History of Iceland during the Second World War – Wikipedia

At the start of the Second World War, Iceland was a sovereign kingdom in personal union with Denmark, with King Christian X as Head of State. Iceland officially remained neutral during the Second World War. However, the British invaded the Iceland May 10, 1940 . The July 7, 1941 , the responsibility for the defense of Iceland was transferred from Great Britain to the United States, which was going to remain a neutral country for another five months. THE June 17, 1944 , Iceland dissolved its union with Denmark and the Danish monarchy, and proclaimed Republic.

Germany’s interest in Iceland in the 1930s came to proportions that the British government found alarming. The Third Reich’s openings began with a friendly competition between the German and Icelandic football teams ^{[ Ref. desired]} . But, they quickly took a more disturbing turn: geological missions in the country, studies with a view to building infrastructure (ports, aerodromes, bases of submarines) ^{[ first ]} . When the war began, Denmark and Iceland declared their neutralities and limited visits to the island of ships and military aircraft of the belligerents ^{[ 2 ]} .

During the German occupation of Denmark, the contact between the two countries was disrupted. Initially, the kingdom of Iceland declared itself neutral, and limited the visits to the war buildings of the belligerents and prohibited the presence of aircraft of the belligerents on Icelandic territory.

After the invasion of Denmark, the April 9, 1940 , Iceland opened a legation in New York. Iceland, however, unlike Norway, did not strictly respect the limitations in its territorial waters and even reduced the financing of the coast guard of Iceland. Many merchant ships of the axis who sought refuge in neutral waters around Iceland were sunk by allied warships. The chief of the capital’s police forces, Agnar Kofoed-Hansen (is) began to train the national defense forces in early 1940.

The British imposed strict controls for the export of Icelandic products, preventing profitable deliveries to Germany, as part of its naval blockade. London offered his help to Iceland, in search of cooperation, as “belligerent and ally”, but Reykjavik refused and reaffirmed his neutrality. The German diplomatic presence in Iceland, with the strategic importance of the island, alarmed the British ^{[ 3 ]} . After several unsuccessful attempts to persuade the Icelandic government by diplomatic means of joining the allies and becoming a cobelligerant in the war against the axis forces, the British invaded Iceland him May 10, 1940 . The initial force of 746 British Royal Marines commanded by Colonel Robert Sturges was replaced the May 17 by two regular army brigades. In June, the first elements of force “Z” arrived from Canada to relieve the British who immediately returned to defend the United Kingdom. Three Canadian brigades, the Royal Regiment of Canada, the Cameron Highlanders and the Mont-Royal rifle trees, established a garrison on the island until their withdrawal in order to defend the United Kingdom in the spring of 1941. They were replaced by forces British garrison ^{[ 4 ]} .

The July 7, 1941 , the defense of Iceland was transferred from Great Britain to the United States (still officially neutral), in agreement with Iceland, the US Marines replaced the British. Iceland’s strategic position along the North Atlantic maritime lanes was perfect for air and naval bases, and brought new importance to the island. There first ^re Marine brigade made up of around 4,100 soldiers was garrisoned in Iceland until the beginning of 1942, when they were relayed by the troops of the American army, so that they could join their brothers in combatants in combatants in The pacific.

Iceland cooperated with the British, then the Americans, but officially remained neutral during the Second World War.

Arrival of American troops in Iceland in January 1942.

During the war, the derivative mines posed by the Germans became a serious problem for the Icelanders, as well as for the Allied forces. The first Icelandic deminers were trained in 1942 by the Royal Navy to help them treat the problem ^{[ 5 ]} . British forces also provided the Icelandic coastal guard with weapons and ammunition, such as anti-submarine grenades to combat sub-sailors in the axis. During the war, the German submarines damaged and sank a number of Icelandic ships. Iceland’s dependence on the sea, for the supply of food and for trade, led to significant losses in life. In 1944, the British naval intelligence built a group of five Marconi radiogoniometry stations on the west coast of Reykjavik. These stations were part of a network of similar stations located around the North Atlantic to locate the radio transmissions of submarines.

The increase in the price of import products has also led to the development of agriculture in heated greenhouses by means of geothermal energy, in particular the cultivation of bananas, the first fruits of which were marketed in 1945.

The February 10, 1944 , a Focke-Wulf FW 200 German from I. / kg 40, parked in Norway, flowed the British oil tanker SS The cricket (in) À Seyðisfjörður ^{[ 6 ]} .

Politically, the fact that communications are largely cut with Denmark leads to autonomy in fact . The idea that the separation of with Denmark at the end of the conflict was desirable, even inevitable, quickly gained ground within the political class and public opinion. THE June 17, 1944 , while German defeat only seemed only a matter of time, Iceland dissolved its union with Denmark and its monarchy and proclaimed itself. For her, the war was over, but not the ties with the American army, which only started to conquer Western Europe and saw its establishment in Iceland as very precious.

The presence of British and American troops in Iceland had a lasting impact on the country, and not only in geopolitical matters.

The Icelandic Republic does not have an army, if not a single infantry unit and around fifty sailors. Since 1941, Icelandic defense has been in practice provided by the United States ^{[ 7 ]} , even if the country has agreements with the Norwegian army, the Danish army and other NATO members for its internal security.

In a country that had not recorded immigration for a long time, there was a lot of contact between the young Icelandic women and the soldiers, which was known as The situation (in) (“The condition” or “situation”) in Icelandic. Many Icelandic women got married with allied soldiers and/or gave birth to children. They wore the surname Hansson (“His son” in Icelandic, to signify that we did not know or did not mean who) when the father was unknown or had left the country. Some children born following the Ástandandið have English names.

The labor needs of the Americans (dockers, constructions, handling and ancillary jobs in the bases) also led a certain number of Icelanders to leave their villages, in particular those isolated from the North West and the East, to join The Reykjavik region where life was easier and the possibilities of remuneration much better.

• D.F. Bittner, The Lion and the White Falcon: Britain an Iceland in the World War II Era , Hamden, Archon Books, 1983.
• D.F. Bittner, « A Final Appraisal of the British Occupation of Iceland, 1940-1942 », The RUSI Journal n ^O  120, 1975, p. 45-53.
• Philip W. Deans, The uninvited guests: Britain’s military forces in Iceland, 1940-1942 , 2012 [ read online ] .
• (in) Byron Fairchild , « Decision to Land United States Forces in Iceland, 1941 » , in Kent Roberts Greenfield, Command Decisions , United States Army Center of Military History, 2000 (reissue from 1960) ( read online ) .
• Sólrun B. Jensdóttir Hardarson, « The’Republic of Iceland’1940-44: Anglo-American attitudes and influences », Journal of Contemporary History n ^O  9.4, 1974, p. 27-56 [ read online ] .
• J. Miller, The North Atlantic Front: Orkney, Shetland, Faroe, and Iceland at War , Edinburgh, Birlinn, 2003.
• Col. Conrad H. Lanza Et Col. Deverse Armstrong ( you. ), « Perimeters in Paragraphs – Realities behind the power struggle », The Field Artillery Journal , The United States Field Artillery Association, vol. 36, n ^O 7, July 1946 , p. 436 ( read online [PDF] ) .
• C.P. Stacey, Official History of the Canadian Army in the Second World War , Vol. I « Six Years of War » , Queen’s Printer, Ottawa, 1955.