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Outpost in the North Atlantic:Marines in the Defense of Icelandby Colonel James A. Donovan, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret)

n the early spring of1941, with the war inEurope a year and ahalf old, the recentlyformed 2d Marine Di-

vision trained for what observantMarines expected would be an am-phibious war against the Japanese inthe Pacific The division was then sta-tioned at Marine Corps Base, SanDiego, and also at the newly openedCamp Elliott.

Field training for the 6th Marinesand the other 2d Division regiments(2d and 8th Marines, infantry; 10thMarines, artillery) was conducted inthe scrubby hills and arroyos ofCamp Elliott where large wooden,yellow-painted, Navy-designed bar-racks housed the Marine companiesand battalions at what is now NavalAir Station, Miramar. Some unitswere in nearby tent camps.

Unit training consisted of weaponsschools, drills, and firing of individu-al and crew-served weapons. Smallunit tactical exercises were run bycompanies, and there was a consider-able number of long-distance hikes.The Marines had virtually no vehi-cles or motorized mobility, so near-ly all movement was by foot. Therewere very few battalion or larger-unit field exercises. Night trainingwas minimal.

In April, the 6th Marines' landingteams began a series of amphibious

On the cover: Marine sentry keeps alonely vigil on the perimeter of one ofthe Marine camps established in 1941amid the dramatic landscapes of Iceland.(Marine Corps Historical Collection)At left: These Marines in fur-collaredcold-weather gear stand on the chilly"Main Street" of their wooden-frontedand coke-and-coal-stove-heated Nissenhut encampment in Iceland. (Depart-ment of Defense Photo (USMC) 185054)

training exercises embarked in agroup of recently modifiedfreight/passenger ships procured forthe purpose. Ship-to-shore drills wereheld on San Clemente Island, west ofSan Diego, using the recently deve-loped Landing Craft Personnel (LCP)or "Higgins Boat." This boat had noramp in the bow, so the Marines hadto roll over the gunwales to debark.(The LCPR with a ramp at the bowwas not widely available to Marinesuntil after the landing on Guadal-canal in August 1942.)

The 6th Marines received a warn-ing order in May 1941 for a possiblemove to the East Coast to join the 1stMarine Division for contingencyoperations related to the war in Eu-rope. At the time, the regiment wasnot yet up to peacetime strength, sothe call went out to both the 2d and8th Marines for volunteers — bothofficers and enlisted Marines — to

augment the 6th. There was noshortage of volunteers.

Colonel Leo D. "Dutch" Hermie, amuch-decorated veteran of WorldWar I, commanded the 6th Marines.For its move, the regiment was to bereinforced by the 2d Battalion, 10thMarines (with 12 75mm pack howit-zers); Company A, 2d Tank Battal-ion, minus one platoon (with 12 lighttanks); a parachute platoon; an anti-tank platoon; and the 1st Platoon,Company A, 2d Service Battalion.The regiment and the reinforcingunits were brought up to a strengthof 204 officers and 3,891 enlisted,Marine and Navy, following the ar-rival of 58 officers and 577 enlistedmen from the other units of the di-vision. The division ordered the rein-forced regiment to take 10 units offire for all weapons, gasoline,30-days' rations, and other supplies.

On 31 May, the reinforced 6th Ma-

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rines mounted out of San Diego withorders to report to the CommandingGeneral, I Corps (Provisional), FleetMarine Force, Atlantic Fleet. At thattime, combat loading for an assaultlanding had not yet become as re-fined as it was to be later in the war.In any case, the regiment and its sup-porting units did not know wherethey were going or what their mis-sion was to be, so the ships wereloaded more for convenience than forcombat. Higher headquarters keptadding items to be embarked, lead-ing some companies to take every-thing in their camp supply sheds.

Most of the Marines embarkingwith the 6th believed that the forcewould go to the Caribbean region, sosome officers packed summer serviceuniforms, dress whites, and summerand winter civilian dinner clothes, inaddition to all their winter serviceuniforms. One credible rumor wasthat they were going to Martinique toguard an impounded Free French air-craft carrier against a potential Ger-man takeover. Still another rumorheld the Azores as the objective.

