SWORD Swiss towns as beacons to fix their position before flying on to locate targets inside Axis territory The Swiss occasionally tried to shoot down Allied planes as a gesture of their neutrality, but were unable to so From time to time, a blacked out Swiss town or city was inadvertently bombed The Swiss had little choice but to bend to German economic pressure during most of the war: the country was landlocked and surrounded by Axis or Axis-occupied territory German trade with Italy transited Switzerland, which left the Brenner Pass free for high priority military traffic Swiss industry benefited greatly from trade with Germany, with the Germans permitting limited imports of coal in exchange The trade infuriated Joseph Stalin and bothered a number of American officials Winston Churchill understood that it was essential to Swiss survival, which was better for the Allies than another German occupation By the end of 1943 growing German weakness and threats of postwar economic retribution by the Allies compelled the Swiss government to embargo export of war matériel to Germany That suited the mood of a basically pro-Allied population Cities such as Geneva and Zurich were wartime havens for intelligence agents, and double agents, from all the belligerent powers Neutral Switzerland was also a beacon for refugees of all sorts, including anti-German escapees during the war, and Schutzstaffel (SS) and other Nazis after it Allied nationals were usually interned SS-men fleeing postwar justice were as likely to be assisted by ratlines hosted in Switzerland Over 400,000 refugees entered the country during the war from France or Italy An entire Polish Army division fought its way out of France in 1940, made it to Switzerland, and was duly interned About 40,000 Jewish refugees from Vichy France were turned away and left to their dire fate in Vichy; most fell into German hands from November 1942 About 230,000 refugees were granted asylum by the Swiss during the war, of whom perhaps 10 percent were Jewish On the other hand, gold, art, and money stolen from murdered Jews by the Nazis, along with other loot stolen from across Europe, was accepted by highly accommodating Swiss banks and officials Compensation was paid after the war by the Swiss to descendants of some murdered Jews, though court cases over estate claims lasted into the early 21st century The United States paid some compensation to Switzerland for accidental bombing of several Swiss towns See also LUCY; New Order; Red Cross; Rote Kapelle SWORD Code name for one of the British invasion beaches in Normandy on D-Day (June 6, 1944) See also OVERLORD SWORDFISH The Fairey “Swordfish” was a British biplane that entered naval air service in 1936 In November 1940, 21 “Swordfish” wrecked havoc among Italian Navy ships docked at Taranto In May 1941, the battleship DKM Bismarck was torpedoed by “Swordfish” from the fleet carrier HMS Ark Royal Designed to fly from a short deck and at low speeds, the “Swordfish” was an excellent choice for the first escort carriers that came into Royal Navy service in the fall of 1941 Fitted with 1058