Icelandic Bunkers..

Sorry not exactly 'Naval' conflict, but seemed best place to put this;

Icelandic Bunkers... - Battlefield Visits

 

Lovely stuff, Nigel.

What can you never get too much of?!

 

it's that concrete that does it I have to say I never thought they considered Iceland invasion a possibility, but thinking about it, it makes perfect sense. I feel a what if request coming on here.......

on a separate note - wouldn't it be handy to have a dedicated forum section for fortifications? they often don't really 'fit' in their geographical areas as they often weren't used, and seems a shame for bunker bunnies to have to search all over for their fix

 

Those are incredible relics from another time in history. It makes me sick to see them covered with graffiti.

 

As a bunker bunnie...I second that....Could flood the whole forum with bunker stuff...Old bunkers tended to become cold war bunkers and even now in some cases todays bunkers....Never accept a base is closed. Some areas are on occasions. Some museums start off too..but ww2 bunkers of the major sort still live with us today.

 

Thirds it!

 

Interesting link . mosty of the bunkers were built and manned by the British 49 Div who as a result of their time in Iceland became known as The Polar Bears , prior to there involvement in the Battle of Normandy,

regards

Paul

 

At least that annoying bot brought my attention to this very interesting thread!

 

Please...don't; just - don't

Two usernames...

Chromeboomerang and Black Hornet

A verminous little troll who leeches onto Icelandic WIs all across the Net and turns threads absolutely ludicrous. He's been chucked off SO many boards...he created his own about 18 months ago to push his ideas!

The threads he promulgates/pollutes HAVE however thrown up some interesting material - here's one interesting offshoot thread I created earlier You can see the quality of this gentleman's contribution...just before he was banned on AHF!

Axis History Forum • View topic - The Troubled History of RAF Kaldadarnes

Icelandic WIs need to be policed VERY carefully...

 

The US 5th Infantry Division also was stationed in Iceland, the first units ariving prior to Pearl Harbor on 16 September, 1941. The whole division was in place by 16 May, 1942.
I was a member of the 5th from 1968 to 1970 and did my overseas duty in Vietnam.
We have a Society, and some of the members here may enjoy visiting.
Society of the Fifth Division
If you scroll down to the bottom of the main page you can open pages on the history of our fine division.
Enjoy!

 

Actually if you think about it, Iceland would have been a good tactical position for Jerry, but of course they would have to take Britain first. They could then have stationed troops in Iceland and taken Greenland afterward! after having these two islands and Britain under German control they could have had a launchpad to invade North America, after blockading the continent from both sides if possible, as the Soviet Union would most likely send resources to the United States. That is how I would have planned it out anyway.

 

That actually doesn't put them in that much better of a tactical position; scope out the map -



The journey distances from the UK to Iceland are almost the same as those to Norway; only the nation with control of the North Atlantic can actually use...and defend!...Iceland...which is something the Germans could never do with their pocket-sized navy.

I've seen all sorts of numptiness on the Net about Iceland courtesy of the aforementioned forum troll...from a German invasion of Iceland that could be fed, fuelled and resupplied by flyingboat or submarine ...to landing an invasion force of five or six troops from each of hundreds of Ju52s - that would be landing in unprepared Iceland pasture, or peat bogs, or boulder fields - having flown one way without the fuel to orbit at the icelandic end looking for a suitable landfall....and no way of carrying enough fuel to get home again!

Iceland as a location is only tenable with control of the high seas - and the Germans would never ever be able to achieve that. If nothing else...actually taking the British Isles first would probably see the pointless end of the Kriegsmarine, thrown away in its blocking action in the North Sea. It would take literally years to rebuild it...

And what would the U.S. be doing in that time with an enemy only one more land hop away? POTUS, State, the Pentagon...everyone wanted to ensure the approaches to CONUS were defended; years and billions were spend in both hemispheres doing that