British invasion of Iceland in 1940

A rather interesting episode of World War II was the British invasion of Iceland. The operation codenamed Seal encountered no armed resistance from Iceland, enemy troops landed in Reykjavik, where they encountered no armed resistance from Icelanders. The rapidly moving troops secured strategic points on the island, the seizure of dominance was accompanied by the arrest and interrogation of all German citizens. The takeover of the island was met with protests from the citizens in terms of violating the neutrality of the Icelandic state. After lengthy negotiations the British promised compensation to the Icelandic people as well as military cooperation. As history has shown, the British also wanted to benefit from the war and gain an additional island, but they eventually gave up on this venture under pressure from the local population. Churchil himself uttered the words "Whoever has Iceland in his hand is wielding a gun aimed at England, America and Canada." Eventually, the British placed 25,000 troops in Iceland. The British occupation of neutral Iceland lasted until July 1941, at which time the Americans landed there and took over the defense of Iceland at the request of the Icelandic authorities. The US Army remained on the island until 1951.

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