Swiss Bunker Layout: Sperrstelle Sattelegg, An Entrance To The Redoubt
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- Опубліковано 11 кві 2018
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The Bloke takes you around the Sperrstelle Sattelegg, near Wimmis in the Berner Oberland, discussing the Swiss defence strategy for WW2 and the Cold War, and how this particular bunker layout protects one of the entrances to the so-called Redoubt (Réduit National).
Link to the location: www.google.ch/maps/place/46°4..."N+7°37'57.0"E/@46.6867171,7.6237342,2488m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x0:0x0!7e2!8m2!3d46.6867178!4d7.6324885 or in coordinates, 46.686718, 7.632489
Facebook: / blokeontherange
Photos from "Die Gruppe Kander", H-R Schoch, used under fair use. - Спорт
Here's the coordinates: 46.686718, 7.632489
www.google.ch/maps/place/46°41'12.2"N+7°37'57.0"E/@46.6867171,7.6237342,2488m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x0:0x0!7e2!8m2!3d46.6867178!4d7.6324885
That comes out on the corner by the bridge.
I live near Thun! Are there any other good places to visit concerning bunkers or fortifications ?
God damned. Spent about 15 minutes searcing this in Google Maps. Then I scrolled down and found your corrdinates haha
That whole valley just looks like one long kill zone.
Do they make you wear a hat like that when you move to Switzerland? Enquiring minds need to know.
Haha, that's an old head worn up to the late 80's in the Swiss Army. The uniform was made out of the same fabric. Extremly scratchy, stiff and itchy. Just terrible!
Switzerland's defensive plans are essentially the plot of Home Alone on a countrywide scale, I love it.
As a Swiss this is so spot on :D Just bully the intruders
+
Switzerland's defence plan is to be the bankers for every side in every war.
Great video ! i do like the gun videos but this is almost better. there are plenty of gun vids and vids from inside old bunkers but your narration and explanation of the whole sytem and showing angels etc really brought it to life, more of this please.
Thanks. I tried very hard here to show the space, angles and distances, even if I repeated myself a touch while doing so.
You did very well mate! Gun videos on here seem to be ten to the dozen nowadays. This however was a really insightful video and you seem to know your history! My old man always told me about how the Swiss would give any invader a bloody good hiding with umpteen amounts of tank traps, gun emplacements and bunkers installed on nearly every corner. More videos like this would be great. It's very interesting.
Love to see more about the Swiss strategy, I know a lot of the Cold War bunkers have been decommissioned, but how the whole system was put together is fascinating. When I lived in Geneva, I actually saw a fighter take off from a highway, it was amazing.
@@nibbles7178 TEN to the dozen? You got me. Still giggling.
When someone asks me why germany never invaded switzerland, i always compare it to a hedgehog....its bloody hard to get to the meat and even then there's barely any....so not worth the effort...also if left alone, the hedgehog sells you weapons!
HungrigerHugo89 sells weapons and hordes your stolen gold!
How wants to rob his own secret bank account.?
Nobody's quite sure what happened to all the gold, but occasionally some will turn up in weird places. Finders does not mean keepers, however, and since that gold was largely stolen from people subjugated by the Nazis, it'd be a massive dick move not to return it to them (or their descendants).
I won't think you're a massive dick if you find some gold and the owners are long dead, and you don't give it to their descendants.
The reason why Germany didn't attack the Swiss was, the General, who was commanded to investigate a possible attack, fooled the High command and Hitler, told them, that it was to hard to invade Switzerland. In reality, it would have been not much of a problem. The Germans could invade from several directions, hard for the Swiss to defend everywhere. Anyway, Switzerland was no priority, if at all a target. If the French and Britt's hadn't declared war on Germany, they would be also not been attacked. Hitler wanted only Russia for it's land and resources for his "Great Germany and 3. Reich" fantasies.
Thanks for the info on Swiss defenses. That was very interesting, please keep up the Swiss history programme.
A British view on German tactics and swiss defense. BRILLIANT!
I am Swiss but haven't served in the Swiss Armed Forces, and I approve of this content.
Same. Also untauglich?
No, Zivildienst (civilian service). But I'm a very active member of a Schützengesellschaft.
I'm a Swiss who did and still is serving in the Armed Forces. Wonderful video, the museums here focus too much on the border defenses.
Chan i au zuestimme
Same :)
Great video. Good to see the interlocking aspects of the Swiss defences. REALLY love the hat!
Refreshing and truely positive report by a friend of Switzerland!
