Active service

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Active service entries 1939–44 in the service booklet

Active service in Switzerland means the deployment of the Swiss Army to ward off external dangers (national defense service) or internal dangers (security service). It differs from the assistance service, in which the force supports civil authorities and is deployed under their leadership, and from the training service.

Legal regulation

According to the Military Act of 1995, active service includes the deployment of troops to defend Switzerland and its population (national defense service) and to support civil authorities in defending against serious threats to internal security (security service).

Since 1907, the Federal Assembly has been responsible for ordering active service and the deployment of parts or the entire army for active service. The Federal Council can only order active service in urgent cases . If the contingent exceeds 4,000 members of the army or lasts longer than three weeks, the Federal Assembly must be convened immediately, which will decide whether to maintain active service. The troops called up for active service take the oath or vow . As soon as a larger number of troops is planned or issued, the Federal Assembly elects the general .

According to the Military Act of 1995, everyone during active service is obliged to make their movable, immovable and intellectual property available to the military authorities and the troops in order to fulfill their military missions and, in the event of war, to tolerate the rendering of property unusable. In active service, the Federal Council can order the military operation of private companies entrusted with public tasks, with the exception of transport companies licensed by the federal government. In the national defense service, the Federal Council can reduce the age of compulsory military service and postpone discharge from compulsory military service.

Active service since 1848

Memorial fountain border occupation 1939–45 in Pfäfers

Since the founding of the federal state , the federal troops have provided the following active services for national defense:

  • 1848–1849: During the uprising of Veneto and Lombardy against Austria and as a result of the failure of the revolution in the Grand Duchy of Baden.
  • 1853: Due to a border conflict with Austria, which made the Ticino authorities' liberal asylum practice responsible for an attempted coup in Milan.
  • 1856–1857: In the so-called After the suppression of the royalist revolt in Neuchâtel , the Prussian king threatened the Neuchâtel trade with military measures.
  • 1859: Protection of the southern border during the Italian war of unification.
  • 1860: Protection of Geneva from attacks after the controversial Savoy trade , in which Sardinia compensated France for its help in the Italian war of unification by ceding Savoy.
  • 1866: in the Italo-Austrian War of 1866
  • 1870–1871: Protection of the northern and western borders during the Franco-German War 1870–1871. In 1871, 87,000 members of the Bourbaki army were interned.
  • 1914–1918: During the First World War, protection of the national border against any attempts by belligerents to evade Switzerland.
  • 1939–1945: During the Second World War , 450,000 soldiers, 250,000 servicemen, 53,000 horses and 16,000 motor vehicles were called up. The contingent was reduced significantly after moving into the Réduit in 1940. The military men worked on an average of 800 days. They are still referred to today as the active service generation .

Active services inside

Active services were repeatedly ordered to "restore order and calm in the interior" (mostly to suppress strikes and demonstrations ), namely:

