Greenland in World War II Before the war , Greenland was a tightly controlled colony of Denmark , otherwise closed off to the world . After the Invasion of Denmark on 9 April 1940 , Greenland was left on her own , because the Royal Navy seized any ships arriving from Axis - controlled Europe . Britain and Canada initially laid plans to occupy points of interest on the island , but the United States , still neutral , firmly rejected " third party " intervention there . The sheriffs ( " landsfogeder " ) of South and North Greenland , Eske Brun and Aksel Svane , invoking the emergency clause of the 1925 law specifying how Greenland was ruled , declared Greenland a self - ruling territory , believing this to be in the best interests of the colony as Denmark was occupied by Germany . This step was taken in coordination with the Danish envoy to Washington D . C . and the U . S . State Department , and comported with the U . S . declaration of 1920 that no third nation would necessarily be accepted as a sovereign in Greenland . This diplomatic stance was seen as an extension of the Monroe Doctrine . Although the Danish government continued in power and still considered itself neutral , it was forced to obey German wishes in foreign policy matters . The Danish envoy in Washington , Henrik de Kauffmann , immediately recognized that his government was unable to exercise its full sovereignty , and therefore began to act in an independent capacity . On 13 April he took contact with the Greenland sheriffs , and after some controversy they agreed to recognize him as their representative in the United States . ( The sheriffs were called governors by the Americans , although the real governor of Greenland was in Copenhagen . ) Since the U . S . would not offer diplomatic recognition and aid to Greenland unless the local administration was independent , the sheriffs informed the local advisory parliament ( " Landsraad " ) on 3 May that " there was no choice " but to act as a sovereign nation . In this decision they were influenced by their determination to avoid becoming subject to a Canadian occupation and thus being drawn into the war . Instead , they requested the protection of the United States , whose Treasury Department agreed to dispatch a U . S . Coast Guard cutter with supplies and a consular team to establish a provisional consulate at Godthaab . The " Comanche " arrived at Ivigtut on 20 May , and Godthaab on 22 May , thereby establishing direct diplomatic relations with Greenland . Canada sent a consul and vice - consul to Godthaab two weeks later . In 1940 , the chief concern of all interested parties was to secure the flow of cryolite from the mine at Ivigtut . For this purpose the sheriffs requested , and the U . S . Navy Department provided , a local defense of small arms and a three - inch gun . For various reasons this force , with a small detachment of former Coast Guard " policemen " hired by the mine , was not effective until late in 1940 . In this way the United States maintained neutrality and still preempted British - Canadian plans for the island . Germany made no attempts to reach Greenland in 1940 . However , three Norwegian vessels reached Norwegian stations on the East Coast . Two were intercepted by the Royal Navy , one ( which was left to go ) by the U . S . Coast Guard . Britain violated Greenland neutrality by destroying the Norwegian stations , drawing a U . S . protest , and a German reconnaissance plane made a flight over the East Coast in November in order to check on a Norwegian station that had not been heard from . In 1941 , the situation shifted towards delivery of Lend - Lease aircraft to Britain via the North Atlantic island " stepping stones . " Again , Britain and Canada pressed for an operation to establish an airfield near Cape Farewell . This forced the U . S . and the Greenland government to formalize a U . S . protectorate in order to preserve the island ' s neutrality . Following surveys in 1940 and 1941 , two locations for air base s were located , and a naval base established close to Ivigtut . The U . S . bases and stations were codenamed under the Bluie West and Bluie East moniker . See individual entries for the history of these locations . President Franklin D . Roosevelt took a strong personal interest in Greenland ' s fate . On 9 April 1941 , the anniversary of the German occupation , the Danish envoy Kauffmann , against the instructions of his government , signed an executive agreement with Secretary of State Cordell Hull , allowing the presence of American troops and making Greenland a " de facto " US protectorate . The cryolite mine in Ivittuut was a unique asset that made it possible for Greenland to manage fairly well economically during the war . The United States supplied the island and sent patrol boats to survey the east coast of Greenland although this activity was limited by seasonal ice . The Coast Guard , in coordination with Eske Brun , created the Northeast Greenland Sledge Patrol , consisting of 15 men , many of them former hunters in the area . Their task was to patrol the coast to discover any German activity . However , in 1941 there was no such landing , although the Norwegian resupply trawler Buskoe was encountered in September . Among its otherwise innocuous crew and passengers was a civilian Norwegian who intended to provide weather reports for German contacts in Norway . This ship was seized and brought to Boston . In 1941 , British ships continued to interfere with weather stations on the east coast . A couple of reconnaissance aircraft from Norway flew over Scoresbysund . When the United States entered the war with Germany on 11 December , Greenland became a warring nation . Remaining contact with Copenhagen was broken off , rationing and daylight savings time was introduced , and local currency and stamps printed . In 