61340 Vorabseiten_e - Unabhängige Expertenkommission Schweiz

up in August 1941 in La Chaux-de-Fonds. This company filled one single minicontract
for 100,000 S/30 fuses – also under technical difficulties – which it
received directly from Germany.
Vast entrepreneurial freedom – limited significance for national defence
A comparison of the armaments companies mentioned here reveals that they
enjoyed vast entrepreneurial freedom. Some firms concentrated their entire
output on meeting German requirements while others supplied the British and
American markets exclusively, and a third group sold – sometimes in various
phases – to both sides. Almost any policy enjoyed the support of the authorities.
For sales to Germany and Italy, the tax-payer financed Federal export payment
guarantee in the form of a clearing credit for the export of arms, ammunition,
and fuses was the decisive factor. Another important aspect was the supply of
goods made in the Eidgenössische Militärwerkstätten. This violated the
neutrality-linked ban on the export of such products from state-owned factories
to belligerent countries, 35 as did the official control certificates and the use of
Swiss military bases for presenting and testing arms, ammunition, and fuses
destined for export. Oerlikon-Bührle, Tavaro, Dixi and others had a German
purchasing officer stationed permanently on their premises. The German Industrial
Commission (Deutsche Industriekommission, DIKO), hosted by the German
diplomatic mission, made every effort to ensure that full Swiss production
capacity was directed towards arming Germany. In the case of conflicting
interests, exports took priority over the needs of the Swiss army. As the head of
the War Technology Division emphasised after the war, it would have been a
«mistake» to believe that
«the Swiss armaments industry means only the small group of arms
manufacturers which, as far as arms and ammunition are concerned, is
made up principally of Bührle, Hispano-Suiza, Tavaro, Dixi, SIG and the
Waffenfabrik Solothurn. Between 1 September 1939 and 20 May 1945,
this group of companies received contracts [from the Swiss procurement
agencies] worth a total of 144 million francs, which constitutes only
around 5.3% of total expenditure on armaments. The other contracts were
allotted partly to the Eidgenössische Militärwerkstätten (between 10 and
15% approximately) and partly to private companies which, apart from a
few minor exceptions, did not export any war material. [...] If one looks
solely at the past, one can find only scanty support for the theory that the
armaments industry is an extremely important factor in our military
potential, and what one can find concerns only the particular sector of time
fuses.» 36
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