Grønland i krig: Spillet om Arktis 1939-45

by Peter Harmsen

Da Anden Verdenskrig brød ud, blev Grønland pludselig del af en global konflikt. Øen var en vital mellemstation for de allierede, når militært materiel skulle transporteres over Nordatlanten. Meteorologiske data fra den lange østkyst viste sig afgørende for krigens forløb i Europa, og tyske vejrstationer var i en årelang kamp med især den navnkundige dansk-grønlandske slædepatrulje. Imens leverede kryolitminen i Ivigtut en vigtig komponent til produktionen af aluminium, som skulle bruges til flyvemaskiner.

Men det er ikke hele historien. Grønlands udvikling i krigsårene var kompleks og dramatisk. I starten opstod der et overraskende modsætningsforhold mellem USA og Canada, som begge forsøgte at skabe sig en position i Grønland, ligesom nordmænd både på allieret og tysk side arbejdede på at få øen ”tilbage”. Der var også gnidninger – grænsende til gensidig foragt – mellem amerikanerne og danskerne. Og en lille gruppe grønlændere var en kort overgang samlet i en lokal nazibevægelse.

Genres: History

416 pages, Hardcover

First published September 15, 2024

Reviews

[Matthew Welker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fury and Ice is another great entry into historian/author Peter Harmsen’s excellent body of work on WWII. I’ve read everything he’s written except for his book on Bernard Sindberg though I will read that next.

Harmsen has prior written about the Far East/Pacific theater of WWII with his greats trilogy on that & a book on Shanghai 1937 and a book on Nanjing 1937. However, in recent years he’s gone in a different direction with his book Darkest Christmas covering various peoples’ experiences of Christmas in 1942 & adding to that direction with Fury and Ice. Giving us very refreshing & unique WWII history books.

This book, Fury and Ice, covers what I think is safe to say a very unknown area of WWII, Greenland. And Harmsen as usual did a great job in giving us a worthy read on the subject. In this book you’ll learn about why Greenland was important. Get some background on the history of the island itself. How the war impacted it and how it impacted the war. For example, the meteorological info used for D-Day came from Greenland.

So for me a pretty near perfect read hence 5 starts. Learned a lot about a part of WWII that I was unfamiliar with and would have to recommend. My only say con is I wish the postscript/conclusion covered more of Greenland after the war though it emphasized that it played a role in the Cold War with its usefulness as a place to say place missiles, function as an airbase, and so on. Part of why it was coveted in WWII by the powers in play. At first I thought this bit in the postscript felt kind of outdated for a new book as I assumed modern technology would’ve surpassed Greenland’s use in that regard, but after some research learned the US Space Force has a base there!

Anyway enough of that. Read this book if you love WWII history!

[Garrett Edwards · Rating 4 out of 5]

After the US had consolidated its position in the Northern Pacific with the purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867, Secretary of State William Seward had ambitions to do the same in the North Atlantic with the acquisition of Greenland from Denmark using the Monroe Doctrine to support his proposal. A 1868 report commissioned by the State Dept. on the potential value of the island found that on top of the commercial benefits (with its rich reserves of cryolite–essential to aluminum production), Greenland had strategic heft, insofar as it could block a major power from easy access to North America, making it a valuable piece of defensive armor, which, in the hands of hostile interests, could be a serious menace to US national security.

The prescience of these concerns wouldn’t be realized until WWII when Denmark fell to Germany in a matter of hours and Greenland was drawn into the Battle of the Atlantic. Since the Danes were incapable of defending the island and Europe depended on Greenland’s meteorological reports for its aerial campaigns during the war, the territory became an immediate focus of both the Allied powers and Germany, who were aware of its strategic value.

Because Greenland could easily become a launchpad for an attack on America, the US reached an agreement to establish military bases on Greenland as a preemptive measure to protect its national security interests and to defend Greenland’s cryolite mine and weather stations, both of which were vital to Europe’s war effort.

Germany conducted several secret operations to establish their own weather stations on Greenland during the war, which American forces were tasked with locating and eliminating in harsh terrain requiring sledge patrols. Harmsen details this cat-and-mouse combat the US and Germany was engaged in during WWII in Greenland.

