Henri Guisan

Henri Guisan was born on 21 October 1874 in Mézières, in the canton of Vaud, a Protestant part of French-speaking Switzerland.{{HDS|19083|author=Hervé de Weck|date=10 February 2020}} He was the son of Louise-Jeanne (née Bérengier) and Charles Ernest Guisan, a doctor from Avenches. He attended school in Lausanne, graduating in 1893, and later studied at the agricultural schools of Écully, France, and Hohenheim, Germany. Upon completing his studies, in 1897, he moved to and became a gentleman farmer in the Broye Valley. That same year, Guisan married Mary Doelker, with whom he had two children, Henry and Myriam. In 1903 he moved to Verte-Rive in Pully, on Lake Geneva."[http://www.revue.ch/fileadmin/revue/Ausgaben/2010/03/ENG_0310_neu.pdf General Guisan – Did he save Switzerland in the war?]" (PDF) . The Swiss Review. 3: 8. August 2010.

Upon entering the Swiss military in 1894, Guisan was assigned to the field artillery as a lieutenant. He was promoted to captain in 1904 and became captain of the General Staff in 1908. In 1911, Guisan was promoted to major and was transferred to the infantry on the order of the Chief of the General Staff, Theophil Sprecher von Bernegg. In 1916, he was made lieutenant-colonel of the General Staff in the "Operations" section in Bern, and in 1919 was simultaneously made chief of staff of the 2nd Division and commander of the 9th Infantry Regiment.

Guisan reached the ranks of brigadier in 1921, divisional commander in 1927, and was made corps commander in 1932, the highest Swiss rank achievable during peacetime.{{Cite news|url=https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss-national-hero-seen-in-a-new-light/8628474|title=Swiss national hero seen in a new light|last=Dacey|first=Olivier Pauchard, Jessica|work=SWI swissinfo.ch|access-date=2017-10-21|language=en}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wm_YDAAAQBAJ&q=Henri+Guisan&pg=PA751|title=World War II: The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection [5 volumes]: The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection|last=Tucker|first=Spencer C.|date=2016-09-06|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=9781851099696|language=en}} His appointment as corps commander was supported by Federal Councillor Rudolf Minger, head of the Federal Military Department. Guisan was first at the head of Field Army Corps 2 then of Field Army Corps 1.

{{See also|Switzerland during the World Wars#World War II|National Redoubt (Switzerland)#Guisan plan|Operation Tannenbaum}}

File:1348237-8597854-data.jpg at the Federal Palace, in Bern, 30 August 1939]]

File:Henri Guisan Brunnen SZ PK 007959.jpg, Schwyz]]

On 28 August 1939, shortly before the outbreak of World War II, the Swiss Federal Assembly called a United Federal Assembly to elect a general, a unique rank used only in time of war or national emergency. On 30 August 1939, Guisan was elected general by 204 votes out of 231 members of the Assembly, against 21 votes for divisional commander Jules Borel, who was mostly supported by the socialists.{{cite web|url=http://www.parlament.ch/d/wahlen-abstimmungen/wahlen-im-parlament/bundesratswahlen/Documents/wa-br-wahlresultate.pdf |title=Resultate der Wahlen des Bundesrats, der Bundeskanzler und des Generals |publisher=Federal Assembly of Switzerland |access-date=4 April 2010}} 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, and was a member of the right-wing Swiss Patriotic Federation.{{cite book|last=Schom |first=Alan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VMwxAQAAIAAJ |title=A Survey of Nazi and Pro-Nazi Groups in Switzerland: 1930–1945 |publisher=Simon Wiesenthal Center |year=1998 }}{{cite web |url=https://alencontre.org/suisse/guisan-1918-1934-1940-les-constantes-d’une-mission.html |title = Guisan 1918, 1934, 1940: les constantes d'une mission – A l'encontre}} Nevertheless, he maintained good relations with the Socialist Party for the entire duration of World War II.