I salute our grand-parents who created a potent defense within a short period of time.
Swiss Armed Forces:
If attacked as a whole acting in - by its nature - defense while on an operative and tactical level acting agressively where ever poosible.
France was beaten six weeks after the Wehrmacht attacked on May 10th 1940.
So Switzerland's encirclement by the axis was complete in summer 1940 already.
Thanks and regards to you Bloke on the Range!
We are looking forward to more reports from a British voice.
"come at me bro'.... " LOL
I found this very interesting, thank you for your time and effort you've put into it.
thanks. you are only one who is doing this. keep going!!
I love this video. The national redoubt is an immensely interesting topic.
I'd love to see more videos like this.
Great video, very informational. Thank you Sir. Bloke
It was like watching Professor Richard Holmes but in Switzerland with a hat. Excellent video, thanks for taking the time to make it.
Note the three demolition shafts. Spaced, I presume, to produce a breach wide enough that you couldn't just trundle up an Armoured Vehicle Launched Bridge and drop summat across the gap.
This is a key part of military demolitions intended to create an obstacle and why demolishing bridges for that purpose is a bit of an art. The Royal Engineers have a nice book, subtitled, IIRC, 'How to blow up just about anything' that teaches you this. As an MOD civilian I once (more than 20 years ago) had to read and internally digest it's contents as part of my job. I even got to go on the practical section of the Infantry Demolitions Course - happy days. :)
It pre-dates the AVLB and similar systems - the idea seems to be that even if only 2 of the 3 go off, the breach will be wide enough to be impassable without repair.
Hmmm. Your explanation is probably true as far as it goes. It is one reason to duplicate demolitions.
However AVLB were around earlier than you think. The British had an (experimental) one in 1919 - and that is if you don't count Facines. The UK continued development and the Scissors Bridge 30ft, Number 1 was in use, at least on exercise, by 1941. It was in use by the Allies in Italy in 1943. The Germans had one in service, the Bruckenleger IV, as early as 1940. Unfortunately for the Germans it was to heavy so they only built 20 and eventually converted them back into gun tanks after the capture of France. Then they built 4 new ones that were used in Russia. They also tested bridging varients of the Panzer I and Panzer II. The Italians had one for their CV33 Tankettes in service in 1939. Developments continued. For example 1942/3 saw the heavier Tank Bridge 30ft, Number 2 in use by the British, launched by, and capable of supporting, Churchills.
The Swiss probably knew at least something about these developments, at least by 1943, when the No. 1 Bridge was being used in Italy.
Personally I think the Swiss would have been aware of Facines and at least the concept of AVLBs. Whether that was decisive, beyond simple redundancy, in choosing to have three demolitions in parallel is something that we can only speculate about. Hoever the later they were put in place the more likely it is that emplaced bridges were a factor in the decision.
aye, the original (UK) tanks were intended as trench striding vehicles, makes sense that we also pushed for the ability to bridge even wider gaps.
And even if you could build a temporary bridge or fill in the gap, you're doing it all the time in the sightline of that bunker. Not fun.
Is it easy to build up a steep slope so that tanks won't roll over on their sides?
You would need to get it firm enough and level enough so that tanks would not have to expose a side as they were approaching a gun.
Thanks for this video. It is easy to forget the innovations of yesterday that led to the era we enjoy today.
Nice job 👍
One of my favorite of your videos, thank you
Thanks Bloke, fascinating content. 👍🏻
Thank you for showing us the Sperrstelle Sattelegg, Bloke! A very interesting Video. The Nahverteidigung (Close defence) or as you mentioned the "good News hole" near the Entrance would most likely be armed with an LMG25. There was the Schartenadapter (Firing hole Adapter) for the LMG and later for the StGw 57 in the Bunkers. Best Regards from a former Swiss Army Defensive Infrastructure Specialist. "Und steht der Teufel selbst vor'm Haus - hier beisst er sich die Zähne aus!"
Merci vieumau!
Gern gscheh!
If the enemy would have already surrounded the bunker, ie. overcome the outer defenses, basically in knocking distance of the door....that LMG would have just bought the crew inside few more days. No? Throw some flames, smoke them out or starve them....that would have been my attack strategy.
That road resembles eastern Pennsylvania. Maryland has huge holes, cracks, and steel plates to keep out tanks. LOL!! If a road gets paved, the power company digs it up and puts down steel plates, almost immediately.
I found this fascinating! Good work
Hi BotR, great video! Thanks for the insight!
