Operation Tannenbaum

Operation Tannenbaum
Part of World War II
Location	Switzerland
Planned by	Nazi Germany
Objective	Invasion of Switzerland
Date	1940–1944
Outcome	Never took place

Operation Tannenbaum (English: Operation Fir Tree or Christmas Tree), known earlier as Operation Green (German: Unternehmen Grün), was a planned but cancelled invasion of Switzerland by Nazi Germany during World War II.

For tactical reasons, Adolf Hitler made repeated assurances before the outbreak of the Second World War that Germany would respect Swiss neutrality in the event of a military conflict in Europe. In February 1937, he announced that "at all times, whatever happens, we will respect the inviolability and neutrality of Switzerland" to the Swiss federal councillor Edmund Schulthess, reiterating this promise shortly before the Nazi invasion of Poland. These were, however, purely political maneuvers intended to guarantee Switzerland's passiveness. Nazi Germany planned to end Switzerland's independence after it had defeated its main enemies on the continent first.

In a meeting held with Fascist Italy's leader Benito Mussolini and Galeazzo Ciano (the Foreign Minister of Italy) in June 1941, Hitler stated his opinion on Switzerland quite plainly:

"Switzerland possessed the most disgusting and miserable people and political system. The Swiss were the mortal enemies of the new Germany."

In a later discussion the German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop directly alluded to the possibility of carving up Switzerland between the two Axis powers:

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