Did some pilots choose to desert using the neutral stance in Sweden and Switzerland and were they allowed to fly there when in danger and be taken out of the war?

Answer 1

I don't think desert is quite the right term but essentially the answer is yes. Aircraft in trouble could request emergency landing in neutral countries. By international treaty those countries had to permit the landing and then intern the crews. Internment in these neutral POW camps was a whole lot better than being in a German one so planes that could not make it back to base would often try for Sweden. I don't know if they did the same with Switzerland or not. Of course, being in those camps was also a whole lot safer than flying combat missions so some pilots did claim to be having trouble and head for Sweden even if there was nothing actually wrong with their craft. Michael Montagne

Switzerland had a huge amount of enemy aircrafts (so any aircraft invading their territory, as they weren't allied with any country). Mainly American bombers, as they had first a hard time bombing Germany without fighter protection during daytime.

There was a widespread belief that this occured in WWII due to false radio reports by German propogandists, however, it ultimately had no basis in fact. It did concern USAAF command enough for General Spaatz to send an investigative team to Switzerland in April of 1944, and they concluded that the vast majority of USAAF bombers there took severe damage in combat. It is not widely known that some damaged American bombers were actually shot down by the Swiss, and hundreds of bomber crews were confined illegally in military punishment camps for attempting escape. Those US soldiers confined in Swiss punishment camps did see conditions that were comparable to German POW camps, for which the US Embassy lodged official protests with the Swiss government. Ultimately, much of this mistreatment was recorded for use in war crimes tribunals but was never pursued for diplomatic reasons. It is now available from the US Archives under the Freedom of Imformation Act.

I refer you to http://swissinternees.tripod.com/ where you will find a list of books on this topic.

Sincerely, Dwight S. Mears CPT, US Army

Switzerland was a neutral country, defending its territory against any invader... it happened they attacked German AND American planes... but mainly guiding the bombers to secured landing place. During one of those "interceptions" an American fighter shot down a Swiss fighter who was just leading the American bomber to a save spot.

Concerning the camps, they were equal for any soldier... and the population didn't have much to eat either.