Switzerland’s secret role in the resistance in Ossola

如果没有英国人和美国人的帮助，对德国和法西斯占领者的抵抗将是徒劳的。然而，奥索拉的支持者希望获得更多支持。

拉斐尔·鲁斯 / 瑞士国家博物馆

Without the help of the Allies, the resistance struggle in the Ossola region had no chance. The support of the United Kingdom and the United States was mainly related to the geopolitical situation in neutral Switzerland. This situation in A fundamental change occurred in late 1942. With the invasion of Vichy France by German forces in November, the last corridor of freedom between Switzerland, Spain and Portugal was closed to many, including numerous fleeing Allied prisoners of war. The only recourse for the German fascist troops was to escape to Switzerland.

Guerrillas as escape aid

After the armistice between Italy and the Allies on September 8, 1943, hundreds of Allied prisoners of war were able to escape from temporarily unguarded camps in Novara, Biella and Varese. They sought a route into Switzerland, where security at the southern border has been light in recent weeks. These routes pass through the Monte Rosa region of the Alpine chain paso moro Or Lake Maggiore. However, refugees will certainly need help crossing it. They received these from Italian resistance fighters.

Early partisan groups such as Cesare Battisti Brigade You can travel to Switzerland for a fee. The advantage of this guerrilla group active on the shores of Lake Maggiore was that its leader, Armando Arca Calzavara, spoke English very well. However, this “service” is not free. Swiss authorities' logs show that the clandestine crossing cost about 10,000 Italian lire per person. This was equivalent to the monthly salary of a simple worker at that time.

The guerrilla commander Armando Alca Calzavala was able to put his knowledge of English to good use.Image: repubblicadellossola.it

Financially, smuggling Allied prisoners of war into Switzerland was more profitable for the guerrillas than for the wealthy Jews. However, from a logistical perspective, these services were extremely important, as payment was often made through supplies dropped by Allied forces. Moderate partisan units benefited primarily from this trade. Communist Garibaldi forces were generally excluded and received fewer airdrops than their politically moderate counterparts. This had nothing to do with the political views of the material suppliers, who were more or less anti-communist.

allied intelligence service in switzerland

Allied support for the Ossola guerrillas came entirely from U.S. intelligence Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and their british counterparts Special Operations Executive (SOE). Both services operate in Switzerland and enjoy considerable freedom there. The same applies to their autonomy, since from November 1942 the country was completely surrounded by the Axis powers and virtually isolated from the rest of the world.

However, there is also some competition between the two parties open source softwareIts leader was Allen Dulles, later the first director of the CIA and state-owned enterpriseswhose Swiss boss was John McCaffrey. This has repeatedly led to coordination problems, rooted in a lack of information exchange between the United States and the United Kingdom. Since the two intelligence agencies were independent of each other and were not initially convinced that Italy would have a strong resistance, support for Italy did not rise to a level that would allow it to fight the German and fascist occupiers in the long term.

Allen Dulles worked for it open source software Strings in Bern.Image: Wikimedia

In addition to airdrops of supplies and payments of money, the Allies supported resistance fighters primarily with information and expertise. The latter was conveyed to them by American and British agents who joined the guerrillas.

historiography resistance The Allied presence on Orsola is often exaggerated. In fact, the Allied representatives were nothing more than soldiers with cross-country experience who were promoted to officers “on the spot.” The purpose of this deception is to create the impression that the guerrillas are important partners. They are only up to a point. And only if they do what the Allies want and serve the Allies.

This revealed another problem with the resistance in Ossola: the Allies had no interest in opening a second front in the far north of Italy. Nor did they want to create a strong, politically left-wing guerrilla army. Many Britons would not be unhappy about the re-establishment of the monarchy in Italy. This is almost the opposite of what many guerrillas strive for.

[1945年春天，英国士兵正在打包运送给游击队的物资。图片：帝国战争博物馆

[1945年春天，来自库内奥-阿尔巴地区的两名游击队员已经在等待英国的材料。图片：帝国战争博物馆

The ability of the two intelligence services to operate so actively in northern Italy, especially in the Ossola region, is also related to Switzerland's interpretation of neutrality. Some Italian guerrilla commanders, many Politicians and Allied representatives were able to cross the border without problems, which made it possible to provide assistance to resistance movements in neighboring countries, but also demonstrated the complete dependence of the Ossola guerrillas on Swiss and Allied forces.

On September 7, 1944, Bern took another step toward the resistance fighters. exist Army Headquarters Instructions on Admission of Individual Foreign Soldiers It is stipulated that guerrillas can now enter Swiss territory as long as they do not commit crimes, that is, they are not “bandit gangs”. That's awesome, but it does little good for the Republic of Orsola. Especially because the Allies were short of supplies.

Between the spring of 1944 and April 1945, approximately 30 material drops were launched for the partisans in Ossola. Three liaison missions were also carried out during this period: Allied agents arrived in the area by parachute and then continued to Varese or Milan. From there they coordinated information within the various Allied forces. Overall, material assistance is very limited. Furthermore, most of the airdrops mentioned were intercepted by the occupiers or landed in inaccessible places. Morally, however, this support helped to awaken the Ossolan guerrillas, who continued their fight against the German and fascist occupiers until the end of the war in April 1945.

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