National Redoubt (Switzerland)

The Swiss National Redoubt (German: Schweizer Reduit; French: Réduit national; Italian: Ridotto nazionale; Romansh: Reduit nazional) is a defensive plan developed by the Swiss government beginning in the 1880s to respond to foreign invasion. In the opening years of the Second World War the plan was expanded and refined to deal with a potential German invasion. The term "National Redoubt" primarily refers to the fortifications begun in the 1880s that secured the mountainous central part of Switzerland, providing a defended refuge for a retreating Swiss Army.

The National Redoubt encompassed a widely distributed set of fortifications on a general east–west line through the Alps, centering around the major fortress complexes of St. Maurice, St. Gotthard, and Sargans. These fortresses primarily defended the alpine crossings between Germany and Italy and were outside the industrialized and populated regions of Switzerland. These regions were defended by the "Border Line", and the "Army Position" somewhat farther back. While not intended as an impassable barrier, these lines contained significant fortifications, but the National Redoubt was planned as a nearly impregnable complex of fortifications that would deny an aggressor passage over or through the Alps by controlling the major mountain passes and railway tunnels running north-to-south through the region. This strategy was intended to deter an invasion altogether by denying Switzerland's crucial transportation infrastructure to an aggressor.

The plan did not intend to protect the majority of the Swiss population – only few would have found refuge and supplies in the alpine area of the Redoubt – and it also did not lend any protection to the industrial centres of Switzerland, which are found in the Swiss lowlands, the Swiss Plateau. Given that the German armed forces had shown little reluctance in subjecting the civilian population to deportations, forced labor or even massacres, the Axis powers could have forced the Swiss government to a quick surrender. Furthermore, it assumed that the Axis powers would not have an alternative to the heavily defended alpine passes of Switzerland. Because of the possible reprisals against civilians, British Field Marshal Montgomery judged the National Redoubt to be an “impractical absurdity”.

The National Redoubt has been the subject of debate in Swiss society, with many fortifications decommissioned by the early 21st century.