Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - Operation Fork and Iceland in WWII

Starting point is 00:00:00 Most people probably don't think of Iceland when they think of the Second World War. And they wouldn't be wrong for doing so because Iceland wasn't an active participant. However, that doesn't mean Iceland didn't have a role to play. The location of the island gave it strategic importance that made it important to both sides of the conflict. Learn more about Operation Fork, Operation Icarus, and the role of Iceland in the Second World War on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. What if your perceptions about the past were wrong? throughline is a podcast that takes you back in time to uncover the parts of the story that may have gone unnoticed.

Starting point is 00:00:49 It effectively turned day into night and how it shaped the world now. Time travel with us every week on the Thurline podcast from NPR. Before we get into exactly how Iceland factored into the Second World War, it's necessary to understand exactly what Iceland's political status was prior to the start of the war and why any of the party. in the war would have cared about Iceland at all. Iceland entered the 20th century as a possession of the Kingdom of Denmark, along with Greenland and the Faroe Islands. After remaining neutral in the First World War, as a result of Denmark's neutrality,

Starting point is 00:01:28 they were granted semi-independence in 1918. They were given autonomy regarding all domestic matters, but the King of Denmark was still the Icelandic head of state, and Denmark was responsible for all foreign affairs. The agreement with Denmark allowed for it to be revisited in the future, but by 1928, all the political parties in Iceland concurred that they should seek full independence. One of the first things the newly independent Iceland did after 1918 was to declare itself a neutral country, which made sense as Iceland had a very small population and no real army to speak of.

Starting point is 00:02:01 Unfortunately, as Belgium figured out the hard way, twice, neutrality didn't really mean anything if another country really wanted your territory. As the Second World War began, Britain found itself heavily dependent on shipping from North America. The Germans, aware of British reliance on this shipping, began a multi-year campaign to sink as many of the ships sailing to the UK as possible. These attacks on shipping were mostly conducted by German submarines, known as Untersea Boots or U-boats. This became known as the Battle of the North Atlantic, and it literally lasted from the start of the war on September 1st, 1939, until the surrender of Germany in May of 1945. The Battle of the North Atlantic was in large part a replay of what took place in World War I.

Starting point is 00:02:45 In the First World War, Britain defended the North Atlantic with a naval blockade that ran from the Shetland Islands in the very north of Scotland to Norway. However, on April 9, 1940, the Germans initiated Operation Vesser Ubung, which was an invasion of both Denmark and Norway. Denmark fell in a single day. Norway put up a bigger fight, but they two eventually fell in June. The German invasion of Norway was largely a preemptive move to prevent Britain from doing at first. The Britain and French had been openly discussing occupying northern Norway and Sweden

Starting point is 00:03:16 to cut off supplies of iron ore to Germany. The joint British-French operation, known as Plan R4, was supposed to be launched in April of 1940, but was never executed due to the German invasion of Norway. With Germany occupying Denmark and Norway, it put Britain in a tough position. The Germans now had a foothold in the North Atlantic, which made it easier for them to attack British shipping. This means that they couldn't use the Shetland's Norway line, to stop the German Navy from entering the North Sea. They would now have to use the much longer and much more difficult to defend, Greenland-Icelain-Shetland Line. Iceland suddenly became extremely important.

Starting point is 00:03:54 If the Germans were to occupy Iceland, which they could do easier than they took over Denmark, they would have the perfect base to launch relentless attacks on British shipping. On April 9th, the day the Germans invaded Denmark, the British government sent a message to the Icelandic government saying that they would be willing to help Iceland maintain its independence, but would require bases on the island to do so. They also invited Iceland to join the UK, quote, as a belligerent and as an ally. The next day, April 10th, the Icelandic parliament declared the Danish king no longer able to perform his duties as he remained in Denmark while it was under German occupation.

