Cp Fus Mont III/15

The Real Battaillon d'infanterie de montagne 15 

In 1907, Régiment d'infanterie 7 was established as a unit of the Swiss Army, recruited from Canton Fribourg. Fribourg is a predominantly French speaking, albeit still bilingual, Canton with a largely agricultural economy, based around cattle farming and the production of both cheese and chocolate. The Regiment consisted of three battalions, which were assigned the numbers 14, 15 and 16. These were all recruited from across the Canton, with Bat 15 based in the cheese-producing centre of Gruyère. After being passed around between various divisions, the Regiment was mobilised in the Summer of 1914 to counter the threat to Swiss neutrality posed by the First World War, as part of Brigade d'infanterie 4, 2e Division. The unit remained on a rotating active service until January 12th, 1918, where they were to enjoy a brief respite before being called up once again during the Landesstreik (a general strike and national crisis). Having been mobilised once more on November 8th, 1918, the largely French-speaking and rural Regiment (including troops from all three battalions) was sent to resist mostly urban, German-speaking industrial workers in the de facto Swiss capital city, Bern. Following the strike, Bat 15 spent their final Christmas at arms garrisoned in Basel, before finally returning to Fribourg for demobilisation on January 6th, 1919. In this final period, 900 men caught the Spanish Flu, with 41 succumbing to it across the entire Regiment. 

It was from 1930 that the Battalion began its history of mountain training - providing a new capability to the 2nd Division.  Their old exercise areas in the plains of Swiss Jura were handed over to other units, and they began to train in the alpine foothills instead. In 1938, Régiment d'infanterie 7 was reassigned from the 2nd Division to the 1st.

During the Second World War, the Regiment served more than 800 days of active service, providing defence in depth against possible incursion. They moved around, starting the war based in the Jura plains, but also serving no fewer than 385 days in the mountains of Valais, spending time on the shores of Lake Geneva, and in another alpine deployment on the Italian border in Ticino, to finally end the war once again on the Franco-Swiss border in Basel.

Changes were underway for the Regiment in the post-war era: for one thing, recruitment was expanded from just Fribourg to also include French-speaking militiamen from Vaud and Valais, although the vast majority of members remained Fribourgeois. Under the 1951 Troop Organisation (Truppenordnung), Bat 15 lost their mountain troops status, although this was to be reinstated only ten years later under TO61, when Regiment d'infanterie 7 became Rgt Inf de Mont 7 and was incorporated into Div Mont 10. The Regiment would maintain this status through TO71 and TO83. In 1981, unusually, the Regiment conducted their annual refresher course in Canton Valais. Bat 15 itself was split between the Chablais Alps and Val d'illiez, focusing on co-operation with artillery troops. The course concluded with a firepower demonstration, involving the whole Regiment, Inf Bat 7 (who were temporarily assigned to Bat 15, with both having been based on the slopes around the Col du Pillon), various air and artillery units and several mortar teams, to commemorate 500 years of Canton Fribourg.

Despite exercises aimed at building a stronger civil purpose for the Regiment, including CR90 and disaster assistance exercises in Gruyères and Glarus, Bat 15 was finally disbanded under the scathing cuts of Armee 95. The Regiment was amalgamated into a singular battalion (Bat inf mont 7), which still exists. The Division itself only lasted another nine years, downgrading to brigade status in 2004 with the next round of cuts to the Swiss military.  Bat inf mont 7 was reassigned to Brigade d'infanterie de montagne 9 in 2009. 

References:

• Major Charles Grandjean, 'Le rgt inf mont 7 marque, à sa manière, le 500e', Revue Militaire Suisse, Issue 126 (1981)

• Andrei Abplanalp, Landesstreik 1918, Blog.National Museum (2018)

• La division de montagne 10 de 1970 à 1994, Commandement de la division de montagne 10 (1993)

And, to finish: An archive film of Regiment d'infanterie 7 on parade.