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nToday’snbirthday isn’t incredibly famous. Born on this date in 1917, BergernSigurbjörnsson was became an Icelandicnmagazine editor and, eventually, politician. He cared deeply aboutnIceland’s independence and self-determination.

nAnd – I read – henopposed America’s occupation of his nation.

nInsat there, surprised, and re-read the sentence: Sigurbjörnssonnopposed America’s occupation of Iceland.
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nInasked myself, “Wait – America occupied Iceland?”
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nOfncourse, I turned to Google, and I found mention of Americannoccupation of Iceland at the end of a Wikipedia article about thenBritish invasion of Iceland.
nInwas twice as surprised. Wait! – Britain INVADED Iceland??
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nItnturns out that, because Iceland has a strategic position between Europe and North America, in the Northern Atlantic,nBritish strategists were worried that Nazi Germany would take overnthe island – so they ordered British troops to do so before Germanyndid!
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nItnturned out that there was no German invasion planned.nBut the idea wasn’t crazy. Iceland had been ruled by Denmark for anlong period of time and had only become independent in 1918. It hadndeclared itself a neutral country without a defense force – innother words, it had no army or navy!
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nAncouple of decades later, Hitler began to swallow up European nations,none by one. In April of 1940, he invaded both Norway and Denmark, andnhis Nazi army was able to defeat and occupy Denmark in just one day. n
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nThatnsame day, Britain had sent a message to Iceland, a nation that stillnhad close ties with the now-defeated Denmark, offering to helpnprotect Iceland from the Nazis but requesting facilities in Icelandnto do so. Iceland said “no thanks.”
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nSonit makes sense for British leaders to worry that Germany would wantnto snatch up the defenseless, strategic island nation – and it made sense fornBritish leaders to think that such a takeover would be a huge threatnto the U.K. n
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nEarlynin the morning on May 10, 1940, British troops disembarked in thencapital city of Iceland, Reykjavík. They met with no resistance, andnthey moved quickly to disable communication networks, and tonestablish a presence in every strategic location on the island. Theynalso arrested German citizens who lived in Iceland. n
nThengovernment of Iceland issued a protest and demanded that compensationnbe made for all damage done by the British troops. The U.K. promisednto pay for damage, and also promised not to interfere with Icelandicnauthorities AND to withdraw at the end of the war.
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nAnd,nas far as I can tell, the U.K. followed through with all of thosenpromises…
nExcept,nBritain needed those troops elsewhere, so in July of 1941, the U.S.ntook responsibility for keeping Iceland out of German hands. Getnthis, by 1942, there were about 40,000 U.S. military personnelnstationed on Iceland – and that outnumbered the adult Icelandic mennat the time! n
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nApparently,nthe U.S. didn’t take off at the end of the war; I read that the U.S.nNavy remained in Iceland until 2006!
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nInnhonor of BergernSigurbjörnsson…
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nI bringn you some gorgeous photos of Iceland:
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