What if: German invasion of Iceland (Operation Ikarus)

What if: German invasion of Iceland (Operation Ikarus)

Operation Ikarus (German: Unternehmen Ikarus or Fall Ikarus) was a World War II German plan to invade Iceland because Germany recognized Iceland’s strategic significance. If the island could somehow be seized, air units based there could wreak havoc on the shipping lanes between Britain and the Western Hemisphere. Naval forces, especially submarines, could also sortie from the island to attack convoy routes.

Getting there would be the problem. The Kriegsmarine had pulled off an extraordinary feat by seizing Norway in the teeth of British naval supremacy. Even then, the German fleet lost many valuable warships. But Fall Weserübung, the invasion of Norway, took place with considerable Air Force assistance. Other than a few long-range reconnaissance squadrons, any air units sent to Iceland would require naval transport to get there. And their entire ground echelon, plus fuel and other supplies, would have to come by ship as well.

Despite these difficulties, the German Navy put together a plan called Fall Ikarus. The planning staff concluded that the operation itself would be feasible, especially if executed late in the year (with long nights to help cover naval movements). However, it saw little advantage to the move. Since re-supply convoys would be difficult if not impossible to bring through to the island, the British would eventually re-capture Iceland and any troops sent there would be lost.


Liners Europa (left) and Bremen seen at Bremerhaven in 1930.

Overruling this seemingly crucial objection, Hitler ordered the navy to begin long-term preparations to execute the operation. In this plan, a provisional brigade of mountain troops drawn from the 3rd Mountain Division then stationed in northern Norway would make a quick dash to Reykjavik. The big liners Bremen and Europa had already begun a rapid refit for use as fast troop transports for Operation Naumburg, the reinforcement of 3rd Mountain Division by sea during the struggle for Narvik in the spring of 1940. They had even been fitted to bring a dozen tanks each and unload them by lighter, and these would be available for Ikarus as well.

The two liners would carry the brigade, which would be short of heavy weapons. The jägers would secure the harbor at Reykjavik and that at Hvalfjord nearby, defeating any British forces they found. Whatever heavy warships then available would escort the liners, but the battleships or cruisers would only remain briefly to provide a quick bombardment – the German Navy had no protocol for actual coordinated fire support. Ikarus would depend on surprise and speed.

At the core of the Ikarus force (which apparently never received a designation) would be the 139th Mountain Regiment. The division would add bicycle, engineer and pack artillery elements as well, with a tank company drawn from the 40th Tank Battalion to round out the force. Thus the German brigade would be very similar in strength to the American marine brigade that might have awaited it.

Germany’s sneak attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941 – launched on the same day the American Marines arrived in Iceland – brought an end to the unwieldy plan. German attacks on Atlantic convoys would have to depend on bases in Norway and France instead, and Iceland avoided the devastation of ground combat.