In 1939 the Swiss military were able to muster 430,000 men, approximately 20% of the work force. At one point, up to 850,000 Swiss soldiers were mobilized.{{sfn|Bonjour|1978|p=431}} However, Swiss military equipment was not on a par with that of the German military.Edgar Bonjour, Neutralität, Bd. IV, 1970, p. 379 quoted after Independent Commission of Experts Switzerland – World War II, final report, German edition, p. 92. Guisan's command was dominated by conflict with the government.Willi Gautschi, General Henri Guisan: Commander-In-Chief of the Swiss Army in World War II 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. After the Battle of France, Germany found documents in La Charité-sur-Loire proving that Guisan had been secretly making military preparations with France, despite Swiss neutrality.{{Cite journal|last1=Haltiner |first1=Karl W. |year=2002 |title=The Swiss Security Sector: Structure, Control, Reforms |publisher=Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces |url=http://www.dcaf.ch/news/past_2002/ev_macedonia_Haltiner.pdf }}{{dead link|date=March 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} The Swiss military would have been remiss in not pursuing contacts with the French based on their perception of a German threat. Nonetheless, this was politically very risky, and represented a very typical example to be seized upon by Germany to justify aggression, such as occurred prior to the German invasion of the Netherlands in World War II.{{citation needed|date=January 2019}}

File:Ruetli01.jpg, calling for the Swiss to defend themselves to the death against invasion]]

On 25 July 1940, Guisan delivered a historic address to the entire Swiss Officer Corps assembled on the Rütli, a location charged with symbolism in Swiss Romantic nationalism by virtue of being identified as the site of the legendary Rütli Oath. He made it very clear that Switzerland would resist any Nazi invasion. If they ran out of bullets they were to resort to the bayonet. He said that Switzerland would defend itself against any invader and would never surrender. Guisan became a symbol of resistance to Nazism that was widespread amongst the Swiss public. At a time when military commanders remained distant, he rejected formalities and maintained contact with civilians and soldiers.

File:Guisan in Liestal D2.7531.jpg, Basel-Landschaft]]

In summer 1940, after the Battle of France, Guisan developed his famous National Redoubt concept, according to which the Swiss Army would have retreated into the Alps relatively soon if attacked, but would have kept up resistance based on some sort of guerrilla and stay-behind tactics from there. The Swiss paramilitary organization Aktion Nationaler Widerstand (Resistant National Action), formed from contacts between selected army figures and conservative civilian circles, had the explicit task of persuading the civilian population to resist invaders.[http://www.danieleganser.ch/e/fachzeitschriften/british/index.htm The British Secret Service in Neutral Switzerland] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070430120549/http://www.danieleganser.ch/e/fachzeitschriften/british/index.htm |date=30 April 2007 }}, Daniele Ganser, in Intelligence and National Security, Vol. 20, n°4, December 2005, pp. 553–580 [559]

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.{{HDS|48732|Adolf Hitler|author=Walter Wolf|date=12 February 2008}} On 20 August 1945,{{cite web | last1=Pauchard | first1=Olivier | last2=Dacey | first2=Jessica | title=Swiss National Hero Seen in a New Light | url=http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss-national-hero-seen-in-a-new-light/8628474 | date=7 April 2010 | website=Swissinfo | access-date=15 February 2017}} Guisan left his command, considering his mission to be fulfilled.

File:Zentralbibliothek Solothurn Ernst Klöti 2314.JPG

Having become a national hero by successfully avoiding war,{{r|mcphee19831031}} Guisan died in Pully on 7 April 1960, aged 85. He was buried on 12 April in Pully, with 300,000 participating in his funeral procession through Lausanne, the biggest attendance at a funeral in Swiss history.{{Cite news|url=https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss-national-hero-seen-in-a-new-light/8628474|title=Swiss national hero seen in a new light|last=Dacey|first=Olivier Pauchard, Jessica|work=SWI swissinfo.ch|access-date=2018-03-17|language=en}} 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, Guisan was an extremely popular figure in Switzerland.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bar.admin.ch/bar/en/home/research/research-tips/topics/die-schweiz-im-zweiten-weltkrieg/erinnerungen-an-aktivdienst-und-reduit-.html.html|title=Memories of active service and réduit|last=SFA|first=Swiss Federal Archives|website=bar.admin.ch|language=en|access-date=2017-10-21}} He has been criticized for admiring Benito Mussolini and Philippe Pétain as well as having a meeting with Walter Schellenberg in March 1943.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=py_DBwAAQBAJ&q=Henri+Guisan&pg=PA40|title=Swissness in a Nutshell|last1=Haver|first1=Gianni|last2=Middleton|first2=Robert|date=2015-04-15|publisher=Schwabe AG|isbn=9783905252644|language=en}}