1942 , the U . S . Army took over protection of the Ivigtut mine , and combat patrols began to be flown from Bluie West One , which became the headquarters for both the Coast Guard ' s Greenland Patrol ( now directly under the Navy ) and the U . S . Army Air Corps ' s Greenland Base Command . A third air base was established at Bluie East Two during the summer . The Greenland population , which had been 18 , 000 natives and less than 500 Danes , was augmented by thousands of U . S . servicemen . Relations with the Americans were excellent , as they provided news , provisions , humanitarian aid , and entertainment in addition to greatly expanding the island ' s infrastructure . Greenland ' s commercial interests in North America were maintained by the Greenland Delegation with the aid of Kauffmann and Svane . Brun remained in Greenland as head of a unified administration . Beginning in August 1942 , the Germans established four weather station s on the east coast . The first expedition on Sabine Island was detected in the spring , but was withdrawn successfully before it was attacked . The fall 1943 expedition at Shannon Island also operated successfully over the winter and spring and was withdrawn by air . Two expeditions in October 1944 were seized by the Coast Guard before they could get established . A few skirmishes took place between the Sledge Patrol and the Germans during the war , causing one Danish and one German fatality . In 1943 , a German officer was taken prisoner by the Sledge Patrol and taken to the Americans after a long journey over ice . After the patrol discovered and reported the German weather station " Holzauge " at Hansa Bay on the northeast coast of Sabine Island , it was bombed by USAAF bombers from Iceland . It was then seized by a Coast Guard landing party , but all German personnel save one person had already been evacuated . Apart from fire exchanged between German aircraft and U . S . ships , this was the only air combat action in Greenland proper . The last German weather station , " Edelweiss II " , was captured by US Army forces and its crew taken prisoner on 4 October 1944 . The American troops landed from the icebreaker USCGC " Eastwind " , which later transferred the prisoners to USCGC " Storis " . The German transport ship " Externsteine " , which was resupplying the station , was seized by the " Eastwind " , renamed " Eastbreeze " and commissioned in the United States Coast Guard . The sledge patrol was retained after the end of the war as a permanent elite unit of the Danish Army , the still - active Slædepatruljen Sirius . Greenland played a very important role in North Atlantic air traffic during the war , but the contemplated role in anti - submarine warfare was curtailed due to weather , winter darkness , and difficult logistics . For a long period a flight of six PBY Catalina s of VP - 6 ( CG ) was maintained at Bluie West One , carrying out a great variety of missions . During 1941 - 45 the United States established numerous and extensive facilities for air and sea traffic in Greenland , as well as radio beacons , radio stations , weather stations , ports , depots , artillery posts , and search - and - rescue stations . The Coast Guard also provided a considerable portion of the civilian resupply task up and down both coasts . Economically , Greenland traded successfully with the United States , Canada , and Portugal , which , supplemented by the cryolite exports , caused a reanimation and permanent realignment of the island ' s economy . On 5 May 1945 , hearing of the German surrender in Northern Europe , the Greenland Administration under Eske Brun surrendered its emergency powers and again came under direct control from Copenhagen . Kauffmann returned to Copenhagen , where treason charges against him were dropped , and the Danish parliament ratified his agreement with the United States . The United States presence continued in decreasing numbers until the Kauffmann - Hull agreement was replaced by a new base treaty in 1951 . The successful experience of an independent Greenland led to a dramatic restructuring and modernization of Danish policy with respect to the colony . In fiction . A scene in the thriller " The Manchurian Candidate " includes an American veteran of the struggle against the German weather stations in Greenland giving a rather fanciful account of his experiences , making this aspect of World War II more well - known to the general public . See also . The US Coast Guard Cutter " Northland " seized the Norwegian trawler Buskoe in September 1941 . ( In 1940 , she had not interfered with the Norwegian resupply ship " Ringsel . " ) The legally ambiguous Buskoe event is often credited as the first U . S . naval seizure of the war . The captain was CMDR Edward H . Smith USCG , " Ice Berg Smith " a man in his forties and a well - known oceanographer . " Northland " also rescued many downed US Army Air Corps flyers from the ice cap ( see P38 Glacier Girl ) . " Northland " was based out of Boston , MA . Prior to the outbreak of World War II , Northland was also powered by sail . An internet search will reveal photos of Northland under sail . The news article on the attack on the German radio station was first publiched in Post magazine titled : First Blow . http : / / www . jacksjoint . com / cutter _ northland _ at _ war . htm http : / / www . jacksjoint . com / crash _ in _ greenland . htm http : / / fineartamerica . com / featured / coast - guard - cutter - northland - william - h - ravell - iii . html http : / / www . uscg . mil / history / webcutters / northland _ 1927 . pdf http : / / www . uscg . mil / lantarea / cgcNorthland / history . asp Extensive history related to the Northland and Captain Smith http : / / www . navcen . uscg . gov / pdf / iip / history / The _ Coast _ Guard _ and _ the _ Greenland _ Patrol . pdf