Original Item: Only One Available. This is an absolutely beautiful example of a used dress uniform tunic. The uniform features very beautiful blue accents and is stitched on a typical Swiss blue/gray wool uniform. On the cuff style collar is yellow accents with 2 stars, a pair on each side. These indicate the rank in which Mr. Roussy held at the time he wore this uniform.

There are very little moth marks on the uniform, if any. This was a very nicely kept and preserved tunic. In the recent years Swiss items have grown more popular and have been in high demand, don’t miss your opportunity to add this to your collection!

Approximate Measurements
Collar to shoulder: 9"
Shoulder to sleeve: 23”
Shoulder to shoulder: 15”
Chest width: 19”
Waist width: 17"
Hip width: 19”
Front length: 31"

Switzerland During WWII
During World War I and World War II, Switzerland maintained armed neutrality, and was not invaded by its neighbors, in part because of its topography, much of which is mountainous. Consequently, it was of considerable interest to belligerent states as the scene for diplomacy, espionage, and commerce, as well as being a safe haven for refugees.

At the outbreak of World War II in 1939, Switzerland immediately began to mobilize for a possible invasion. The transition into wartime was smooth and caused less controversy than in 1914; the country was fully mobilized in only three days. Parliament quickly selected the 61-year-old career soldier Henri Guisan to be General and by 3 September 430,000 combat troops and 210,000 in support services, 10,000 of whom were women, had been mobilized, though most of these were sent home during the Phoney War. At its highest point, 850,000 soldiers were mobilized.

During the war, under the pan-germanist and antidemocratic Neuordnung doctrine, detailed invasion plans were drawn up by the German military command, such as Operation Tannenbaum, but Switzerland was never attacked. Switzerland was able to remain independent through a combination of military deterrence, economic concessions to Germany and good fortune as larger events during the war delayed an invasion. Attempts by the Swiss NSDAP party to effect a unification with Germany failed, largely as a result of Switzerland's sense of national identity and tradition of democracy and civil liberties. The Swiss press criticized the Third Reich, often infuriating its leadership. In turn, Berlin denounced Switzerland as a medieval remnant and its people renegade Germans. Swiss military strategy was changed from one of static defence at the borders to a strategy of attrition and withdrawal to strong, well-stockpiled positions high in the Alps known as the National Redoubt. This controversial strategy was essentially one of deterrence. The idea was to render the cost of invading too high. During an invasion, the Swiss Army would cede control of the economic heartland and population centres but retain control of crucial rail links and passes in the National Redoubt.

Switzerland was a base for espionage by both sides in the conflict and often mediated communications between the Axis and Allied powers by serving as a protecting power. In 1942, the United States Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was established in Bern. Through the efforts of Allen Dulles, the first US intelligence service in Western Europe was created. During the allied invasion of Italy, the OSS in Switzerland guided tactical efforts for the take-over of Salerno and the islands of Corsica and Sardinia.

Despite the public and political attitudes in Switzerland, some higher-ranking officers within the Swiss Army had pro-Germany sympathies: notably Colonel Arthur Fonjallaz and Colonel Eugen Bircher, who led the Schweizerischer Vaterländischer Verband. In Letters to Suzanne (French: Lettres à Suzanne, Lausanne, Switzerland, 1949), the Swiss journalist Léon Savary retrospectively denounced in this sense "the occult influence of Hilter on the Swiss people during the Second World War, which they were not conscious of being under".