Strategy & Tactics Briefing Room World at War 83

Greenland in

World War II

By Carl O. Schuster

On 9 April 1940, Danish-owned Greenland’s Gov. Eske Brun, awoke to a changed world. His home country of Denmark had fallen under the Nazi thumb, and he had received orders from Copenhagen to “cooperate” with German authorities when they arrived.

As the caretaker for the Danish colony and its 22,000 mostly Inuit citizens, Brun was under no illusion as to what the Nazis would do if they came to Greenland. He also had few options. Greenland had no Danish military garrison nor any other armed force to defend it.

Moreover, any European or Canadian troops brought in to defend Greenland might remain permanently, costing Denmark the territory in the postwar settlement. He watched as Great Britain took over the other Danish territories that stretched across the North Atlantic like steeping stones. Faced with the prospect of Germany occupying bases astride the vital Atlantic sea lanes, the British immediately secured Iceland and the Faroes to forestall that development.

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Operation Causeway:

The Planned Invasion of Formosa, 1944

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Articles:

· Operation Causeway: The Planned Invasion of Formosa, 1944: In mid-1944 a debate raged in the US high command over the next major objective in the Pacific. Two targets were considered: the Philippines and Formosa. The decision was made to invade the Philippines, but had the choice been Formosa, it would have become the largest amphibious operation of the war.

· Greenland in World War II: On 9 April 1940, Danish-owned Greenland’s Gov. Eske Brun, awoke to a changed world. His home country of Denmark had fallen under the Nazi thumb, and he had received orders from Copenhagen to “cooperate” with German authorities when they arrived. He had few options. Greenland had no Danish military garrison nor any other armed force to defend it.

· Polish 1st Armoured Division in 44–45: One of the best divisions in the “British” army sent to the front in northwest Europe after D-Day was actually the Polish 1st Armoured Division. This is its story.

· Fatal Flaws of the Me-262: Hitler considered the Me-262 a weapon potentially capable of defeating the Allies. To the end of the war, he believed in its ability to resurrect the combat power of his retreating, war-ravaged armed forces. In many popular histories today, the 262 is often overpraised. Its enthusiasts overlook the problems that actually limited the jet’s potential.

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