Tuesday 19 June 2012

ch.elvetica

The ever fascinating BLDGblog has a neat and adventure inspiring review of the 1984 study of the Swiss military by John McPhee.  For a nation whose military is better known culturally for being the Pontiff's bodyguards and steadfast in its neutrality, the defensive forces of Switzerland have basically wired and booby-trapped the entire infrastructure around its natural landscapes to stop any invading forces dead in their tracks. Taking the strategic high-ground, some mountains are as porous as Swiss cheese with secret bunkers and ambush-points, bridges and tunnels are primed with dynamite, overpasses even aligned to collapse onto railroads, and the majority of villages are hiding armaments and soldiers underneath barns.  Some 3,000 defensive features are publicly acknowledged but surely there are more lurking.  It is strange to think about alpine passes readied dramatically for self-destruction in the worst case scenario and a shadowy army that can disappear into the mountains and walk through walls.