  • 1864: Recruits disarm protesters holding the Geneva government council. Federal troops are also brought in to reinforce the situation. 4 dead in the clash of opposing demonstrators.
  • 1868: Military mobilization against striking Basel ribbon weavers
  • 1869: Due to construction workers' strike in Lausanne and Geneva and a watchmaker's strike in Geneva
  • 1871: The Zurich Tonhalle riot is broken up by the army. Several dead.
  • 1875: Strike of the tunnel workers in the Gotthard tunnel . 4 dead, seriously injured, then army deployment.
  • 1889/1890: After liberals and conservatives coups in Ticino, troops are mobilized.
  • 1893: Troops are mobilized against the Bernese Käfigturm manifestation (" Käfigturmkrawall "). Several injured.
  • 1896: Recruits and soldiers are deployed against the “Italian riots” in Zurich.
  • 1897: Troops march through the streets of Lucerne with fully loaded rifles and shiny sabers. Reason: construction workers strike.
  • 1898: Again troops in Geneva on standby against striking construction workers.
  • 1899: To protect the employers during the strike of the tunnel workers in the Simplon.
  • 1901: Another strike in the Simplon. Troops “protect workers willing to work”. 4 injured workers.
  • 1902: Massive troops against the Geneva general strike. Cavalry attacks and bayonet attacks; 50 injured. - March against a construction workers strike in Basel.
  • 1904: A tunnel workers 'strike in Ricken (SG) and a bricklayers' strike in La Chaux-de-Fonds are put down.
  • 1905: Troops against striking foundry workers in Rorschach and against a construction workers' strike in Locarno.
  • 1906: Action against striking metal workers and bricklayers. Numerous wounded.
  • 1907: Troop mobilization against the general strike of metal workers in Hochdorf (LU), against striking bricklayers in St. Maurice, against the general strike in Vaud and against the strike during the construction of the Bernina railway in St. Moritz and Pontresina.
  • 1912: Organized workers are locked out by troops during the Zurich general strike.
  • 1913: Troops are deployed during the tunnel workers' strike in Grenchen.
  • 1915: Troops break up anti-German demonstrations in Ticino.
  • 1916: Troops break up demonstration in Lausanne after a trial against a colonel. Also in Lausanne, five striking typographers are militarily forced to work and thus to break off the strike. In order to prevent demonstrations on “Red Sunday”, troops are deployed all over Switzerland. A demonstration in La Chaux-de-Fonds is broken up with live ammunition.
  • 1917: In Chippis VS, aluminum workers on strike are called up by military force and forced to break the strike. Armed troops attack strikers. Several injured. A planned general strike is banned and troops are called up. Troop transfers to Bodio and Biasca, where workers from the Gotthard and Nitro works are on strike. 2,300 soldiers deployed against munitions workers; 4 dead. 2,300 soldiers in Zurich against striking ammunition workers; 4 dead. Riots break out in the Zurich workers' quarter in Aussersihl. Zurich is under military occupation in November and the state of siege is declared. Troops are stationed during riots in Lausanne.
  • 1918: Troops are called up for May Day celebrations in Zurich. July 8th: Street fighting in Biel. Troops intervene. Several injured, 1 dead. - general strike in November: A total of 95,000 men to be mobilized, 3 dead in Grenchen and several injured in Zurich, Biel and Grenchen.
  • 1919: Strike of the Basel dye works and general strike in Basel suppressed with armed violence. The crowd was fired from military camps: 5 dead, several injured. - General strike in Zurich. Troops move up. 1 dead, several injured.
  • 1929: To prevent the communist “Red Meeting”, troops are put on standby in Ticino. The meeting, which is now to take place in Basel, is prevented by troops. The "International Day of Struggle Against Fascism" is banned throughout Switzerland. Troops are being drawn together. Several people injured in clashes in Basel.
  • 1930: Troops against communist rallies and meetings in Baden, Zurich, Basel and Schaffhausen.
  • 1932: Troops used against demonstrators in Geneva ( riots in Geneva 1932 ). On November 9th, recruits are called up to prevent riots between participants in a large fascist event and the communist counter-demonstration. When they were attacked by participants in the communist counter-demonstration, the commandant gave the order to fire. 13 dead, over 65 injured. In solidarity with the victims, rallies are planned across Switzerland. Troop mobilizations in Vaud, in Bern, in Friborg. As a result of the incident in Geneva, the use of recruits as active service units is banned.
  • 1942: Use of an infantry regiment in the Steiner uprising
  • 1945: Troops are raised against a prohibited communist rally in Bern. - The anger of the demonstrators was directed against well-known fascists in Ticino. That is why troops are called up and used against demonstrations.
  • 1964: To prevent a Jura demonstration at Expo 64, troops are deployed in Lausanne.
  • 1968: Soldiers are deployed in the Jura against suspected August 1 attacks by separatists.
  • 1970: Geneva and Zurich airports are secured by troops in autumn; this after a Palestinian bomb attack on a Swissair plane and a crash near Würenlingen (AG) as well as the hijacking of a Swissair plane to Jordan. The first contingents (including the Basler Inf Rgt 22) are sworn in. The service is entered as "active service" in your service log .
  • 1985: The Geneva summit conference from November 19-20 between the US President Ronald Reagan and the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) Mikhail Gorbachev was protected by parts of the army on active service.
  • 1988: Yasser Arafat proclaimed Palestinian independence before the UN General Assembly in Geneva .
  • 1994: The 74th Fusilier Battalion from Eastern Switzerland protects the conference between Bill Clinton and Hafiz al-Assad in Geneva.

Active services in extraordinary situations

  • 1986: After the reactor disaster in Chernobyl, Ukraine on April 26, 1986, a. Physicists do active duty to monitor the radiation situation.

Assistance service

With the army reform 95 the concept of assistance services was introduced in favor of civil authorities. Previously, the legislation only provided for two different services, the training service and the active service. If the troops were deployed for civil authorities, they performed active service, especially in the late 1980s and early 1990s when the army was entrusted with the protection of the conference in Geneva. The Federal Law on the Army and Military Administration (MG) provides that the Federal Council is empowered to raise troops and assign them to the civil authorities (Art. 70 MG). If more than 2000 people are called up or if the deployment lasts longer than three weeks, the Federal Assembly must approve the deployment in the following session (Art. 70, Paragraph 2 MG). This procedure was first used in late 1998, when large numbers of refugees from the Balkans poured into the country. Since then, the demand for such inserts, for. B. for the WEF annual meeting , the G8 summit in Évian-les-Bains 2003 or embassy security increased.

In the largest deployment since the Second World War, the army is providing 8,000 military personnel for assistance services in health, safety and logistics in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Swiss Confederation: Report of the Federal Council in fulfillment of Postulate Malama 10.3045 of March 3, 2010 Internal Security. Clarification of competencies from March 2, 2012 (footnote 141)
  2. ^ Christian Bütikofer, Fusilier Battalion 74 is doing active service in Geneva, in: Schweizer Soldat 3/1994 p. 14 ff
  3. ↑ Parliament: Postulate - Army Assistance Services. Adaptation of the approval process