Shot from the Sky: American POWs in Switzerland

Sea Power, Sep 2003 by Gardner, Sherry L

SHOT FROM THE SKY: American POWs in Switzerland, by Cathryn J. Prince, Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, May 2003. 288 pp. $29.95. ISBN: 1-55750-433-4. Journalist Cathryn Prince discovered the story of American POWs held in Switzerland while living there and covering the United Nations in Geneva.

Long recognized for its neutrality in international events, Switzerland not only shot down U.S. aircraft entering Swiss airspace but also imprisoned the survivors in internment camps. Prince found that more than 1,000 American prisoners were held between 1943 and the end of World War II. Ironically, the prisoners could not demand better treatment because at that time, the Geneva Accords did not apply to prisoners held in neutral countries. Prince draws on first-person accounts and unpublished resources-including interviews with eyewitnesses and surviving American prisoners, and documents from the Swiss government and the U.S. Air Force-to bring to light details of this little-known episode and examine the Swiss government's justifications for its actions. Although the events Prince describes have been mentioned in other books, this book is touted as the first attempt to tell the complete story. With 23 photographs, appendix, notes, bibliography, and index.