Henri Guisan
| Henri Guisan | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
21 October 1874 Mézières |
| Died | 7 April 1960 (aged 85) Pully |
| Allegiance |
 Switzerland
|
| Service/branch | Artillery |
| Years of service | 1894–1945 |
| Rank |
 General
|
| Commands held | Swiss Armed Forces |
| Battles/wars |
Second World War (not directly involved) |
Henri Guisan (French pronunciation: [ɑ̃ʁi ɡizɑ̃]; 21 October 1874 – 7 April 1960) was a Swiss army officer who held the office of the General of the Swiss Armed Forces during the Second World War. He was the fourth and the most recent man to be appointed to the rarely used Swiss rank of General, and was possibly Switzerland's most famous soldier. He is best remembered for effectively mobilizing the Swiss Armed Forces and Swiss people in order to prepare resistance against a possible invasion by Nazi Germany in 1940.
Henri Guisan was born in 1874 in Mézières, in the canton of Vaud, a Protestant part of French-speaking Switzerland. He attended school in Lausanne, and initially studied agricultural medicine. Upon entering the Swiss military in 1894, he was assigned to a horse-drawn artillery unit in Bière as a Lieutenant. He was promoted several times, reaching the rank of Colonel in 1920.
On 28 August 1939, a Federal Assembly called a United Federal Assembly to elect a General: a unique rank chosen only in time of war or national emergency. On 30 August 1939, Guisan was elected as General, by 204 votes to 21 for Jules Borel. He was given the directive to safeguard the independence of the country and to maintain the integrity of the Swiss territory. In 1939 the Swiss military could muster 430,000 men, approximately 20% of the work force. At one point, up to 850,000 Swiss soldiers were mobilized. However, Swiss military equipment was not on a par with that of the German military.
Guisan's appointment came despite his membership in the Fédération patriotique suisse, a largely pro-Nazi organisation. However, his command was dominated by conflict with the government, with the politicians continually airing German and French sentiments. Whereas the government preferred an understated and politically riskless neutrality, Guisan, charged with actually preventing invasion, opted to call for determined resistance. After the Battle of France, Germany found documents proving that Guisan had been secretly making military preparations with France, despite Swiss neutrality. The Swiss military would have been remiss in not pursuing contacts with the French based on their perception of a German threat. Nonetheless, this was politically very risky, and represented a very typical example to be seized upon by Germany to justify aggression, such as occurred prior to the German invasion of the Netherlands in World War II.
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