Swiss Army to Shut Hidden Alpine Forts

For decades Switzerland built a massive labyrinth of secret underground fortifications in the Alps to deter invaders and fend off nuclear attack.

Now that the Cold War is over the Swiss authorities are rethinking their military strategy and have decided to dismantle some of the fortifications because they are outdated and too costly.

“The threat has changed . . . and today it is no longer conceivable for the army to withdraw into the mountains and to leave the people in the valleys,” said Gen. Heinz Haesler, the Swiss army’s chief of staff.

Gloomy, narrow tunnels linking military control centers, heavy artillery, sleeping quarters, canteens and hospital facilities were first constructed as a precaution against the expansionist foreign policies of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.

During the Cold War, a second generation of large underground structures was burrowed out of solid mountain rock to provide protection for the country’s leadership in case of nuclear attack.

The army’s elite Festungs Wachtkorps (FWK) that runs the secret underground network recently marked the 50th anniversary of its formation.

For the first time the 1,500 strong corps gave the news media a limited look into one of the fortresses, hidden in the steep cliffs above the central Swiss town of Spiez.

“We are over 330 feet under the Earth’s surface here and the air would be unbreathable if we did not have chemical air filters,” said an FWK officer, pointing to a small room off a long, dimly lit passageway that had pipes and cables hanging from the craggy roof and walls.

“I needed two years to get used to working inside here,” a corporal said.

The fortresses are closed down at night but staffed during the day.

“There’s artillery in there, but I can’t tell you what kind it is,” the officer said as he stood beside the camouflaged 20-inch-thick entrance door of the World War II construction.

At an earlier news conference, Haesler said the FWK would have to cut staff and equipment as part of an army program to trim its forces from 600,000 to 450,000 and reduce expenditure.

“We have to dismantle all infrastructure that is no longer necessary,” he said. “Particularly in the mountains we have to restructure--and that hurts.”

Haesler warned that although the Cold War has ended, instability in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union could lead to huge refugee flows into Western Europe, and Switzerland must be prepared for this.

The FWK says the fortifications played a major part in deterring invasion before and during World War II.

The corps gives no detailed information, but says half the 21,000 “infrastructure objects” concealed in the Alps are steel anti-tank spikes.

The rest are fortresses and monoblock underground gun emplacements.

Thousands of monoblocks, which are visible above ground only when the gun barrels are extended through a camouflaged steel plate, were built during the Cold War as a less vulnerable form of mini-fortress.

The FWK would not say how many or what type of fortifications it intends to dismantle.

The army’s reforms come at a time when the military has a low standing in the country.

A 1989 referendum saw a surprisingly high 36% vote for the disbandment of the whole army.