Really nice vid. Love to see more.
Thank you! That was very interesting, had no idea that Germany ever contemplated invasion of Switzerland. Thanks for the excellent info and tour!
I just read about Operation Tannenbaum and now this video shows up in my feed. The most interesting battle theater that fortunately never happened.
I really enjoyed that, nice one :)
This is a very nice example of the military concept in depth augmented by using the terrain to channel the attackers.
Really enjoying your coverage.
As you will know many small Pill Boxes here in the UK still lurk to supprise the casual walker.
Good work. I know you survived this, but it's kind of scary in spots with those slopes and cars. You've really gone above and beyond for us.
What an excellent entertaining and informative video! Please do more. And if possible include period stills or video of the areas or guns/vehicles etc a bit like you did at the end with the dugouts. 👍
Good, interesting, video. Hope you do some more like this.
Thank you very much for this great presentation in reality
Love historical military field trips.
That was really interesting and enjoyable, thank you.
THESE STYLE OF VIDEOS ARE SO INTERESTING. MAKE MORE PLZ!!!
Well done, I'm liking the content like this
Cheers!
Well said, different perspective I didn’t really think about concerning the Swiss
Excellent! Let’s have more Bloke Outside the Bunker.
Clear and informed - well done.
This is one thing I wish we had here in the US- WW1 and WW2 vintage bunkers to explore.
There are more than you would think. My native city of San Diego is home to a whole network of bunkers from the coastal defense artillery, I'm not sure when they were built. Point Loma has the bunkers for a battery of 16" guns that swept the entrance to the harbor. I also once visited what I think is an observation post on the hills south of Imperial Beach, it has a line of sight that could see the entire bay and its approach.
Most of them have been forgotten, so even finding out there is one near you can often be a challenge.
North of San Francisco is Marin Headlands. Multiple bunkers that held 16” guns, plus observation stations. All contained in a public wilderness area. See Fort Cronkite.
Really interesting video. Cheers!
Great job, fascinating!
I just have learned more from you about Swiss bunkers than in my one year military service in the swiss armed forces.
Great video. Very informative
Being a bilingual french canadian with some knowledge of german, I really enjoy you switching with those three language around 19:36. And I totally understand forgetting words of one's langue maternelle.
Thx for this, funny and very well explained! "they are toast"...very well explained and interesting, historical lession! very well done
and...your swiss army hat is great! I've served as well in the swiss army and had a similar one..
Very cool. And a quite lovely area, as well.
Great video! The closest thing I've seen to anything like this in the states are the old observation towers along the Delaware sea shore. Some of towers are still in place along the beaches with one still maintained and open to the public. This is a great bit of history not discussed much here in the states. I hope to make my way back to Switzerland one day to see some of these sights. Thanks for bringing this to us.
I really enjoyed it. Thank you.
Awesome video!
Welcome to Bloke in the Bunker. Hehehe...
As the computer in WarGames said, "the only winning move is not to play."
I just love the use of the word 'inconvenience' when talking about blowing up tanks into tiny bits.
Excellent video. I like your even handed approach to these subjects. Facts, observation and context with minimal opinion. Well done!
Love this footage, well done.
Thanks. I hope I gave a good overview of the space from every interesting angle - it's often difficult to do that with video.
Bloke on the Range, it reminds me of the YT channel 'Lindybeige'. I can listen for hours to such content. Well brought, this.
I am flattered to be compared to Lloyd! Thank you!
Cool history tidbit. Thanks.
As a former member, of the Fest-Art Kp II/23 and the Réduit-Brigade 22, I am very surprised how non-Swiss people look at our fortifications today. Yes, we had a lot of fortifications, blocking positions and in the mountains of course ideal advance sites to intercept and stop an attacker. It would have worked for sure. How long, probably quite long in view of the supplies that were available to us. In 1976, I was trained as a gunner and later became a gunnery commander, depending on whether I had 6 or 12 men under me, depending on the gun. We were always very well trained. Per week during the training and supplementary courses were always during at least 3-4 days active shooting, ie trained. The mobilization always took place under so-called war conditions. Every two years, 3 weeks of refresher courses had to be completed. My last grenade was fired in 1995 at the Gotthard. As a former member of the Red-Br 22 I was allowed to keep my personal equipment. Uniform and assault rifle, so to speak as a souvenir. Today I live as a pensioner in Thailand, have taken the uniform with me, the rifle I had to leave to good friends for safekeeping for me, in Switzerland. - Yes we had a very good army, with very good soldiers. Well understood, that was at that time, still when I have been mandatory between 1976 and 1995.
