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The 1940 Occupation of Iceland > .
40-5-10 Forgotten (Flawed) British Invasion of Iceland - Operation Fork - HoHi > .
The
invasion of Iceland occurred on
10 May 1940 during World War II. Iceland was occupied by troops of the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom
military operation, codenamed
Operation Fork, was conducted by the
Royal Navy and
Royal Marines. The invasion was performed because the British government feared that the island would be used by the
Germans, who had recently overrun Denmark, Iceland's possessing country.
At the
start of the war, the UK imposed
strict export controls on Icelandic goods, preventing profitable shipments to Germany, as part of its naval blockade. The UK offered assistance to Iceland, seeking cooperation "as a belligerent and an ally", but Reykjavík refused and reaffirmed its neutrality. The
German diplomatic presence in Iceland, along with the island's strategic importance, alarmed the UK government. After failing to persuade the Icelandic government to join the
Allies, the
UK invaded on the morning of 10 May 1940. The initial force of
746 Royal Marines commanded by Colonel
Robert Sturges disembarked at the capital Reykjavík. Meeting no resistance, the troops moved quickly to
disable communication networks, secure strategic locations, and arrest German citizens. Requisitioning local transport, the troops moved to
Hvalfjörður,
Kaldaðarnes,
Sandskeið, and
Akranes to secure potential landing areas against the possibility of a German counterattack.
...
On the evening of 10 May, the
government of Iceland issued a protest, charging that its neutrality had been "flagrantly violated" and "its independence infringed", noting that compensation would be expected for all damage done. The
British promised compensation, favourable business agreements, non-interference in Icelandic affairs, and the withdrawal of all forces at the end of the war. In the following days air defence equipment was deployed in Reykjavík and a detachment of troops sent to
Akureyri. However, the initial invasion force was ill-equipped, only partially trained and insufficient to the task of occupation and defence of the island. On 17 May 4,000 additional troops of the
Canadian Army arrived to relieve the marines. During July elements of the
2nd Canadian Division and
3rd Canadian Division were landed.
Commonwealth occupation forces eventually totalled 25,000 infantry with elements from the Royal Air Force, Royal Navy and Royal Canadian Navy. One year after the invasion, forces from the still officially neutral
United States were stationed on the island by
agreement with the Icelandic government, relieving the bulk of British ground forces.
US forces grew considerably after the US joined the war on 7 December 1941, reaching as many as
30,000 army, navy and air force personnel at any one time. The
RAF and RCAF continued to operate from two
Royal Air Force stations through to the end of the war.
....
During the occupation, on
17 June 1944, Iceland declared itself a republic. The Keflavík Agreement signed during 1948 between the US and the Republic of Iceland stipulated that the American army would leave the country within six months, and Iceland would take possession of the Keflavík Airport. This did not happen for decades, and a
substantial US military presence remained in Iceland until 30 September 2006. At the end of hostilities most British facilities were given to the Icelandic government.
Although the British action was to forestall any risk of a German invasion, there is no evidence that the Germans had an invasion planned. There was, however,
German interest in seizing Iceland. In a postwar interview,
Walter Warlimont claimed that "Hitler definitely was interested in occupying Iceland prior to [British] occupation. In the first place, he wanted to prevent "anyone else" from coming there; and, in the second place, he also wanted to use Iceland as an air base for the protection of our submarines operating in that area". After the British invasion, the Germans composed a report to examine the feasibility of seizing Iceland, proposed as
Operation Ikarus. The report found that while an invasion could be successful, maintaining supply lines would be too costly and the benefits of holding Iceland would not outweigh the costs (there was, for instance, insufficient infrastructure for aircraft in Iceland).
