Army 61

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Rooms of the army corps («Zeus» 1992)

Army 61 is the slang term for the modernization that began with the 1961 troop order (TO 61). It made the Swiss army a strong militia army and the largest army in Swiss history. It replaced the 1951 troop order (TO 51), which was still based on the experiences of the Second World War , in order to react to the changed threat situation as a result of the Cold War . Troop Order 61 remained in force for 30 years, was revised and further developed over 60 times and replaced by Army 95 on January 1, 1995 .

Security situation

Information board : Soviet general staff map from 1988 with object characteristics (in the red rectangle) for the Rüdlingen bridge (building material: ЖБ [= Железобетон / reinforced concrete], bridge length: 110 m, lane width: 5 m, load-bearing capacity: 30 t) at the fortress Ebersberg
Sleeper hideout in the Cold War

After the Second World War , hope of a peace dividend to shut down military efforts was soon dashed.

The creation of the army concept in 1961 was shaped by the Cold War between the military alliances of NATO (1949) and the Warsaw Pact (1955–1991).

The Iron Curtain was a policy of demarcation that led to an arms race through the American atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 and after the Soviet Union itself developed nuclear weapons in 1949, at the height of which the two countries owned around 70,000 nuclear warheads. The broad population in Switzerland was aware that Europe could become a nuclear battlefield and there was hardly any opposition to a strong army, as it was realized with the Army 61 concept.

The uprising of June 17, 1953 in the GDR , the 1956 Hungarian people's uprising , the Berlin Wall (1961–1989) and the Prague Spring in 1968 were considered to be signs of the expansion plans of the Soviet Union . The Berlin blockade (1948–49) was threatened in particular to turn the cold war into a hot one. With the Moscow Memorandum of 1955, Austria declared itself a militarily neutral zone, which gave rise to the scenario of a possible Soviet advance from Czechoslovakia and Hungary through the neutral corridor to the Swiss border. How the Federal Council assessed the increasing danger was expressed in the civil defense book , which it had distributed to all households in Switzerland in 1969.

Until the replacement of Troop Order 61 in 1991, there were constant new threats, which led to a constant adaptation and further development of Army 61. The colonial wars continued with the Indochina War (1946–1954), Korean War (1950–1953), Vietnam War (1955–1975), Afghanistan War (since 1978), etc. With the modern weapons of war who took war victims dramatically among civilians. In 1962, the stationing of Soviet missiles in Cuba led to the Cuban Missile Crisis and the brink of World War III . The international interdependencies with the increasing, especially economic globalization led to imbalances and economic wars over resources (oil, gas, uranium).

Overall security policy concept

The Army 61 was a concept of national military defense that was for the first time embedded in an overall strategy of Swiss security policy. According to the concept adopted on June 27, 1973, the Federal Council was responsible for the overall defense (army, war prevention and war economy, civil defense ). The Army 61 was a typically Swiss concept based on the struggle of fortresses, the three army classes (exodus, Landwehr, Landsturm) and the fixed troops with their roots in the population. She built on the militia army with its pool of military and civilian knowledge and experience and its flexibility to be quickly mobilized in times of real threat from the people. The service time was 49 weeks, including the off-duty duties (inspection, mandatory shooting) one year. The fitness rate for recruitment was over 85% annually. General military service, long-term service and familiar military structures were essential for the functioning of the militia army: the well-trained citizen soldiers with their professional diversity as politicians, entrepreneurs, workers, craftsmen, teachers and fathers were broadly anchored in the people.

The increasing mechanization of armies in Europe led to the political mandate to align the Swiss army with the new threat. It was clear to all sides that the army should above all be made more flexible. Two possible solutions emerged during the planning phase:

  1. Strong defensive positions in the Alpine region with further expansion of the Reduit . Expansion of the fortifications along the Swiss Jura . Establishment of border brigades to slow down an invading enemy. Mechanized formations were supposed to fall into the flanks in the Central Plateau and destroy the enemy, worn out and braked by the border brigades, from strong defensive positions .
  2. Establishment of border brigades to slow down an invading enemy and enable mobilization . The entire Central Plateau is defended with three heavily mechanized army corps in staggered defensive positions. One army corps wears out the enemy, the second stops him and the third - if not already done - destroys him. The Alpine transit routes are strong Gebirgsinfanterie- and fortification organizations (including fortress artillery protected).

