amended (Feb., 1936) to prohibit the granting of loans to belligerents, and later (Jan. and May, 1937) neutrality was extended to cover civil wars, a step inspired by the Spanish civil war. In Nov., 1939, the act was revised in favor of supplying warring nations on the "cash-and-carry" principle; but U.S. vessels were excluded from combat zones, and U.S. citizens were forbidden from sailing on belligerent vessels. These provisions were lifted by amendment in Nov., 1941, after the lend-lease policy had been established. The act was thus practically out of operation even before American neutrality ended with Pearl Harbor.

Besides Switzerland, a number of countries stated an official position of neutrality (not taking sides) during World War II. Switzerland was joined by Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Turkey, and Argentina. The Swiss converted Nazi gold stolen from the Jews and other victims of the Nazis to Swiss francs and that Germany had used that money to buy minerals from Spain, Portugal, Sweden, and Turkey.

Ireland's neutral stance during World War II, was very controversial at the time. The battle was both visible and tangible northwest of Ireland, creating a major problem for the Irish government as it tried to censor war news. Officials could not prevent corpses of soldiers from washing up on the Irish coast. The Irish government used censorship during the war to try to make neutrality popular. Despite these efforts, neutrality created a deep awkwardness for the Irish people over not having taken part in the war, which still exists today.

While officially non-belligerent during the Second World War, General Franco's Spanish State gave considerable material, economic, and military assistance to the Axis Powers. Meanwhile individual Spaniards and tens of thousands of exiled Leftist Republicans, contributed to the Allied cause. Although it sought to avoid entering the war, Spain did make plans for defense of the country. Initially, the mass of the army was stationed in the southern part of the country in case of an allied attack. However, Franco ordered the divisions to slowly move towards the French border after Hitler threatened him with invasion. By the time it became clear that the Allies were gaining the upper hand in the conflict, Franco had amassed all his troops on the French border and received personal assurances from leaders of Allied countries that they did not wish to invade Spain. Although German soldiers were well prepared and battle-hardened, the recent combat experience of the Spanish army and rugged terrain of northern Spain presented a significant obstacle to any Axis invasion.

During World War II, Portugal took no official side during the war in their hopes to avoid being attacked by the Axis Powers or in becoming involved the arial attacks of the Axis and Allied Powers. Over 10,000 Portuguese men were sent to battle the Germans in Northern France under the banner of Great Britain. The reason for which this occurred was twofold. One, Portugal wanted to continue to maintain its alliance with Great Britain as it had for the last six hundred years (that is, supplying troops in times of need and when invaded by a foreign power). The second reason for which Portuguese soldiers fought under the British flag was because Portugal wanted to help Britain without officially removing itself from a state of declared neutrality.

Swedish neutrality had been the policy for more than a century, since the end of the Napoleonic Wars. When hostilities began on 1 September 1939, the fate of Sweden was unclear. Eventually, even though 20 nations had held a policy of neutrality in September 1939, only five European nations were capable of sustaining a policy of neutrality throughout the entire war. Sweden was one of those countries able to maintain this delicate balance and avoid engagement in the European Theatre. Sweden owed this maintenance of neutrality to its location in the Scandinavian Peninsula, its long-held neutral stance in international relations, a dedicated military build-up and an unpredictable course of events which went in its favour. Another important factor was the concessions the Swedish government made to Germany, for example allowing the Wehrmacht to use Swedish railways to transport an infantry division from Norway to Finland, and to transport soldiers on leave between Norway and Germany.

At the start of World War II, Turkey was bound to Britain and France by the Tripartite Alliance of October 1939, but declared itself a non-belligerent on June 26, 1940, shortly after the French surrender to Germany. Adolf Hitler established the terms of Germany’s observance of Turkish neutrality in a letter to President Inonu in March 1941, at the time the Nazi forces invaded Yugoslavia and moved through Bulgaria to crush Greece. The inviolability of Turkey’s frontier would be guaranteed and German troops would be allowed no closer than 20 miles from the Bulgarian-Turkish border. The German-Turkish Treaty of Friendship of June 18, 1941, confirmed these guarantees of the integrity of the Turkish borders and added the mutual undertaking to make no hostile action, directly or indirectly, against each other.

Britain and the United States accepted Turkey’s neutrality early in the War in view of its military weakness, and they undertook to explore the possibility of rendering economic and military assistance to keep Turkey neutral until it could join the Allies. In light of traditional British interests in the eastern Mediterranean and, more specifically, the Anglo-Turkish Alliance of June 1939, Britain took the lead throughout World War II in relations with Turkey. U.S. military assistance to Turkey began in 1941 as part of the British effort to ensure that Turkey resisted Germany.

