Border Brigade 11

Soldiers memorial on the Simplon Pass

The Grenzbrigade 11 was an association of the Swiss Army . It was formed with Army 61 from Gebirgsbrigade 11 (“Simplon Brigade”, founded in 1938 to protect the pass of the same name) and disbanded with Army 95 in 1994. Their area of operation was the Upper Valais (Goms), which was bordered by the Bernese Alps to the north and the state border to the south. Their task was to protect the southern border of Switzerland with the central traffic axis of the Simplon pass and railway tunnel as well as the axis that led through the own brigade area from the Lower Valais ( mountain division 10 ) via Brig-Goms to the operational area of the fortress brigade 23 ("Gotthard brigade ").

During the Second World War, the 11 Mountain Brigade consisted of the following troops with a population of 14,900 men (as of May 1940):

Mountain Infantry Regiment 10 (Bern): Geb Füs Bat 40 110, Füs Bat 210
Mountain Infantry Regiment 17 (Bernese Oberland): Geb Füs Bat 34 35 36
Mountain Infantry Regiment 18 (Valais): Geb Füs Bat 88 89 (Army Corps Reserve, locking points Trin and Segnespass)
66th Infantry Regiment: Füs Bat 208 209
Infantry Battalion 133, Mountain Border Battalion 207
Motorized anti-tank battalion 27

The troops were deployed in the Matter and Saasertal (mountain border battalion 207), Simplon axis south side (Bat 208), between Monte Leone and Hüllenhorn (Bat 209), between Hüllenhorn and Hohsandhorn (Bat 210), "bistin position" in the Visperterminen / Gebidem area (Bernese Oberland Mountain Infantry Regiment 17 with the mountain fusilier battalions 34 Simmentaler, 35 Kandertaler, 36 Oberhasler holds Simplon), "Rosswaldstellung" (mountain fusilier battalion 34 or 36 holds the Saflisch Pass), Obergoms (mountain infantry regiment 10 blocks the Grimsel Pass).

The Grenzbrigade 11 (1994) consisted of the fortress department 26 (companies I / 26 artillery works Naters, II / 26 fortress mine throwers, III / 26 and IV / 26 mobile howitzer batteries), the works company 31 (Simplon-Gondo) and the infantry regiment 66. The barriers were looked after by Werkkompanie 31.

In addition to the Naters artillery plant , there were also blocking points (of national importance with *):

Bellwald, Binntal, Brig * (Simplontunnel, KP Weingarten), Leuk * (Dala, Illgraben), Saas Almagell, Zermatt and those of the Simplon axis (Engiloch, Gabi, Gondo *, San Marco, Schallberg, Simplon-Dorf, Simplonpass *, Zwischenbergen ).

literature

The Berner Wochenblatt and the Oberländer Volks-Zeitung reported on October 9, 1939 about the active service of the Simmentaler Geb Füs Bat 34 in Valais.

Web links

Commons : Grenzbrigade 11 - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ Fortress Oberland: Border Brigade 11
↑ Review of the Border Guard in Valais, Part 1 ( Memento from June 22, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
↑ Review of the Border Guard in Valais, Part 2 ( Memento from June 22, 2016 in the Internet Archive )

[1] Fortress Oberland: Border Brigade 11

[2] Review of the Border Guard in Valais, Part 1 ( Memento from June 22, 2016 in the Internet Archive )

[3] Review of the Border Guard in Valais, Part 2 ( Memento from June 22, 2016 in the Internet Archive )