Switzerland was the first nation to equip their army with a repeating rifle, the Repetier-Gewehr 1869, or Vetterli, a bolt-action rifle with a 12-shot tubular magazine. Practically all males between the ages of 18 and 65 are in the standing army or reserves, and reservists store their uniforms, equipment, weapons and ammunition at home so they can mobilize quickly. This was accomplished by maintaining the best-trained and -equipped “people’s army” in Europe. The Swiss realized early on that their neutrality could only be maintained by making their potential aggressors realize that Switzerland would offer massive resistance to any invader. The grey-haired Feldwebel thought for a moment before answering: “Then, Your Excellency, we will all have to fire our rifles twice!” Half-jokingly, the Kaiser asked what would little Switzerland do if the Imperial German army invaded them with a force twice as strong. While reviewing an honor guard of Swiss soldiers, the Kaiser stopped to compliment their non-com on the men’s soldierly appearance. He told us a story once about when Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm II made a state visit to Switzerland before World War I. When I was in high school, we had a neighbor who had emigrated from Switzerland after World War II. Author Paul Scarlata testing the Swiss Karabiner 1931.
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