I'm very grateful to Herr Oswald Schwitter, who has allowed me to look at several maps, both French and German, showing the disposition of troops and defences at the southern end of the Front. They absolutely confirm that the line settled on the River Largue as shown here. There were some strongpoints further south, but the trenches ended where indicated. That means that the French line must have simply stopped at the frontier, a few yards west of the Largue, while the German carried on beyond the neck of land called the Largzipfel as a precaution against a French attack through Swiss territory. As discussed earlier, the Swiss feared that either side might attempt it and therefore built a series of watchtowers and observation posts.
The New York Times carried stories about a rumoured German plan to pass through Switzerland, by which time the US was in the War, and the tone is highly anti-Hun. I've now discovered that there was a very detailed French plan for an invasion of Germany through Switzerland from the west, but it was obviously never carried out.
"Sometimes things that are not true are included in Wikipedia. While at first glance that may appear like a very great problem for Wikipedia, in reality is it not. In fact, it's a good thing." - Wikipedia.
Hi james, that area of switzerland must have been very unhealthy or was there little action with the combatants on the othere side of the border.....I was allways curious as to how the swiss managed to stay out of the conflict considering that the war started in the west more or less with an invasion of a neutral country..
From Swiss Topo I have got some very high quality maps of this area. Together with your informations I should be able to locate the exact positions of the first French and German trenches in the south of the Western Front.
I hope to visit this part of Switzerland this year!
Hi Ironsides The area mentioned in this thread is in north-western Switzerland and it's sometimes called the "Pruntruter Zipfel". It's a very nice and calm part of this country: woods, small villages, not a lot of traffic, farmland and so on.
I think no one can say why Switzerland managed to stay out of the war.
Ivor, it was in this area that the very first clashes of the War took place. Then all the attention moved north and it stayed pretty quiet until 1918. At the time, of course, it was German territory.
"Sometimes things that are not true are included in Wikipedia. While at first glance that may appear like a very great problem for Wikipedia, in reality is it not. In fact, it's a good thing." - Wikipedia.