Very interesting, i would enjoy seeing more like this 🖒 from oz
It's interesting how many similarities there is between Switzerland and Sweden during WW2. We also allowed traffic through to norway, with restrictions, and we made it very clear that if the Germans tried to invade, we would blow up the iron mines that was all that Germany really wanted from Sweden.
Yours Swiss army wool cap is very nice!
Excellent! Great stuff!!
Love the Roakes' Drift reference.
Great video
I'll have to pop down to Chillon this weekend and see if I can spot any of these elements around there!
A very interesting video. I have had a keen interest in the history of Switzerland during World War 2 going back at least a decade. My daughter and I are actually coming to Switzerland in May and one of our goals is to check out some of the bunkers you are talking about. One place we have a mind to check out is Full Reuenthal which wouldn't be part of the Reduit but rather part of the Swiss version of the Maginot Line. Very much apreciate your videos thought I have not often commented on them, this one is a gem given our up coming trip.
That was awesome you have to do more
Wieder ein sehr interessantes Video, Danke :-)
Loved this!
Haven't seen someone this excited about bunkers since my days as a Hoxhaist
very comprehensive, clear, instructive and filled with humour (I could continue with the adjectives but in deference to Mike's head thought I should stop).... :)
Are you going to explore further into the redout? I could watch hours of this stuff!
I learned a lot ! Thanks ;)
Enjoyed this video! Would love to see more military installations like this if possible!
Very interesting, thanks!
Well done.
It was quite interesting seeing the extent of those under-road explosives, the area I grew up in highland Scotland had something similar! It was part of the home guard's resistance plan in the case of Operation Sealion going ahead, although the defences near my village were nowhere near as comprehensive as the Swiss ones here. The main road ran along quite a steep hillside in my glen, and the bridge over a small waterfall was rigged to blow with a camouflaged pillbox flanking it over the gorge. I always thought that the poor bastards in that bunker would never have had much chance of surviving, but 10 year old me thought it was the coolest thing in the world.
Wouldn't have surprised me if the bunker was an unmanned target to get the enemy to betray his intentions.
Some of the Highland roads are still blocked from time to time. Avalanches, naturally caused, in most cases but they can take days to stabilise and repair.
I must admit I skipped a lot of your "nerdy" gun videos, but the ones with history like this are a lot of fun to watch!
A similar topic I hope you will cover some day are those high mountain bunkers that can be accessed today through "via ferrata" trails. I've seen them in Italy and the idea of stationing soldiers at over 2000 meters seemed fascinating.
I'm mostly a nerdy gun channel, so you must skip a lot, lol! :D
Bloke on the Range I'm not the best viewer indeed :D but I stick around for the more historical stuff. My interest in weapons is limited to their context, you could say, not necessarily in depth mechanics or obscure ammo types!
More bunker videos, please!
Amazing use of natural terrain
An absolutely fascinating video, Bloke! I've been interested in Swiss defensive structures for years, especially the smaller company-sized ones like Sperrstelle. You did a terrific job narrating the defensive thinking behind each fortification. Just a shame you couldn't get inside the main roadside bunker to show the actual fighting points.
I know the Swiss have some restored bunkers open to the public. If you are looking for future video ideas, perhaps combine the restored fortification with your informed narrative storytelling--I know it'd be a great one to watch, especially from my office in the States, so far away from the Redoubt area.
Passing the various bunkers when walking my doc also lends an interesting activity of thinking thru the design, lines of fire, defensive use of the landscape etc.
My stopping group is Wollishofen / Sihltahl area.
A new revenue stream in military landscape walks beckons?
Following the rail line Zurich to Chur also has some interesting features.
Always a joy your vids.
Thx. From Züri to Chur you're going along the Limmat line of the old pre-Réduit "Armeestellung".
apologies for all the typos - jet lagged after 24 hours travel
Ich war Angehöriger der Red Br 22 und vorbereitete Sprengstellen gehörten zum Abwehrdispositiv. Fast jede Brücke, jede Engstelle, ganze Felswände usw. waren immer vorbereitet zur Sprengung. Die Sattelegg-Sperrstelle ist Teil des Reduits, keine eigentlich Festung. Dieses Dispositiv wurde bereits in den 80-er Jahren stillgelegt und ich selber habe mit meinen Leuten eine ganze Art Stellung ausgeräumt und zurückgebaut, dh. entsorgt. - I was a member of the Red Br 22 and prepared blast sites were part of the defense disposition. Almost every bridge, every narrow passage, whole rock faces etc. were always prepared for blasting. The Sattelegg barrage is part of the Reduit, not a fortress. This facility was already shut down in the 1980s and I myself and my people cleared out and rebuilt a whole kind of position, i.e. disposed of it.
