Генерал Анри Гизан: Защитник Швейцарии во Второй мировой войне

Swiss general

Henri Guisan (ɑ̃ʁi ɡizɑ̃; 21 October 1874 – 7 April 1960) was a Swiss military officer who held the office of General of the Swiss Armed Forces during the Second World War. He was the fourth and the most recent person to be appointed to the rarely used Swiss rank of general, and was possibly Switzerland's most famous soldier. He is best remembered for effectively mobilizing the Swiss military and population in order to prepare resistance against a possible invasion by Nazi Germany in 1940. Guisan was voted the fourth greatest Swiss figure of all time in 2010.

Henri Guisan was born on 21 October 1874 in Mézières, in the canton of Vaud, a Protestant part of French speaking Switzerland. He was the son of Louise Jeanne (née Bérengier) and Charles Ernest Guisan, a doctor from Avenches.

Upon entering the Swiss military in 1894, Guisan was assigned to the field artillery as a lieutenant. His appointment as corps commander was supported by Federal Councillor Rudolf Minger, head of the Federal Military Department. He was given the directive to safeguard the independence of the country and to maintain the integrity of Swiss territory. During the Interwar period, Guisan had belonged to the conservative, federalist and anti socialist political tendency, Nevertheless, he maintained good relations with the Socialist Party for the entire duration of World War II. Guisan's command was dominated by conflict with the government. Whereas the government preferred an understated and politically riskless neutrality, Guisan, charged with actually preventing invasion, opted to call for determined resistance. In May 1940 he ordered an investigation against 124 army officers suspected of Nazi sympathies. The Swiss military would have been remiss in not pursuing contacts with the French based on their perception of a German threat. However, Guisan's and Switzerland's main strategy was deterrence rather than fighting, and Germany never risked invasion. Its 1940 planned invasion of Switzerland, codenamed Operation Tannenbaum, was soon abandoned as the Battle of Britain and later Operation Barbarossa became priorities. On 20 August 1945, Guisan left his command, considering his mission to be fulfilled.

Having become a national hero by successfully avoiding war, Guisan died in Pully on 7 April 1960, aged 85. His grave is a work by Edouard Marcel Sandoz.

In his life, Guisan heavily propagandized his public image, banning 5,600 images of himself from being printed from 1939 to 1945. Unlike General Ulrich Wille during the First World War, He has been criticized for admiring Benito Mussolini and Philippe Pétain as well as having a meeting with Walter Schellenberg in March 1943.