In the solution, a compromise was found between the two variants: border brigades protect the border area, three field army corps operate in the Central Plateau , the alpine area is defended by a mountain army corps supported by fortress brigades in the expanded Reduit. Thus, for the first time in the history of the Swiss Army, there were two fundamentally different strategies that were implemented at the same time. The implementation took place from 1961 to 1969 and was completed with the final introduction of Troop Leadership 69. This replaced the linear troop leadership of Army 51 with the concept of defense. A line was no longer defended, but defended and attacked at the same time in a defensive area.

Service booklet with mobilization slip for enlistment in war mobilization

The new danger of strategic attacks on the central nervous systems (airfields, economic centers, communication systems, traffic and electricity networks, dams, etc.) of a state brought the development of new, far-reaching weapon technologies (rockets, cruise missiles, etc.) or terrorist attacks (1970: Swissair flight 330 ). This danger was countered with a new management structure (underground command systems, institutionalized management bodies) and a new, staggered mobilization system (permanent presence of WWII troops (standby forces), airport regiments, mobilization of the army of 625,000 members within 48 hours at the most). On the first page of each soldier's service booklet, a mobilization slip was stuck with instructions for enlisting in the event of war mobilization , stating the place and time of engagement and the necessary mobilization information.

The military expenditure (1970: 2 billion francs, 1980: 3.6 billion, 1990: 6 billion = 1.5% of GDP, total 1960–1990: 54 billion) for the inexpensive militia army did not hinder other state tasks. In addition to the Army 61, the civil protection, the social system, the transport infrastructure and the education system could be expanded in a unique way.

Operational planning and basic planning «Zeus»

In the final report of 1945 to the Federal Assembly, General Guisan had pointed out the lack of prepared operational plans. Based on the report of the Federal Council on the conception of the national military defense of June 6, 1966, the Swiss army command began for the first time to draw up basic deployment plans for the army in advance using rolling operational planning. The armed forces' fighting power (Leopard tank, anti-tank guided missile Dragon, tank destroyer TOW Piranha, 12 cm mine thrower, self-propelled howitzers, anti-aircraft missile Rapier, modernized Tiger and F / A-18 aircraft) with greater firing distances required new ones Mission planning.

Starting from the largely fixed mobilization device, the basic device "Zeus" was developed in 1992 as a combat device, which could quickly be drawn from the mobilization device. The advantage of «Zeus» was that the militia troops knew the country, the people and the combat infrastructure and regularly practiced defensive combat in these rooms dynamically in the refresher courses.

Main changes compared to Army 51

Army 61 was expanded and restructured as part of the overall security policy concept in order to create a strong, quickly deployable army:

  • Creation of a mountain army corps with 3 divisions
  • Creation of one mechanized division in each of the three field army corps
  • Creation of a tank destroyer division and a reconnaissance battalion in each infantry division
  • Creation of an additional artillery regiment in each infantry division
  • Dissolution of the dragoon divisions (1968) and reduction of the cavalry to one dragoon regiment per field army corps and 18 squadrons with around 3,462 men. In 1972, despite a petition with 432,430 signatures, parliament decided to abolish the cavalry.
  • Generally increased motorization
  • Reorganization of the army classes and scope of compulsory military service: Extract 20–32, Landwehr 33–42, Landsturm 43–50. Year of age

Inventory and equipment

In order to implement the planned increase in combat strength, the number of troops was increased, modern weapons technology was procured and the infrastructure was expanded (the figures refer to 1988). Whenever possible, the armaments were developed and manufactured in Switzerland. In addition to strategic reasons (independence, decentralization), this served to promote the economy (license production, know-how transfer, counter-deals) including economically weak regions and small businesses: So Sattler and Schumacher produced military backpacks and military shoes from all over Switzerland. Large spare parts stores were set up, particularly for armaments from abroad.

weapons

Assault rifle 57 ( SIG )
Panzer 61 ( K + W )
10.6 cm recoilless Pak 58

Planes

Mirage fighter plane
RUAG ADS-90 Ranger drone

Military airfields

Current and today retired military airfields (* former Reduit airfields):

Infrastructure

Field telephone exchange 1957 ( Hasler AG )

structure

Division and brigade rooms («Zeus» 1992)