In the early spring of 1941, theBritish had, in fact, expressed con-cern about the security of the Azoreswhich, if taken by the Germans,would threaten both Portugal andthe British supply lines into theMediterranean Sea. British andAmerican staff planners meeting inWashington had been making contin-gency plans for the growing likeli-hood of America's participation inthe war. In such a case, the UnitedStates would relieve the British ofresponsibility for the defense ofIceland, among other things. Whilethe U.S. Army was rapidly expand-ing, it appeared that Congressionalsupport for the draft was wavering,which meant the Army could not

Activation of the 2d Marine Division

Major General Clayton B. Vogel, its first com­mander, activated the 2d Marine Division,Fleet Marine Force (FMF), at a parade and review

at the Marine Corps Base, San Diego, California, duringa sunny Saturday afternoon of 1 February 1941.

The division consisted of the 2d, 6th, and 8th Marinesinfantry regiments; the 10th Marines, an artillery regiment;engineer, medical, service, and tank battalions; and trans­port, signal, chemical, and antiaircraft machine gun com­panies.

For the parade, battalions were formed in battalion mass­es according to the new 1939 Infantry Drill Regulations.The front ranks were 12 files abreast. The parade uniformconsisted of the steel helmet of the style worn in World WarI, a cotton khaki shirt and field scarf (tie), winter servicegreen trousers wrapped tightly into tan, blancoed leggings,and polished chocolate brown-colored shoes. Officers woregreen breeches and polished boots. Weapons and equip­ment were essentially the same as the Marines had in theFirst World War, 23 years earlier: the M1903 rifle and bayo­net; the Browning automatic rifle (BAR); the .4S-caliberM1911 pistol; cartridge belt; and combat pack. Web equip­ment was scrubbed and blancoed to a light tan shade. Me­tal parts were painted dull black, and leather itemsspi~shined a dark brown.

Each battalion had 81mm mortars. This simple and de­pendable weapon with a range of more than 3,000 yardswas an upgrade of the Stokes mortars fired in World War1. Battalions had 12 .30-caliber, water-cooled, Browningmachine guns M1917A1 (plus 12 spares). This accurate,belt-fed gun was mounted upon a heavy steel tripod. TheMarines had small, two-wheeled "Cole" carts, each pulledby two men, to transport these guns as well as the mor­tars. In 1941 the machine guns were all in the battalionmachine gun company. The mortar platoon was assignedto the headquarters company. The headquarters and serv­ice company of each regiment had an antitank platoon withsix of the new 37mm antitank guns.

During the winter of 1940-1941, the 2d Division's threedirect support artillery battalions were in the 10th Marines.Each direct support battalion had three four-gun batter­ies. The howitzers could be broken down into man-portableparts for beach landings, or operations in mountainous ter­rain, or even packed on the backs of mules. The artilleryhad one-ton trucks as prime movers to tow the howitzers,but they also had ropes and harnesses for the Marines toput on and pull the howitzers from the beach inland to fir­ing positions, if necessary, before the trucks were landed.That was the "old Corps' cannon cocker's" mobility.

MajGen Clayton B. Vogel activates the 2d Marine Division on 1 February 1941.

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deploy units containing drafteesoverseas.

By late spring 1941, Britain's backwas against the wall. Prime MinisterWinston S. Churchill asked PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt to send Ameri­can troops to Iceland to replace theBritish garrison there. The Presidentagreed, provided the Icelanders invit­ed an American occupation force totheir island. Churchill, meanwhile,was having difficulty in securing theinvitation and the reluctance of theIcelandic government to issue onevery nearly upset an Anglo­American timetable already inprocess.

A large volcanic island on the edgeof the Arctic Circle, Iceland was stra­tegically located for the air and navalcontrol of the North Atlantic '1ifeline"

Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 280-15-65

Passing in review in the activation parade of the 2d Marine Division are trucksof the 10th Marines carrying twin .50-caliber water-cooled machine guns on an­tiaircraft mounts of the type taken to Iceland by the 6th Marines later that year.

