Operation Fork - Invasion of Iceland
- Si Biggs
- May 10, 2023
- 3 min read
Updated: Feb 12
Unit/ Formation: Royal Marines
Location: Iceland
Period/ Conflict: World War II
Year: 1940
Date/s: 10 May 1940
The invasion of Iceland, codenamed Operation Fork, was a British military operation conducted by the Royal Navy and Royal Marines during World War II to occupy and deny Iceland to Germany.
On 28 April 1940, Winston Churchill, then the First Lord of the Admiralty, had initiated planning to establish a British presence on Iceland. With Denmark under Nazi occupation, the United Kingdom offered assistance to Iceland “as a belligerent and an ally,” but the Icelandic government were quick to decline and reaffirm their neutrality. Despite the set-back of being denied access to the country for military purposes, Britain still intended to land.
The War Cabinet were quick to side with the Admiralty and the occupation of Iceland under the name “Operation Fork” began to take shape.
On 3 May 1940, the 2nd Royal Marine Battalion in Bisley, Surrey received orders from London to be ready to move at two hours’ notice for an unknown destination. The battalion had only been activated the month before. Though there was a nucleus of active service officers, the troops were new recruits and only partially trained. There was a shortage of weapons, which consisted only of rifles, pistols, and bayonets, while 50 of the marines had only just received their rifles and had not had a chance to fire them.
On 4 May, the battalion received some modest additional equipment in the form of Bren light machine guns, anti-tank guns, and 2-inch mortars. With no time to spare, zeroing of the weapons and initial familiarisation firing would have to be conducted at sea.
At 0400 on 8 May, under the command of 49-year-old Colonel Robert Sturges, a highly regarded WW1 veteran, 746 men of the inexperienced 2nd Royal Marine Battalion departed Greenock, Scotland, United Kingdom. Also with the invasion force was a small intelligence team headed by Major Humphrey Quill and a diplomatic mission headed by Charles Howard Smith.
They were accompanied by two destroyers for the journey across the Atlantic to enter Reykjavik Bay.
The operation was launched on 10 May 1940, forces landed at Reykjavík and occupied Iceland without resistance, the landing planned to pre-empt any German move to occupy after Germany's rapid conquest of Denmark, to which Iceland was linked by a personal union, and amid British fears that Germany might establish bases on the strategically important island.
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 landing areas and harbours against the possibility of a German counterattack.
Iceland issued a formal protest against the violation of its neutrality, while Britain promised compensation, non-interference, and eventual withdrawal.
Over the following months the initial RM detachment was replaced by British, Canadian, and later American forces, whose presence—eventually numbering tens of thousands—had lasting military, economic, and social effects on the country.
Although Germany examined but never executed plans to seize Iceland, the Allied occupation helped secure North Atlantic shipping routes and enabled the establishment of major naval and air bases. Iceland became a republic in 1944, and foreign forces remained until the final withdrawal of US troops in 2006. References/ Further Reading:
History or Sorts - Operation Fork the Invasion of Iceland
Operation Fork - WarHistroy Org
Operation Fork Invasion of Iceland- Wikipedia
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