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The Nazi Scheme to Bombard New York City With Rockets and Other Unfinished Military Plans

Khalid Elhassan January 16, 2020 32 min

South Vietnam - United States — American troops in South Vietnam. USA Today

20. Switzerland Was Spared Because Its Neutrality Was Useful to the Germans

Swiss soldiers during WWII. War History Online

Fortunately, Hitler never got around to issuing the orders for Operation Tannebaum to proceed. While the Fuhrer would have been emotionally gratified by an invasion and conquest of Switzerland, there was no immediate need to do so.

The Swiss had no aggressive designs on the Third Reich, and surrounded on all sides by Axis territory, there was no security threat of an Allied occupation of Switzerland as a base from which to attack Germany. Switzerland also had no resources that were not readily available to the Germans via trade. Moreover, the Swiss banking system, combined with Swiss neutrality, made the country a convenient center for currency exchange and other international financial transactions.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.