Life in the Prewar Marine Corps

It was the practice to hold Friday afternoon regimentalparades and reviews at the San Diego Marine CorpsBase followed by liberty for the troops and "tea" at the

Officers' Club. The regiments and support battalions ro­tated back and forth between the new Camp Elliott, 12miles to the north of San Diego, and the base every threemonths. On Saturday nights the club had dinner and danc­ing to a band playing some of the great music of the 1930s.Officers wore suits and ties. Women wore cocktail dress­es, hats, and gloves. There was no shortage of attractiveNavy and Marine Corps daughters for the bachelors. So­cial habits were generally well mannered; an officer who

It was the practice of the prewar Corps at San Diego tohold Friday afternoon parades. Here the 1st Battalion, 6th

didn't behave himself socially quickly found himself in offi­cial trouble.

In the years prior to 1940 and war mobilization, mostof the Marine Corps was unmarried. In the regular Corps,second lieutenants were not permitted to marry during theirfirst two years of duty. The lower ranking enlisted mencould not afford to be married. There were no family al­lowances for any but senior-ranking staff NCOs, and ser­geants with seven or more years of service. Most sergeantswere bachelors who lived in the barracks with their men.With the mobilization of Reserves, many married Marinesof all ranks came on duty.

Marines, commanded by LtCol Oliver P. Smith, marchespast at the Recruit Depot before leaving for Iceland.

National Archives Photo 127-G-515852

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between the British Isles and NorthAmerica. In 1941, France havingfallen, Britain alone faced Nazi Ger-many. Churchill knew that the sur-vival of his nation depended uponsupport from the United States, andby no means could Iceland be al-lowed to fall into enemy hands.

At the end of May, the Joint Boardof the Army and Navy, formed af-ter the Spanish-American War to pre-

pare joint war plans, approved acontingency plan to land some28,000 U.S. Army troops and Ma-rines on the Azores under MarineMajor General Holland M. Smith.The 1st Marine Division would pro-vide most of the Marine component,but at that time the division was ex-panding and its regiments were stillunderstrength. It was then decided toreinforce the division with a regiment

from the 2d Division and the task fellto the 6th Marines (Reinforced).

The ships carrying the 6th Marinesconsisted of three transports (APs).The 1st Battalion was in the USSFuller (AP 14), the 2d Battalion in theUSS Heywood (AP 12), and the 3dBattalion in the USS William P Bid-die (AP 15) with the regimental head-quarters. Each transport's embarka-tion team included elements of the

ieutenant General Leo D. Hermie,who died in January 1976, wasborn in Hastings, Nebraska, in

1890, and was graduated from theUniversity of California in 1917 withbachelor of arts and doctor of jurispru-dence degrees. He reported for activeduty as a Marine second lieutenant inAugust 1917, and sailed for France inFebruary 1918 with the Sixth MarineRegiment. He participated with the regi-ment in all of its major battles in France,and for his service he was awarded theDistinguished Service Cross, the Distin-guished Service Medal, the Silver Starwith an Oak Leaf Cluster in lieu of a se-cond Silver Star, and the French Croixde Guerre with Palm and Diploma. Healso was awarded the French Legion ofHonor with the rank of Chevalier, andwas cited twice in the General Orders ofthe 2d Division, American Expedition-ary Forces. For five years after his returnto the United States, he served as a legalofficer at Marine Barracks, Mare Island,and in the office of the Judge Advocate

General of the Navy. During the inter-war period, he had duty in the States aswell as overseas. As commander of the6th Marines, he took his regiment toCharleston, South Carolina, where it be-came the nucleus of the 1st MarineBrigade (Provisional), in June 1941,when it sailed for Iceland. Upon hisreturn to Camp Elliott, California, inMarch 1942, Colonel Hermie becamechief of staff of the 2d Marine Divisionand travelled with it when it was as-signed to duty in the Pacific. Upon pro-motion to brigadier general, GeneralHermle became assistant division com-mander (ADC) of the 2d, and as such,participated with it in the assault ofTarawa. He returned to the West Coastto become ADC of the 5th Marine Di-vision and landed with it in the invasionof Iwo Jima in February 1945. For his ex-ploits, he received the Navy Cross. Hewas both deputy island commander andisland commander of Guam, 1945-1946,and assumed command of the MarineCorps Recruit Depot, San Diego, in

