| Henri Guisan |
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| 1874 births | |
| guisan, henri | |
| 1960 deaths | |
| people from vaud | |
| swiss generals | |
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Henri Guisan ( 21 October , 1874 - 7 April , 1960 ) was the most recent General of the Swiss Army , as Commander In Chief during World War II . He is best remembered for effectively mobilizing the Swiss army 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 , which is in the vicinity of Avenches , in the canton of Vaud , a Protestant part of French-speaking Switzerland . He was the descendant of Huguenot protestants who emigrated from France in 1685. 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 Biere as a Lieutenant. He was promoted several times, reaching the rank of Colonel in 1920 . DEFENSE OF THE NATION On August 30 , 1939 Guisan was elected as General by the federal parliament, a rank only chosen in time of war or national emergency. 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 troops, approximately 20% of the work force. However, Swiss military equipment was not on a par with that of the German military (Edgar Bonjour, Neutralität, Bd. IV, 1970, p. 379 quoted after Independent Commission of Experts Switzerland - World War II, final report, German edition, p. 92.) As a consequence, General Guisan developed his famous "Reduit Concept" in summer 1940, according to which the Swiss Army would have retreated into the Alps relatively soon if attacked, but would have kept up resistance based on some sort of guerilla tactics from there. The main strategy, however, was deterrence rather than fighting. On August 20 , 1945 , General Guisan left his command, considering his mission was fulfilled. He died on April 7 , 1960 . EXTERNAL LINKS
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