SPYING FOR PEACE

After two decades and countless indefatigable scholars, there are few chapters in the history of World War II which are not, at the very least, twice-told tales. Yet Mr. Kimche has come up with one, a not unimportant one at that, which until now has been almost totally overlooked. How did little Switzerland manage to keep both her sovereignty and her neutrality, completely surrounded as she was by Nazi-held territory? The answer is to be found in the stubbornness and skill of one man, General Henri Guisan, who gambled and bluffed in the face of defeatism and appeasement within his own government, while fighting for time to build a last-stand stronghold in the Alps, and organizing a spy ring with direct contacts in the highest circles in Berlin. Time and again, when invasion seemed a certainty, Guisan was able to convince the Nazi leaders that the price they would have to pay would be too great. Many hitherto unknown aspects of the cloak and dagger game which Allen Dulles played with the German generals are also revealed in the course of this volume. The final section, ""The Impossible Art of Being Neutral"", is a penetrating discussion of Switzerland's example for today's non-aligned nations.