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1946, where he remained until his retire-ment in 1949, after more than 32 yearsof active service. For having been spe-cially commended for his performanceof duty in combat, he was advanced tothe rank of lieutenant general on the re-tired list. He was a professor of law atthe University of San Diego for manyyears following retirement.

Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 400753

Lacking vehicles, a group of Marines and a Navy hospital during their unit tactical exercises at Camp Elliott, 12 milescorpsman, right, haul a heavily laden Cole cart up a steep hill north of San Diego and now Naval Air Station Miramar.

reinforcing units. There were twodestroyer escorts and four fast des-troyer transports (old four-stackers),stacks of each of two having been re-moved to make room for transport-ing one rifle company. The captainsand executive officers of the trans-ports were experienced regular Navyofficers, but most of the remainingofficers and men were recently called-up Reservists. Many of the Marineson these ships had far more time atsea than did most of the ships' com-panies.

\'Vhile the Marines cruised southto Panama, the war situation in Eu-rope prompted President Rooseveltto reconsider his plan for seizing andoccupying Martinique or the Azoresand to turn his attention to the moreimmediate threat to Iceland and the

relief of British forces there. Washing-ton planners decided to form a provi-sional Marine brigade at Charleston,South Carolina, with the west coastMarines as its nucleus, augmented bythe 5th Defense Battalion from Par-ris Island, South Carolina.

The battalion had been organizedat Parris Island on 1 December 1940,with a cadre of officers and men fromthe 4th Defense Battalion. ColonelLloyd L. Leech was the initial com-manding officer. When ordered toCharleston in June 1941, the 5th Bat-talion was only partially trained andunder-equipped, so emergency req-uisitions went to U.S. Army antiair-craft artillery commands nationwideto provide the Marine battalion somenew weapons and equipment, whichwere hastily delivered at dockside.

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Battalion personnel were embarkedin the USS Orizaba (AP 24); gunsand cargo were loaded on the USSArcturus (AK 18) and the USSHamul (AK 30), two new cargoships.

The Marines were deployed to Ice-land because they were all volunteers,and unlike the draftee-encumberedArmy, could be ordered overseas.Moreover, the 6th Marines was al-ready at sea prepared for expedition-ary duty. On 5 June, Rooseveltdirected the Chief of Naval Opera-tions (CNO), Admiral Harold R.Stark, to have a Marine brigadeready to sail in 15 days' time.

The brigade was formed on 16June, the day following the arrival ofthe 6th Marines (Reinforced) inCharleston. The 1st Marine Brigade

Uniforms and Equipments the Marine Corps expanded with the mobiliza-tion of the Reserves, the Marines' dress blue uni-forms were relegated to closets. Newly joined

Reservists were not required to have dress uniforms,although many did.

Winter service "greens" were the formal dress as well asthe cold weather field uniform, as worn in World War I.This uniform included the peaked barracks cap and the still-popular garrison (or "overseas" cap). The blouse was wornwith khaki cotton shirt and matching "field scarf" tie. Abrass "battle pin" held the pointed shirt collars in place. Mostenlisted Marines washed, starched, and ironed their ownkhaki clothing.

Trousers were in the same green wool kersey materialas the blouse and for officers a fine quality 20-ounce elas-tique material was standard. Officers also wore tailored rid-ing breeches with leather puttees or riding boots, and theyhad fine cordovan leather Sam Browne belts with brassbuckles. The enlisted men wore a wide cordovan leather"Peter Bain" belt with heavy buckle. Enlisted men's trous-ers had no rear pockets.