Starting point is 00:04:29 They also rejected the British offer, choosing to remain neutral. Things were moving quite fast, and the British didn't want to be one-uped by the Germans like they were in Norway. On April 11th, the British announced Operation Valentine, which was the occupation of the Faroe Islands. The Faroe Islands are located approximately halfway between Scotland and Ireland. Operation Valentine wasn't a military operation so much as it was a diplomatic one, with the Danish prefect of the Pharaoh's negotiating terms with the British. The British agreed not to interfere with any local decision-making and to leave when the war was over. This left Iceland. By early May, the British Admiralty had determined

Starting point is 00:05:07 that having bases in Iceland was a necessity if they were to protect North Atlantic shipping. The first option available to the British was to continue negotiations with Iceland. The risk was that there was no guarantee as to the outcome or how long it would take. And if the Germans were to find out that they were negotiating, they could just strike first and waltz in because Iceland had no defenses. The other option was to just occupy Iceland and ask for forgiveness rather than permission. The British went with option number two. They immediately threw together a plan for the occupation of Iceland known as Operation Fork.

Starting point is 00:05:40 When I say Operation Fork was thrown together, I really mean it. They had little to know intelligence, and they didn't even have a single person fluent in Icelandic. They didn't know if they would be welcome or if there would be resistance. They also didn't know if there would be Danish ships in the harbor of Reykjavik, and if so, would they attack them or would they join them? On May 3rd, the 2nd Royal Marine Battalion stationed in Surrey was given orders to be ready to travel to an unknown destination on two hours notice. The second Royal Marine Battalion had only been formed a month earlier and was woefully under-trained and was lacking in even basic gear. On May 6th, the units

Starting point is 00:06:17 were moved by train to Scotland where they were to board ships. However, there were delays in loading the ships with equipment and operational security was breached as everybody knew that they were going to Iceland. The ships finally set out and were off the coast of Iceland on the early morning of May 10th. At 147 a.m., the commander of the operation sent out one of their supermarine Walrus reconnaissance aircraft to provide reconnaissance of the Reykjavik Harbor. It wasn't supposed to fly over the city of Reykiewick, but the plane ended up doing exactly that. As Iceland had no airplanes that flew at night, the sound woke up many people in town, and the prime minister was notified. The British lost whatever element of surprise they had. The head of the German consulate

Starting point is 00:06:59 on the island also saw the plane, realized what was happening, and rushed back to the consulate to burn their documents. At 3.40 a.m., an Icelandic police officer saw a small flotilla of ships entering the harbor and notified the prime minister. The prime minister ordered customs officials to get on a boat to notify the British fleet that they were violating Icelandic neutrality. A bit after 5 a.m., a ship with about 400 Marines arrived at the harbor where the British consul, who had been notified of the occupation, was waiting for them. A crowd had gathered to see what was going on. The British consul famously asked a police officer, quote, Would you mind getting the crowd to stand back a bit so the soldiers can get off the destroyer?

Starting point is 00:07:37 The police officer replied, certainly. With absolutely zero resistance, the British occupied the radio station in the Department of Meteorology so that they couldn't broadcast news of the occupation to the Germans. The primary target was the German consulate. The British, again, finding no resistance at the consulate, simply walked up and knocked on the door. The German consul protested that Iceland was a neutral country, to which the British officer in charge replied, so was Denmark. Despite being perhaps the most unorganized and haphazard British operation of the war, it was executed without a single shot being fired, with zero deaths and zero injuries. The Icelandic government filed a formal protest about the flagrant violation of its sovereignty.

Starting point is 00:08:18 The British ended up agreeing to several terms regarding the occupation. Iceland would be compensated for any damage. The British would not interfere in any domestic affairs. Iceland would be given favorable trade terms with Britain, and all forces would leave the country at the end of the war. The people in Iceland were divided about the occupation. Some viewed it as a violation of their independence and neutrality. Others saw it as protecting them from the fate which befell Denmark and Norway. It turned out that both parties were correct. It was a violation of Iceland's independence and neutrality. There's really no way to put it nicely. If you show up unannounced with warships and soldiers, that's an invasion. However, it turned out that the Germans were thinking of an invasion of Iceland. The German plan was known as Operation Icarus. The idea for the German invasion of Iceland dates back to 1929 by a German war theorist by the name of Wolfgang Wegener. In reviewing the First World War, he realized that if Germany had taken Norway, it would have forced the UK to a more difficult Shetland-Icelain-Greenland defensive line.