During most of World War II, Argentina stuck to a policy of neutrality. In 1943, fearing that Patron Costas, a conservative within the Castillo government, would lead Argentina into the war, nationalists within the army staged a coup d'etat. The Castillo government had been widely perceived as corrupt, the coup took place unopposed. A new government was formed under General Pedro Ramirez, who resigned later in 1943 and was succeeded by General Edelmiro Farrell. Argentina faced increased international pressure, for her continued position of neutrality, for men sympathizing with Fascist Italy in her government (Juan Peron, minister of labour and welfare, who had visited Italy and Spain in 1938-1940). In 1944 the US administration descrobed Argentina's government to be fascist and imposed economic restrictions on the country. In late March 1945, Argentina had declared war on the Axis Powers and joined the Allies.

During World War II over 20,000 British and Allied servicemen escaped to neutral Switzerland or crossed the lines within Italy. Many of the former prisoners of war and downed airmen were rescued by the escape and evasion secret services of British and American Military Intelligence.

In WWII, most of the 166 U.S. aircraft that landed in Switzerland did so out of necessity. It was either that or risk a crash landing in occupied France, or worse, running out of fuel long before reaching English shores. Only about five to ten percent of the crews landed there deliberately to escape the rest of the war. A large number of Americans escaped from the Swiss interment camps and made their way back to England. Of the 1,740 internees and evadees, 947 tried to escape. Of these, 184 attempts failed and the airmen were sent to brutal prison camps that were worse than the Stalag Luft camps in Germany.

The first airmen to arrive in Switzerland did not land there. They had been shot down over France or Germany and managed to make their way across the Swiss border. These men were considered "evadees" rather than internees. According to Swiss laws dating back to medieval times, they were entitled to sanctuary and some were free to leave like tourists. They were kept in separate camps from the internees who landed or parachuted into Switzerland.

A popular saying at that time was, "The Swiss are working for the Germans six days a week and praying for the Allies on the seventh!" However, the alliance between Switzerland and Germany was mostly an economic one. Looking at it from another perspective, if the Swiss had not cooperated with Germany, they would most likely have been annexed and occupied by German forces. Probably 95% of the Swiss people were openly pro-Allies.

The first foreign aircraft to land in Switzerland was a Luftwaffe Dornier Do-17Z-3 on 21 April 1940. The crew mistook Basel-Biresfelden airfield for a German field and landed. They were interned by the Swiss, but were later released due to pressure from the German government.

Until the summer of 1942, all landings or crashes of foreign aircraft on Swiss soil were made by Axis planes. A number of Me-110s and He-llls were shot down by Swiss fighters and a number of Luftwaffe training aircraft landed in error. Some of the German crews were allowed to return to Germany.

The first landing of an Allied aircraft was made by a British Mosquito in August of 1942. The pilot and copilot were returning from a recon mission to Venice when an engine overheated and they were forced to land at the Berne-Belp airfield. The two-man crew tried to destroy the plane, but they failed in the attempt. The aircraft was repaired by the Swiss and later saw service in the Swiss Air Force. Both pilot and copilot were returned to England and paired with two German pilots sent back to Germany.

The first U.S. aircraft to land on Swiss soil was a B-24D named "Death Dealer." It was from the 93rd Bomb Group and had taken part in a raid on the Messerschmitt factory at Wiener-Neustadt. The plane was set on fire and destroyed by the crew. In an almost unbelievable coincidence, the first B-24 to land in Sweden was also from the 93rd Bomb Group and it too was named "Death Dealer."

The first B-17 to put down in Switzerland was from the 100th Bomb Group. They crash landed with #3 feathered, #2 shot up with the prop windmilling and the landing gear up. They had just left Schweinfurt on 17 August 1943. The second B-17 to land was from the 390th Bomb Group and had also been on the Schweinfurt mission. They bellied in near Berne on the 17th with two engines shot out. The last arrival landed on 20 April 1945. It was a B-17G from the 15th Air Force.

Of the 166 U.S. aircraft that landed, 74 were B-17s and 82 were B-24s. The rest were fighters and recon aircraft. A record of 16 U.S. aircraft landed in one day on 18 March 1944. Twelve were B-24s and four were B-17s. Six of the twelve B-24s were from the 44th Bomb Group alone. Some landings were highly questionable, such as when a B-24D from the 93rd Bomb Group, a veteran of the famous Ploesti raid, landed at Dubendorf on 16 March 1944. The Swiss noted, "The aircraft was virtually undamaged and contained enough fuel to get them back to England."

From August to October of 1945, 30 B-17s and 41 B-24s were flown back to Burtonwood in the U.K. The rest were scrapped in Switzerland. Ironically, those that were flown to England arrived too late to be flown back to the U.S. and so were scrapped at Burtonwood. Other items, such as aircraft equipment, bombs, flight clothing, etc. were hauled out of Switzerland by trucks to Munich-Erding, Germany where they were destroyed or burned.

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