The inescapable conclusion any American will reach after reading Harmsen’s book is that Greenland will continue to be a national security vulnerability for North America until it becomes a US territory.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I almost never read military history, but it seems unlikely that anyone has written in this much detail about a theater of operations, if you can call it that, that saw so few troops. Using official archives, diaries, memoirs, newspaper interviews and letters written after the war, Harmsen recounts the activities of Danish (anti-Nazi and otherwise), Canadian, Norwegian, American and German soldiers, administrators and diplomats, and the international complications that surrounded Greenland before and during the war. (Notably, FDR's goals until late 1941, aimed at keeping even friendly outsiders away from the place, were at odds with the Brits' and Canadians' strategy.)

The island was crucial to forecasting Europe's weather, supplying a mineral used in making aluminum, and ferrying U.S. planes and equpment across the Atlantic. A stroll through the remains of the U.S. military hospital at the Narsarsuaq airport, in the southwest, is an eerie reminder of the era. But the fighting -- what there was of it, with German attempts to set up weather stations and the others' efforts to block or eliminate them -- took place almost entirely on the northeastern coast, a region that was nearly as inaccessible as Antarctica and about as forbidding. The fact that so few individuals were involved in the fighting lets Harmsen follow many of their stories in great detail, which is a huge plus.

Sad to see a few reviewers under the impression that the geography and history justify Il Douche's current interest in annexing the place, as if military and transportation technology hadn't advanced in 80 years, Danish-Greenland relations hadn't changed so markedly, and NATO didn't exist. Nothing like prepping to fight the last war, I guess.

[Adelbert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actually 3.5.
Good information about a little known or publicized aspect of WWII.
Aspects that I found interesting were; the history of human habitation on the island, the diplomatic wrangling for control of the island and the opening of a very closed society because of the war.
Issues I had were; the flow of the narrative. The diplomatic actions and military actions were mixed together in the book and jumped back and forth. The Germans attempts at establishing a foothold on the island were well cover. But apart from mentioning several USCG cutters that were deployed to the island and their actions there was almost no mention of the army, navy or air corps presence and build up.
I know many units and men served on Greenland during the war, in the author terms the harshest of conditions, and yet they go unmentioned or reconized.

[Bookwoman67 · Rating 2 out of 5]

What I expected: details about the importance of Greenland in the Battle of the Atlantic, the crucial closing of the "Greenland Air Gap," and details of missions associated with these.

What I got: Lots of diplomatic negotiating (not necessarily uninteresting) and endless details about German weather station expeditions, down to squabbling among leadership of said expeditions.

As a historian this tells me the author lacked access or interest in the sources for the important stuff going on and concentrated on the sources he had at hand, mainly from German accounts. (Since I listened to the audio, there was no bibliography provided.) While there is surely a place for this, it wasn't what I was looking for.

[Carolyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent historical perspective and history.

[Michael Werner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book, not a difficult read but the writing was a bit off-beat for my tastes. That may be due to the typesetting being done in India, as this was a Casemate Publishers book.

I have bought many Casemate books over the decades, and found them all to be top-notch volumes: well-edited and professionally presented. This one is disappointing. It appears that human editors/proofreaders are no longer being used, as evidenced by mistakes like using "submarine gun" for "submachine gun." A small thing, but jarring in a volume such as this.

If Casemate reads this, I have a degree in History specializing in World War II and the Cold War, and would be happy to be employed as a proofreader as I go into retirement!

With the faults, I would still recommend the book as a way to plug the gap in the information on the Weather War in Greenland.

[Brook · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a straight chronology of history in Greenland as it pertains to the historically native peoples of Greenland, then also of Denmark, Germany, and the United States in World War II. I'm not a 'very often visitor' to the land of history as told in chronological order, but this helped me to grasp a little bit more about why President Trump has made moves towards Greenland as well as the United States history in Greenland. A dry read, but perhaps essential.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

A plucky little book that has a lot of interesting things to say about a small corner of WW2. Plenty of new and fascinating details about Greenland’s long history as an object of desire among many nations, and how the US came to play a large role there.

[Henrik Nielsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spændende og velskrevet bog om en historie, der ikke er så kendt. Måske særligt for Grønlands- og 2. Verdenskrig interesserede. Meget velresearchet!

[Guillermo · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well done volume. Focuses exclusively on the topic it advertises.

[Peter Tind · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this book after the author’s amazing “Storm over the Pacific” and I was not disappointed.

After 2 out 2 hit on books from Peter Harmsen I basically just added his books to my Christmas list 🎅