Hans Bandi

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Hans Bandi (born July 19, 1882 in Bern ; † July 6, 1955 there ) was a Swiss officer ( Oberstdivisionär ).

Life

After an apprenticeship as a mechanic and the subsequent high school diploma on the second educational path in Zurich , he studied electrical engineering at the Technical University of Karlsruhe . From 1908 to 1923 he was an instruction officer in the artillery and then until 1936 section chief in the General Staff Department.

Bandi was appointed by the Federal Council in October 1936 as the first commander and chief of weapons of the newly created air and anti-aircraft troops (FF Trp) and promoted to colonel division in 1938. His task was to modernize the Swiss Air Force due to the threat of war. At the end of 1943 he was dismissed from this position by General Henri Guisan . His successor was Fritz Rhiner .

controversy

prehistory

The dismissal of the commandant had been preceded by criticism of FF Trp and of Bandis as a person. Among other things, he was accused of being reluctant to move the squadrons to the Reduit and, as an artilleryman, had little understanding of flying. Although General Guisan was still considering promoting Bandi to Oberstkorsp Commandant at the beginning of 1942 , the General ordered an internal investigation at the request of the Chief of Staff in the summer and then considered Bandi's dismissal at the end of 1942, but left this again after an intervention by the Federal Council fall. The background was the imminent early dismissal of Oberstkorpsommandant Ulrich Wille . The head of the Federal Military Department at the time , Federal Councilor Karl Kobelt, said that «the load should not be overloaded».

General's report on active service

In the summer of 1946 Guisan submitted a 273-page report to the Federal Assembly on active service from 1939 to 1945 to the Federal Council and the Federal Assembly . In addition to general discussions, he paid tribute to the achievements of the individual branches of the army. He criticized the FF Trp on 19 pages, mainly based on an opinion which Bandi's successor wrote in early 1944. Guisan attached this 213-page report to the report without consulting the author. It was noticeable how Guisan criticized the FF Trp and its commanders disproportionately in relation to other branches of the army. The main points of criticism concerned Bandi himself. He was accused of having "not had a grip on FF Trp" and of "thwarting" the reduit concept.

Reactions from Bandi and the Federal Council

Bandi, who was harshly criticized in Guisan's report, reacted in January 1947 with his own "petition" for the attention of the Federal Council. In it he defended himself against the allegations and demanded that his “good name be restored”. The Federal Council responded with its own report, the report of the Federal Council to the Federal Assembly on the general's report on active service 1939–1945 , but did not explicitly address the mutual allegations made in relation to the FF Trp, but rehabilitated Bandi by some Allegations without questioning Guisan's popularity.

reception

Bandi is described by contemporary witnesses as a difficult and suspicious person. Historians such as Rudolf Jaun and Willi Gautschi assume that Bandi was the victim of an intrigue within the army leadership and the air force. Jaun points out that Guisan and Rhiner refer to Bandi several times in their reports as "non-specialist artillerymen". According to an assessment by a later Luftwaffe commander, Walter Dürig , Bandi was considered "friendly to Germany". This is because Bandi actively campaigned for the procurement of the Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter aircraft . In addition, there was the fact that Bandi was married to a woman from Fulda . In contrast to officers like Wille, Däniker and Bircher, it cannot be proven that Bandi openly sympathized with Germany . The journalist Felix E. Müller addressed the Bandi case in an article in Weltwoche 1986 .

literature

Web links

  • Christoph Zürcher: Bandi, Hans. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
  • Rudolf Jaun: The military national defense 1939–1945 [1] , in the Swiss journal for history . Volume 47, Zurich 1997 (accessed April 18, 2016)
  • Copy of the submission to the report by General Henri Guisan and the report of the commander of the air and anti-aircraft troops by Hans Bandi from January 15, 1947, edited by Walter Dürig [2]

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Willi Gautschi : General Henri Guisan . Verlag Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Zurich 1994, p. 707-717 .
  2. ^ Willi Gautschi: General Henri Guisan . Verlag Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Zurich. 1994, p. 678
  3. Felix Müller in Weltwoche No. 37, September 11, 1986. Transcript edited by Walter Dürig, August 2014 Archive link ( Memento of the original from March 21, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / wrd.ch