Plausible Scenario??

Hello everyone, as many of you know, I would like to take up writing my own WW2 books upon my return from my mission as a hobby. There is an idea that I have been researching quite a bit to see if it is legitimate story building material.

During WW2, Switzerland was a neutral country, and it defended it neutrality fiercely. Switzerland shot down many German, British, and American aircraft that flew into the neutral nations airspace, leaving many crews to be interned in the country till wars end. So here is a very slimmed down summary of my story, and I'm hoping you all can tell me whether this is, a good idea for one, and two, a realistic enough idea.

An RAF Pilot conducting recon near Mulhouse France in September of 1939 becomes disoriented in the night, and has to land in Switzerland. He is the first of the war to be interned in an old ski resort in the Swiss Alps, he names the internement facility Hotel Switzerland. From then to the end of the war, dozens more are interned, including those on opposing sides of the war. Among the interned are French, Italian, British, Australian, Canadian, American, German and Russian internees. Captors, captives, and enemies, become friends in an unlikely place and situation.


Interned commonwealth pilots

French soldiers surrendering to Swiss soldiers

Captured American B-17 interned in Switzerland

 

Does anyone try to escape? Remember that these men would try to get back to friendly territory. It's a prisoner's duty to try to escape.

Also, there were pro-Nazi Swiss. Is the commandant one of them?

 

I will have some of the characters escape, some multiple times, and I was planning on having the commandant be bias towards the Germans initially, but not Pro-Nazi, some of the guards will be though.

 

AFAICT no resorts were utilized as internment camps until well into 1943. Also, the different warring factions were not interned together, but were in different sectors of the country. See Chapter 6 - The Adelboden "Camp" | ANZAC POW Free Men in Europe for an excellent overview of a poorly understood subject. For a list of some of the camps see Switzerland (scroll down to military camps). For the occasionally grim story of USAAF internees see Swiss Internees Association Inc.

 

Not plausible...

1. The Spitfires didn't operate near Switzerland that early in the war. Any Spit pilot flying that far out of his way would be intentionally looking to defect, as he would have passed well-known land marks on the way.

2. The first British pilots interned in Switzerland didn't happen until 1942.
Air War Web Portal: Interned Aircraft in Switzerland

3. No British fighters were interned in Switzerland, and only 2 USfighters were interned - one in 44, and another in 45.
See above link.

You could still tell essentially the same story, just set it later in the war.

 

German and Russian internees would be an intriguing question; would these individuals overcome the bitterness between their nations during the war? Or would there be constant tension that perhaps the other internees would try to deal with?

Of course it's unlikely that Russians would end up in Switzerland, but a work of fiction can take some liberties. As Rich and Takao mentioned, you'd be doing a bit of that anyway.

There was often a degree of camaraderie between British, German, American, etc. captors and prisoners, so it's not implausible that something like that could develop if they were all in the same boat. Good luck!

 

Some Soviets were interned in Switzerland, also there were a good many Poles that had been interned in Switzerland.

 

I was planning on having the recon aircraft the RAF pilot was flying be a Westland Lysander, and the internees would be separated by nation, at least initially. I'm thinking that I might change the story to be in the perspective of one the Swiss guards.

 

One of my uncles friends was interned in Switzerland. I remember him mentioning the fact that he was briefly captured (in Germany) before crossing the border in to Switzerland made a significant difference in the conditions of internment. The rules were much looser than they were for those that made it there without being captured. I suspect those that landed or crashed in Switzerland fell under the latter rules as well.

 

In November 1939 a Spitfire spy plane from No. 2 CU took pictures of Germany from high altitude. No. 212 Squadron was formed in France for photo work. Strategic photo recon flights started at Heston airfield and a year later moved to RAF Benson, reorganized as No. 1 PRU. Except when assigned to Tac/R the photo Spitfires were usually unarmed, with the guns sometimes replaced by extra fuel cells.

The facts would change your timeline slightly, but this is not really significant because you propose a fictional account.

 

OP alludes to a very important question: Where is the conflict that would be needed for drama?

 

The Heston flight was originally controlled by MI6 and it's plausible that a woman could be the pilot. During the war many women were qualified on Spitfires as delivery pilots and some were very skilled at maneuvering them in aerobatic drills.

 

How about a bomber pilot? When did RAF Bomber Command start bombing Northern Italy? Your hero could be on his way back from bombing Turin?

 

Yes it was common to have an agent in these camps pretending to be an inmate...Finding who it is might be part of the story...Could one of the main characters be the snitch? What would happen to him if found out?
Aircraft can become VERY disorientated especially in bad weather...Once fuel runs low the pilot must land - WHERE EVER he finds himself...German aircraft have landed in Britain without knowing until they get out of the aircraft!