Evening star., 1940-06-02
Germans Have { yes on Iceland
As Air Base, Says Stefonsson
Island Is Important
Stepping Stone to U.S..
Explorer Declares
BY IRA WOLFERT.


NEW YORK. June l IN. A. N. A.
With a British garrison now set
tied on it, Iceiand's character as q
powder barrel in an exploding world
becomes more discernible.
1t is a power barrel with fuse at
tached and Vilhjalmur StefanSson,
the explorer, historian and geogra-
pher whose most recent book is
called Iceland: The First American
Republic" explained in an interview
today about the fuse.
DR.. Stefansson made it clear that
the Germans have their eyes on
Iceland and that the islands major
value is as stepping stone between
North America and Europe for
airplanes.
President Roosevelt, in his first
defense message to Congress, men,
toned that Greenland is only six
hours by air from New England
Iceland, an island about as large as
Ohio and with a population of 120.-
OO0-90 per cent of whom are Nor
wegian or Irish descent-is less than
one hour from Greenland.
All-Year Air Base.
ut is, also, because of it's temper
ate climate, an excellent all-year-
round air base" said DR.. Stefans-
son. Its average temperature for
its coolest month is about that of
Philadelphia. In addition. the latest
maps Of the Danish Geodetic Sur
vey, which would be the most ac-
curate, show THAT Greenland ex-
tends so miles further east than
the most easterly point of Iceland"
That would be what makes 1t a
powder barrel. The fuse is an
ancient, but now more than ever
aggravated. difference in concept
between the United States and Ger
many as to the place Iceland occu-
pies in world affairs.
mot many seem to be aware of
this" said DR.. Stefansson, but Sec
retary Of State Seward. at the time
of the purchase of Alaska. advo-
Gated the simultaneous purchase of
both Iceland and Greenland-Alaska
to dominate the North Pacific,
Greeland and Iceland to dominate
the North Atlantic. He was acting
on report. complied at his request
by Benjamin Mills Pierce, then head
Of our Coast Survey. Prof Pierce
offered evidence to prove that by
location, it 1celand belongs to the
Western Hemisphere, and is an in
sular dependency of the North
American continent.
Called Nazi Holy Land.
"On the other hand, high Nazi
officials in the course of their at
tempt to oust Christianity from
Germany have described Iceland as
their holy land, and in a speech
last summer, one of them-Joseph
Goebbels, the Minister of Propa-
ganda, I believe-said that Ger
mans of the type who had once
made pilgrimages to Jerusalem
should make pilgfimages to Iceland
to see the shrine Of the Teutonic
religion"
The Nazi have not let it 60 with
that. In Iceland, they have prac-
ticed what is now a familiar tech
nique of penetration. Here it can
be described as an attempt to make
sure that If the god they worship
cannot be on the side of the heavi-
est battalions, the heaviest battal-
ions can be put on his side
Under Hitler" said DR.. Stefans-
son, Germany began to send teach
ers-paid by Germany-to lecture
at the university and the technical
colleges. After that they sent over
many athletic instructors who
formed classes and vereins and in
itiated friendly international COM
petitions. Iceland foot ball teams
toured Germany and German foot
ball teams toured Iceland.
Suddenly the Nazis took to en-
couraging the sport OF gliding-f1y-
ing with motorleSs airplanes. They
sent over instructors and tools and
materials. Two years ago they sent
over two airplanes which proceeded
carefully to survey and map all of
Iceland and its innumerable har-
bors. Their announced purpose was
to aid the sport Of gliding. The
newspapers became alarmed and
pointed out at that time that Ice
land had confidence in the British
Navy.
Good RaidinS RaSe
Iceland is the best raiding point,
next to Ireland, against shipping
between the United States or
Canada and Northern Europe. Its
harbors offer wonderful protection
for seaplanes and submarines and
destroyerS, and that very likely is
why Great Britain garrisoned it
during the Norwegian campaign"
DR.. Stefansson, who is consultant
on northern operations for Pam
American Airways, pointed out that
it was only the outbreak of war
which has interfered with the adop-
ton of Iceland as the way station
en- route across the Atlantic. He
said Pan-American has maintained
a meteorological station there for a
year now and that the country's
indefinite number of ice-free har-
bors" offer better opportunities for
on-schedule operations all year
round than the Azores.
The fact that the Germans are
alert to this is indicated by the in
teresting history of a certain lost