Swiss Accidentally Invade Liechtenstein
What began as a routine training exercise almost ended in an embarrassing diplomatic incident after a company of Swiss soldiers got lost at night and marched into neighboring Liechtenstein.
According to Swiss daily Blick, the 170 infantry soldiers wandered just over a mile across an unmarked border into the tiny principality early Thursday before realizing their mistake and turning back.
A spokesman for the Swiss army confirmed the story but said that there were unlikely to be any serious repercussions for the mistaken invasion.
"We've spoken to the authorities in Liechtenstein and it's not a problem," Daniel Reist told The Associated Press.
Officials in Liechtenstein also played down the incident.
Interior ministry spokesman Markus Amman said nobody in Liechtenstein had even noticed the soldiers, who were carrying assault rifles but no ammunition. "It's not like they stormed over here with attack helicopters or something," he said.
Liechtenstein, which has about 34,000 inhabitants and is slightly smaller than Washington DC, doesn't have an army.
© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. According to Swiss daily Blick, the 170 infantry soldiers wandered just over a mile across an unmarked border into the tiny principality early Thursday before realizing their mistake and turning back.
A spokesman for the Swiss army confirmed the story but said that there were unlikely to be any serious repercussions for the mistaken invasion.
"We've spoken to the authorities in Liechtenstein and it's not a problem," Daniel Reist told The Associated Press.
Officials in Liechtenstein also played down the incident.
Interior ministry spokesman Markus Amman said nobody in Liechtenstein had even noticed the soldiers, who were carrying assault rifles but no ammunition. "It's not like they stormed over here with attack helicopters or something," he said.
Liechtenstein, which has about 34,000 inhabitants and is slightly smaller than Washington DC, doesn't have an army.
Popular on CBSNews.com
-
One year after Afghan massacre, villagers work with U.S. troops One year after U.S. Staff Sgt. Robert Bales was accused of slaughtering 16 Afghan civilians, the villagers in the town where the atrocity took place have joined the U.S. special forces stationed there to assist in the fight against the Taliban.
- 50th Paris Air Show 19 Photos
- Celebration and devotion in India 14 Photos
- Rare twin birth for gorilla in Dutch zoo Play Video
- John Paul II a step closer to sainthood
- Nameplate to blame for halt in Afghan-Taliban talks
- Ex-Chinese official executed for child rapes, state media reports
- Rare twin gorillas born in Dutch zoo
- Brazil protesters flood Sao Paulo streets for 2nd night
(i think it would get more attention if it was some other country who invaded Liechtenstein.(wither or not it was Liechtenstein making it a fuss or not is something else entirely))
No, LOL. But I do know the Swiss were bankers for the 3rd Reich during WW2. While the rest of the world fought Hitlers evil regime the Swiss just made money.
But you gave me laugh.
Bush and Rummy must have had a secret meeting with this company before this brilliant manuver. There's just no other explanation to explain how they could screw up so bad.
In the Europa series of wargames I checked and found that if I used ALL of the best German units then I might have a chance of taking a hex per turn. So, it would take me at least a year or more to take the whole country.
Ah, did you get expelled a lot when you were in school for being a coward? Didn't you have enough strength to walk away from a fight? Tsk, tsk.
When countries say they're neutral, they mean cowardly.