«Und das nennt sich Grenzbesetzung!»

As World War I drew to a close, some Swiss German officers hoped for uprisings and unrest in Switzerland. Not because they supported the protesting working class; on the contrary: suppressing the unrest would have allowed them to polish their reputation and experience something at the end of the uneventful border deployment. Based on previously overlooked letters and diaries, the study reveals how Swiss German officers experienced active service during World War I. After a phase of uncertainty in August 1914, a desire for action and validation came to the forefront. These were needs that the officers could hardly satisfy during the often perceived as uneventful and meaningless border deployment and in light of growing criticism of the army. It was only during the order service during the general strike that they were given the opportunity to do so. The study offers a panorama of essential elements of the officers' active service experience. In doing so, it breaks new ground in two ways: it fills a gap— the experience of the so-called border deployment has hardly been researched— and it connects to cultural and experiential historical research that has often been received only belatedly and incompletely in Switzerland over the past fifty years.