Superb
It was very nice, thanks for that :-),
When you ever come to Styria, take a look at Sperrstellung Badl (the remains of it or at least the general layout). That's sonething to behold.
Thank you !
Very nice camera work, single handed; you didn't start blithering until right there at the very end.
Good video! :)
Very interesting
Cool have you been to the Jura near french border? lots of tank traps and pill boxes.
Indeed ... fascinating area
Half of my family either died in that infernal war or ended up in concentration camps, so I mean what I say - well done, Switzerland. Your citizens should be proud of their government. I am glad somewhere in Europe there was an island without all the death and suffering.
The swiss are not blameless, they horded the Nazi wealth, nobody was innocent during WW2.
Swiss bankers and politicians are to blame for that, not the masses. Dont put everybody in the same basket.
Sadlly being neutral means not taking sides. We bought from the allies and sold them. Then germany looked over you dont seem so neutral at all! With presure from germany to protect the Swiss people ther was not to much choice. Switzerland shot down a few german aircraft. Not boasting any arial kills of allied planes germany looked over. You do not seem that neutral at all. We forced most to land and most of our FLAK crews are said to have not tried to hit at all. Taking in prisoners of war from germany would not have been neutral. Whille many private persons helped the goverment had theyr hands tied. The acidental boombings of some Swiss cities did defenitlly not put the allies in a great light. But during the war most of the peiple did suport the allies. And so did the goverment, as far as they could get away with it.
America could have stayed neutral. How do you think that would have affected Switzerland. Sooner or later you would have been invaded. It’s easy not to do the right thing and say, not my problem.
@Cegesh Who did you just call triggered? I mean, come on, reread your post.
I've have/had a few of those hats, could never find one that fit proper though...
Any more links to videos like this - excellent video!!
Even though you kept blabbering on and I already knew all this stuff, I enjoyed the video. Probably because of your obvious enthusiasm for the subject
Swiss mentality 101: "I'm really sorry but I must inconvenience your little tank and its little friends, sorry very much so - see you again later at the next attempt of entering the Redoubt!"
dam your ch in Reich sounds pretty swiss :) 1:24
My high German sounds very Swiss these days :p
Is there some sort of military installation on the northern side of the Walensee? On the journey from Zurich to Sevelen I used to see something in the cliff face.
I don't believe so. Not impossible, but there's no roads on that side of the lake.
Hitler allegedly made a ( actually quite funny ) comment on the possibility of war between Germany and Switzerland. He claimed he could conquer all of Switzerland by using the firefighter- squadron of Constance ( my home town, laying directly on the border ). I meen, they`re quite a taff bunch, but that might have been just a little bit too ambitioned ; )
Hi Im now for like a month in Switzerland in flamatt and like to visit and see some bunker where do I have to go. Thanks 👍
Thanks for this story bloke, this would have been a big "ah schiesse" for the germans to run into. But then again it would be worth it just for the emmantaller cheese ; )
Old joke:
German general observing Swiss maneuvers during WW2.
Swiss general: "I can mobilise 4,000 expert riflemen at a moment's notice."
German general: "Very impressive, but what will you do if I send 400,000 troops over the border?"
Swiss General: "Each of my men will turn up, fire 100 rounds, then go home."
I must find me a genuine copy of that pre-WW1 postcard :)
From what I remember it was 250 000 swiss and 500 000 germans, and it was a ww1 reference.
lordsummerisle87 No original was German Kaiser to Swiss Soldier who had just won a shooting championship.
Kaiser: "How many Soldier's does Switzerland have?
Swiss Soldier: "Sire, Four hundred thousand".
Kaiser: That's interesting, I have twice that. What will you do if I send them into Switzerland?"
Swiss Soldier: " Shoot twice. Go home".
Similar joke:
Switzerland declares war on Russia (or any other strong state)
Switzerland "We declare war on you! We have 100'000 soldiers, about 400 tanks and 20 jets."
Russia "We accept! We have 1'000'000 Soldiers, 22'000 tanks and several hundred jets and bombers."
Switzerland "We take back the declaration of war. We don't have enough room for all the POWs."
Ma basta!