The Icelandic connection - 01.06.2014, Side 26

168
ICELANDIC CONNECTION
Vol. 66 #4
of pay. There is also mention of troops
sharing some of the local moonshine called
“Black Death”. (The Invasion of Iceland)
Canadian troops were dispatched for
Iceland in June of 1940. Three Canadian
battalions in total spent time on the island:
The Royal Regiment of Canada, Les
Fusiliers Mont-Royal, and The Cameron
Highlanders. These soldiers did not stay
for long however, due to Canada preferring
to have its overseas soldiers under its
own command. Two battalions left for
the Britain after only being there for four
months, leaving The Cameron Highlanders
to spend the winter in Iceland. They left in
the spring, also for Britain, two months shy
of a year on the island. Churchill wished for
the Canadian troops to be elsewhere besides
Iceland; he “bemoaned the ‘waste’ of these
“fine Canadian troops’ in such a posting
and proposing that a Brigade of Second-
Line Territorials would, by implication, be
sufficient for what was allegedly seen as an
undemanding and uncomfortable posting”
(The Background). It was the fine Canadian
troops of the Royal Regiment of Canada
that in the summer of 1942 were among
those disastrously sent to the beaches of
Dieppe where more than half of them were
captured and close to half of them killed.
As America became closer to joining
the war, President Roosevelt offered to
take-over the protection of Iceland from
Rev. stefa K/joiagssoia
ARBORG UNITARIAN CHURCH
GIMLI UNITARIAN CHURCH
9 Rowand Avenue
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3J 2N4
Telephone: (204) 889-4746
E-mail: sjonasson@uua.org
the British. And with the exit of Canadian
troops, preparations were made to send
American soldiers to guard the island.
Iceland had in fact approached The United
States in the summer of July 1940 for
protection when Germany appeared to be
triumphing in western Europe, but nothing
ever came of it. The occupation of Iceland
by American troops required an invitation
from Iceland. Their occupation had fifteen
conditions, including recognition of
Iceland’s sovereignty and a promise to leave
immediately after the completion of the
war. In July 1941, 40,000 American troops
arrived from the USA. The British troops
had completely withdrawn by the end of
1941 and the Americans remained there for
the remainder of the war.
There were problems resulting from
the occupation, besides just Iceland feeling
“flagrantly violated”, mostly due to the
number of foreign troops compared to the
island’s population. During the British
occupation there were approximately
25,000 troops and a staggering 40,000
troops during the American occupation.
This in comparison the 120,000 Icelanders.
Consider also that the majority of these
soldiers were single men. The comparable
population of Icelanders numbered only
20,000. As well, the number of single women
in Iceland was below 20,000. If a marriage
took place between an occupying soldier and
an Icelandic women, chances were she would
emigrate from Iceland when the soldier left.
Iceland as a nation would be threatened
if a large number of these marriages took
place. (Relations Between) The involvement
of Icelandic women with foreign soldiers
gained the term “dstandid”, “the codition”,
in English. Many women involved were
labeled prostitutes and traitors to their
country. Marriages with Icelandic women
actually became prohibited for US soldiers
in the spring of 1942. The prohibition was
successful and upon withdrawal of the US