Starting point is 00:09:21 In order to break that line, he argued, Germany would have taken either of the Faroe Islands, or the Shetlands, which he said was impossible during the First World War. After the Second World War began in 1939, Hitler was already thinking about Iceland, using it as a base in the North Atlantic. The idea was taken more seriously after the British occupation of Iceland in the fall of Norway in June of 1940. Hiller ordered a plan to be drawn up for the invasion of Iceland, which became Operation Icarus. The plan called for two passenger ships to travel to Norway to Iceland because of their speed. However, they were incapable of carrying the necessary heavy equipment.

Starting point is 00:09:59 The total invasion would have involved 5,000 ground units plus a small fleet of ships for protection. Ultimately, however, neither the Kriegsmarine nor the Luftwaffe supported the plan. The Luftwaffe felt that they couldn't support the invasion without landing strips in Iceland, which didn't yet exist. The Navy felt it would be impossible to supply and reinforce Iceland against the British Navy, even if the initial landing was successful. After a June 20th meeting with Admiral Eric Rader, head of the German Navy, the plans were scrapped. The British occupation of Iceland technically didn't last very long. Less than a month after the occupation began, they asked the Canadians to relieve them in garrison the island.

Starting point is 00:10:37 And eventually, even the Canadian troops were needed somewhere else. So on June 16, 1941, the then-neutral United States agreed to garrison the island, with American troops arriving in August. The American occupation of Iceland, which most Americans have no idea even took place, led to many radical changes to the island, mostly in the form of infrastructure. The Americans built a network of roads, hospitals, harbors, and airfields, the most important of which was the Naval Air Station Keflovik outside of Reykjavik. Naval Air Station Kevlovak became the basis for the modern Kevlovak International Airport. The occupation also led to major social changes.

Starting point is 00:11:17 Iceland was a very small and isolated country. The biggest concern most locals had, by a wide margin, was fraternization between soldiers and local women. An estimated 255 children were born from liaisons between allied men and Icelandic women, and 332 Icelandic women were married to allied soldiers. Iceland still uses patronomic naming, so someone's last name would be the name of the father followed by son or daughter. Many of the names given to the children of soldiers was Hansen, which simply means his son in Icelandic.

Starting point is 00:11:51 It's usually given when the father is unknown. In 1944, Iceland officially became a republic. After the war in 1946, they signed the Keflovak agreement with the United States, which stipulated that the Kevlovak airport would be turned over, and the United States would remove all troops within six months. Iceland eventually realized the strategic reality of its island and joined NATO as one of its founding members in 1949. They figured it was better to work with the Allies than to have events outside of their control again. The last American troops left Iceland in 2006, 60 years after the Kavlovak

Starting point is 00:12:25 agreement was signed. The occupation of Iceland remains a contentious subject on the island to this day. Some Icelanders view it primarily as a violation of their sovereignty. Others see the war as the event which brought Iceland into the modern world. Some people in Iceland have called it the Blessed Stridid, or the Blessed War, as it created jobs, boosted the economy, and overhauled the nation's infrastructure. And again, both sides are technically right. Iceland did have its sovereignty violated by the Allies. That really can't be denied. However, as a result of the occupation, Iceland was given the infrastructure and trading rights to improve its economy and become a modern country.

Starting point is 00:13:05 The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Thor Thompson and Peter Bennett. I just want to thank everyone, including the show's producers, who support the show over on Patreon. If you'd like to support the show, just head over to patreon.com, which is currently the only place where you can get show merchandise. Also, if you want to talk to other listeners about the show, head over to our Facebook group or Discord server, both of which have links in the show notes.

Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - Operation Fork and Iceland in WWII

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