{{More citations needed|section|date=February 2017}}

Guisan's former home Verte Rive in Pully is now used as Centre Général Guisan.{{cite web|url=http://www.generalguisan.ch/ |title=Centre Général Guisan – accueil |website=Generalguisan.ch |access-date=2017-01-12}} His office, living room and dining room are preserved as a museum.{{cite web |url=http://www.lausanne.ch/en/thematiques/culture-et-patrimoine/culture-a-vivre/musees/adresses-musees/centre-general-guisan.html |title=Centre Général Guisan – Official site of the City of Lausanne |website=Lausanne.ch |access-date=2017-01-12 |archive-date=28 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928011549/http://www.lausanne.ch/en/thematiques/culture-et-patrimoine/culture-a-vivre/musees/adresses-musees/centre-general-guisan.html |url-status=dead }}

File:Henri Guisan Denkmal 2010-10-12 16-10-20.JPG

File:2011-07-21-Interlaken (Foto Dietrich Michael Weidmann) 067.JPG

Memorials are at:

• Lausanne-Ouchy: equestrian statue by Otto Bänninger, financed following a public fundraising in 1960,{{cite web|url=http://www.stiftungschweizerjugend.ch/de/portraet/download/aufruf.pdf |title=Aufruf An Das Schweizervolk |website=Stiftungschweizerjugend.ch |access-date=2017-01-12}} inaugurated on 27 May 1967 in the presence of 70,000 people
• Avenches: a bust, inaugurated in 1969
• On the main deck of the steamship Stadt Luzern: a memorial plaque with his relief by Franco Annoni commemorating his speech on Rütli in 1940, inaugurated by Georges-André Chevallaz in 1980, 40 years afterwards{{cite web|last=Christoph |first=Hurni |url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/40826712@N00/8035647905/ |title=Rütlirapport Gedenktafel während dem Aktivdienst im zweite… |website=Secure.flickr.com |date=2012-09-28 |access-date=2017-01-12}}
• Library am Guisanplatz, Bern: equestrian sculpture by Laurent Boillat, created in 1949{{cite web|url=http://www.news.admin.ch/message/index.html?lang=it&msg-id=21641 |title=Il generale Guisan torna alla Guisanplatz di Berna |website=News.admin.ch |date=2008-09-23 |access-date=2017-01-12}} and installed in September 2008
• Powązki Cemetery, Warsaw, Plaque: plaque inaugurated in 2010{{cite web|url=http://journal.tdg.ch/hommage-polonais-guisan-2011-01-18|title=Hommage polonais à Guisan|website=Tribune de Genève [Geneva Tribune]|language=fr|trans-title=Polish tribute to Guisan|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131020211046/http://journal.tdg.ch/hommage-polonais-guisan-2011-01-18|archive-date=20 October 2013|access-date=2013-10-20}}{{cite web|url=http://kuov.ch/WZW2010.htm|title=Ehrung General Henri Guisan und General Bronislaw Prugar-Ketling in Warschau|language=de|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131020201152/http://kuov.ch/WZW2010.htm|archive-date=20 October 2013|access-date=2013-10-20}}
• Schlossgarten, Interlaken: monumental sculpture
• Allmend, Zollikon: memorial with a relief
• Lägern above Regensberg: memorial plaque{{cite web|url=https://www.panoramio.com/photo/34688309 |title=Photo of General Guisan Gedenkstein, Lägern oberhalb Regensberg |website=Panoramio.com |date=2010-04-24 |access-date=2017-01-12}}
• Dentenbergstrasse, Gümligen/Muri bei Bern: Memorial
• Victoria-Jungfrau, Interlaken: plaque in the hotel
• General-Guisan Quai, Lucerne: plaque on the lakeshore{{cite web|url=http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=67490 |title=General Henri Guisan Historical Marker |website=Hmdb.org |access-date=2017-01-12}}