Enlisted Marines were issued high-top laced shoes. Theytook a fine spit-shine, but their soles were too thin for fieldservice, so many Marines had them double-soled. Each Ma-rine had two pair, one for field use and one for dress wear.

The regulation overcoat was heavy green wool, similarto the issue uniform, double-breasted and fitted. Theofficer's overcoat was custom tailored, fitted, and usuallyin a heavy beaver or elastique material. All uniform but-tons were dark bronze. Other than for duty in North Chi-

na, these winter service uniforms generally had beenreplaced for field service by cotton khaki shirts and trous-ers of a kind which had been worn for some 40 years onCaribbean and "banana war" duties in Central America.For field training and combat duty, enlisted men added thehigh, tan canvas, laced leggings as worn in World War I,and long before, in the China and the Philippines cam-paigns at the turn of the century.

The most popular, typical, and colorful item, however,was the olive drab, felt field or "campaign" hat with widebrim and peaked top. It was the pride of all real "salty" Ma-rines of the period. Its ancestry went back to the frontierU.S. cavalry in the late 19th century. Marines in the FleetMarine Force battalions wore this hat with a special jauntyflair, and the Corps' emblem on the front was often green-ish from the salt water sprayed on it during landing exer-cises. None of this uniform clothing was designed for orespecially suitable for a wet-cold climate such as that ofIceland.

Another item of clothing worn during this period wasthe one-piece, dark blue denim coverall. To save the moreexpensive winter service greens and summer service khakis,the coveralls were worn on working parties, for range fir-ing details, by prisoners, and for dirty field training. Thesecoveralls were the ancestors of the wartime dusty-greencolor, cotton herringbone twill "utilities" which became thePacific Marine's combat uniform. The Marines who wentto Iceland had both the blue coveralls and the new one-piece, green herringbone coveralls for dirty or "fatigue"duty.

(Provisional) was formally organizedunder Brigadier General John Mar-ston. His new command consisted of:Brigade Headquarters Platoon;Brigade Band; 6th Marines (Rein-forced); 2d Battalion, 10th Marines;5th Defense Battalion (less its 5-inchArtillery Group, which remained inthe States); Company A, 2d TankBattalion (less 3d Platoon); CompanyA, 2d Medical Battalion; CompanyC, 1st Engineer Battalion; 1st Pla-toon, Company A, 2d Service Battal-ion; 3d Platoon, 1st Scout Company;and Chemical Platoon. The para-

chute platoon was detached and reas-signed to the 1st Marine Division,which happened also to be inCharleston when the 6th Marinesarrived.

General Marston arrived inCharleston on 18 June with a smallbrigade headquarters staff. AdmiralStark's mission statement for thebrigade was simple and direct: Incooperation with the British garri-son, defend Iceland against hostileattack.

The new brigade, consisting of4,095 Marines, departed Charleston

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on 22 June. The men were not un-happy to leave the hot, humid, andnoisy Navy yard. Most of thebrigade's Marines were kept busyloading ships with additional sup-plies and equipment procured inCharleston by supply officers, andsuch incongruous items as skis, skipoles, and winter "protective cloth-ing" purchased by supply officers ata local Sears Roebuck store.

Added to the convoy at Charlestonwere two cargo ships and two des-troyers. It was met outsideCharleston harbor by an impressive

Iceland

Jceland is slightly smaller than the state of Kentucky,and features mountains, glaciers, volcanoes, geysers,hot springs, and lava beds. The southern coastal areas

enjoy a temperate climate because the Gull Stream passesclose enough to modify the normal weather of the ArcticCircle which touches the northern coast. In 1941 the islandhad limited coastal roads, crossed by many rapidly flow-ing glacial streams. Coastal areas had grassy fields suita-ble for sheep and pony pasturage and tundra terraincompletely devoid of bushes or trees. The population in1941 numbered 120,000.

Fishing in the cold waters around Iceland was the na-tion's major industry. Along the 2,300 miles of jagged coast-line, there were a number of small fishing villages reachedonly by sea, as there was no road network around the is-

Author's Collectionto be isolated.

land beyond the area of Reykjavik, the capital and maincity.

