A unique piece of Swiss history was recently discovered by a construction team working between Basel and Olten. During work on the Chilchzimmersattel pass in September, workers discovered a message in a bottle hidden in a wall, which turned out to be from a soldier in the First World War.

Message in a bottle from Swiss WW1 soldier found in wall

According to the construction firm Tozzo AG, the bottle was found on the pass between the towns of Eptingen and Langenbruck, Canton Basel-Land. As the company was carrying out repairs, operator Radisa Dobrosavljevic came across a wine bottle embedded in a wall on the site.

Upon further inspection, it turned out that a long-lost message had been placed in the bottle itself, dating from the First World War. The note within was written by one Sergent Herrmann in 1916. The letter sported a logo from the Swiss Soldiers' Welfare Association and included a July 29, 1916 edition of the Der Oberaargauer newspaper.

Switzerland during World War One

To understand why the bottle was found in the wall near Eptingen, we must briefly look at the history of Switzerland during World War One. Though the country remained neutral for the course of the war, the country did mobilise in case it was attacked or the war spilt over from the battlefields in southern France. At its peak, the Swiss Army numbered 220.000 men. 

As part of preparing for an attack from either the Entente or the Central Powers, the Swiss government elected to build a range of fortifications in the mountains and points of key strategic importance. This included the 42-kilometre Hauenstein fortifications, designed to defend the key railway link and station in Olten.

One of the supply lines to these fortifications included the wall where the bottle was buried.

WW1 message details the harsh conditions and sobriety of the Swiss Army

"During the First World War, Swiss soldiers worked here under harsh conditions on the supply line for the Hauenstein fortification," Hauenstein Fortification Association chairman Christian Rieder told 20 Minuten. "The Belchen-Nordstrasse was built using strenuous manual labour without modern construction machinery. The materials were transported exclusively by horse over the impassable terrain of the Bölchen area."

This explains the content of the letter itself. Rather than poems to a distant lover or an assuring message for back home, Sergeant Herrmann detailed the conditions they laboured under. "This wall was built in the war year of 1916 by the 4th Platoon IComp Batl 139. In these August days, all men had to sweat. No one was allowed to shirk and sit in the shade,“ it read.

Another bone of contention for Herrman was sobriety: “All alcohol consumption was strictly prohibited. And no one had ever dared to violate this.” Rieder explained that Switzerland as a whole was gripped by a “widespread” drinking problem in the early 20th century. Mandatory rationing caused by the conflict also hampered morale in both the military and civil society.

Association to trace the descendants of Swiss soldier

Rieder concluded that while small, the “artefact is a piece of social history.” It will now be transported to the Olten Historical Museum for further research and preservation. The association would also like to look into the genealogy of Sergeant Herrman and contact any descendants still alive today.