Numerous cities and towns in Switzerland have streets named for him:

General Guisan-Strasse in Aarau, Arlesheim, Basel, Forch, Nussbaumen, Obersiggenthal, Reinach, Seltisberg, Winterthur, Zofingen, Zug;

General Guisanstrasse in Interlaken, Jegenstorf, Leuggern;

Guisanstrasse in Burgdorf, St. Gallen, Weinfelden;

avenue Général-Guisan in Avenches, Fribourg, Pully, Rolle, Sierre, Vevey, Yverdon-les-Bains;

rue du Général Guisan in Courroux, Mézières, Montana;

Promenade Général Guisan in Morges;

General Guisan-Promenade in Basel;

via Henri Guisan in Bellinzona;

via Generale Guisan in Balerna, Biasca, Riva San Vitale, Vacallo, Lugano;

via Generale Henri Guisan in Chiasso;

via Guisan in Massagno, Paradiso;

Via Enrico Guisan in Mendrisio.

Town squares and open spaces are named after him:

Guisanplatz in Arosa, Berne, Grenchen and Thun;

Guisanplatz/Place Guisan in Biel/Bienne;

place Général-Guisan in Payerne and Pleigne;

place du Général Henri-Guisan in Lausanne.

There is a

quai du Général-Guisan on Lake Geneva in Geneva,

General-Guisan-Quai on Lake Lucerne in Lucerne and Stansstad, on Lake Zurich in Zurich.{{cite news | url=http://archives.newyorker.com/default.aspx?iid=16248&startpage=page0000103#folio=050 | title=La Place de la Concorde Suisse-I | magazine=The New Yorker | date=1983-10-31 | access-date=22 July 2013 | author=McPhee, John | page=50}}

A military march titled "General-Guisan-Marsch" was composed in 1939 by Stephan Jaeggi.

Asteroid 1960 Guisan has been named in Guisan's honour.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VoJ5nUyIzCsC&q=%221960+guisan%22+%22Henri+Guisan%22&pg=PA158|title=Dictionary of Minor Planet Names|last=Schmadel|first=Lutz|date=2003-08-05|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=9783540002383|pages=158|language=en}}

The manga Alpen Rose by Michiyo Akaishi gives Guisan an important role in the story.

• {{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/modernswitzerlan00luck |url-access=registration |title=Modern Switzerland |editor-first1=James Murray |editor-last1=Luck |editor-first2=Lukas F. |editor-last2=Burckhardt |editor-first3=Hans |editor-last3=Haug |year=1978 |publisher=The Society for the Promotion of Science and Scholarship Inc. |isbn=0-930664-01-9 |chapter=Swiss Neutrality During Two World Wars|first1=Edgar |last1=Bonjour|pages=[https://archive.org/details/modernswitzerlan00luck/page/419 419]–438}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category|Henri Guisan}}

• {{Dodis|P495}}
• [http://www.generalguisan.ch Centre Général Guisan]—Biography and bibliography, in French and German.
• {{HDS|19083|Henri Guisan|author=Hervé de Weck|date=11 January 2005}}
• [http://www.gen-gen.ch/GUISAN/Henri/236923 Complete genealogy of the Général Guisan] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100906000019/http://www.gen-gen.ch/GUISAN/Henri/236923 |date=6 September 2010 }} on the Geneva Genealogy Society website
• [https://www.vtg.admin.ch/en/armed-forces.detail.news.html/vtg-internet/verwaltung/2019/19-07/henri-guisan.html Henri Guisan (1874 – 1960)], Swiss Armed Forces website

{{Generals of Switzerland}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Guisan, Henri}}

Category:1874 births

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Category:People from Lavaux-Oron District

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