Army units

Administrative units

  • General Staff Service Group
    • Front subgroup
    • Intelligence and Defense Subgroup
    • Logistics subgroup
    • Planning subgroup
    • Operational training
      • Command general staff courses
    • Federal Office for Genius and Fortresses
    • Federal Office for Transmission Forces
    • Federal Office for Sanitary
    • Army Veterinary Service
    • War Commissioner
    • Federal Office for Transport Troops
    • Federal Office for Air Protection Forces
    • War material management
  • Group for training
    • Training subgroup
    • Central schools
    • Military schools at the ETHZ
    • Federal Office for Infantry
    • Federal Office for Mechanized and Light Troops
    • Federal Artillery Office
    • Federal Office for Adjutantur
    • Troop Information Service
    • Military women service
    • Army Welfare Chief
  • Armaments Services Group
    • Central Services
    • Armaments Office 1
    • Armaments Office 2
    • Armaments Office 3
    • Federal Office for Armaments Manufacturers
    • Directorate of the Federal Military Administration
    • Federal Office for Topography
    • Oberfeldkommissariat
  • Command of the air and anti-aircraft troops
    • Leadership and commitment
    • Federal Office for Military Aviation and Air Defense
    • Federal Office for Military Airfields
  • Chief auditor
  • Central Office for Overall Defense

education

In addition to the existing training, the correct behavior when using nuclear weapons and fighting in built-up areas was increasingly trained. As a socio-political curiosity, it should also be mentioned that in 1961 the possibility of obtaining a driver's license as a motor vehicle driver in the recruit school was abolished ; there were enough civilly trained vehicle drivers.

In 1963, retraining from the carbine to the assault rifle 57 began . With the integration of mechanized divisions in the field army corps, the cooperation between infantry and mechanized units was trained from 1964.

The next big change in the focus of training came in 1970, when Arab terrorists, along with others, hijacked a Swissair passenger plane and shot at an El-Al machine in Kloten . At the request of the cantonal governments of Zurich and Geneva , one battalion was made available as part of the normal service. The cooperation with the cantonal police forces required a completely new cooperation and appropriate training of the cadres, especially at staff level. This security service was performed as an active duty - the first from the end of the Second World War.

The training regime had to be changed again in 1973 when the fuel allocation of all associations was cut by up to 30% due to the oil crisis .

Military museum

In its collection, the Wildegg Military Museum shows a cross-section of the Swiss Army from 1945 to 2000.

literature

Web links

Commons : Army 61  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The troop order (TO) was called the army division until 1911 , from 1995 it was called the army organization . It shows which troop units the federal government set up because of the general conscription . The TO was drawn up by the Defense Department (DDPS) and approved by Parliament
  2. ^ Giardino group: New edition: Memories of the Army 61
  3. ↑ An expanded definition (P. Strutynsky, Nothing new under the sun?) Counts 218 international and civil wars for the period 1945–2000
  4. ↑ According to estimates by the International Committee of the Red Cross (“Revue ICR”, n. 789, May-June 1991), the proportion of civilian casualties in the total number of victims over the course of the 20th century has risen from 5% in the First World War to 90–95 % in the wars that occurred towards the end of the 20th century.
  5. ^ A b c Louis Geiger, Franz Betschon: Memories of the Army 61 . Verlag Huber, Frauenfeld 2014, ISBN 978-3-7193-1513-9
  6. ^ Federal Council report on Switzerland's security policy (conception of overall defense), June 27, 1973
  7. ↑ GMS: Structure of fortress troops Troop order TO 61
  8. ↑ What needs to be noted here above all is the degree of strategic preparation, and as embarrassing as it may be, I must tell the truth to tell the truth that there was a sensitive gap in this preparation: we did not have any prepared and elaborated operational plans. We didn't have ten or five - we didn't have a single one . General Guisan 1945
  9. ↑ Message from the Federal Council to the Federal Assembly on the change in the military organization (from June 30, 1960)
  10. ↑ Gerhard Wyss: Evolution instead of revolution. The revisions of TO 61 from 1962–1991. ASMZ Issue 7/8 Well-Defended Switzerland, Volume 157 1991
  11. ↑ In 1992 only the US Army had more M109 self-propelled howitzers than the Swiss Army
  12. ^ Decommissioned airfields
  13. ↑ Thun Airfield LSZW ( Memento from January 3, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  14. ^ Fortress Oberland: A 1689 «Schweizerhof» as the predecessor of the ABC Laboratory Spiez ( Memento from April 6, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  15. ↑ ASMZ 1997: SHOTGUN the Internet the Air Force
  16. ↑ Nau.ch of 29 June 2020: Military Museum Wildegg: insight into the Swiss Army
  17. ^ Website of the Wildegg Military Museum