At the outbreak of the war, Iceland enjoyed the statusof autonomous parliamentary monarchy, sharing the Dan-ish royal family with Denmark. When the Nazis overranDenmark in April 1940, the Icelandic Parliament voted totake over the executive power of the Danish King and toassume control of foreign affairs. The strategic island be-came an independent republic but was wholly defenseless.This state of affairs gave rise to considerable concern byleaders in London and Washington, a concern not sharedto any degree by the insular-minded Icelanders.

The majority of Icelandic citizens accepted the Ameri-can occupation as a necessary evil. They didn't care muchfor the British, but were well aware of the German threat.There was a pro-German element among the populace be-cause, before the war, German engineers had built Iceland'sroads and had piped in hot water from the geysers to heatgreenhouses in the city. As a result, there were some anti-foreign feelings, especially among youth groups.

Many of the Icelanders spoke English. They were a well-educated and literate people with a pure and ancient Vik-ing language and the world's oldest representativegovernment.

Homesteads outside Reykjavik tended

Mountainous landscape, glacier formations, and overallrugged and inhospitable terrain as below provided the back-ground to the Marine camps set up in Iceland. Pictured hereis a Nissen hut built by Marines after their arrival.

LtCol Harold K. Throneson Collection

Contemporary sketch by the author

June in the stormy North Atlantic

force of warships and escorts. Whenthe entire convoy began its movetowards the North Atlantic, it con-sisted of 25 vessels, including twobattleships, the USS New York (BB34) and USS Arkansas (BB 33), andtwo cruisers, USS Nashville (CL 43)and the USS Brooklyn (CL 40).While the convoy was underway, aMarine wrote a letter home on 27June:

The clanging din and weirdwelder's lights were left to their

own confusion as we pulled outof the Yard, headed down river,past the little Fort Sumter,which seemed even smaller inthe gray light of 0600 Sundaymorning. We headed for theopen sea and took a northerncourse.

Then began the hours whichat sea stretch into days andrepeat themselves so that onesoon loses all track of date andtime . . . . We began to losetrack of where we were orwhere we were headed. Thereare daily troop formations,weapons inspection, generalquarters drills, fire drills, aban-don ship drills, and life vest in-spection. Feeding the troopstakes up much time, officers eatby shifts in the wardroom. Foodis good and plentiful .

The ships did not yet have surface ra-dar, and so Marines were added tothe continuous submarine watchesfrom deck stations. Frequent appear-ance of U.S. Navy PBY aircraft fly-ing antisubmarine warfare (ASW)patrols reassured the convoy and itsMarine passengers. The Marine's let-ter continued:

This morning we are wallow-ing along at a couple of knotsspeed having been in a heavyfog for about eight hours. Theships keep blowing their foghorns to help maintain locationand positions. I presume we aregetting well spread as we ap-proach the southern tip of New-foundland. It will be interestingto see our formation when thefog lifts.The convoy moved into Placentia

Bay, Newfoundland, on the night of27 June, leaving the fog outside.Some officers and men were allowedto go ashore at the small village ofArgentia to stretch their legs and seethe local scenery. Despite the windy,cold, wet weather, the battalionswere able to get ashore at least oneday for exercise and limited hikes,which helped to reduce the ill effectsof too many hours of confinementand bunk duty on board the trans-ports. During foul weather the onlyspaces troops had were below decksin their compartments and on theirbunks.

The interlude at Newfoundland "toawait further orders" continued un-til 1 July, when the government of

ajor General John Marston,who died in November 1957,was born on 3 August 1884

in Pennsylvania, and was commissioneda Marine second lieutenant in June 1908.After five months' training at the Schoolof Application at Annapolis, he begana period of barracks and sea-going duty.This culminated in assignment to the 1stAdvance Base Regiment, which landedat and occupied Veracruz, Mexico, inJanuary 1914. In 1915, then-First Lieu-tenant Marston was assigned to the Hait-ian Constabulary and operations againstthe bandit Cacos in Northern Haiti. Af-ter three years in Haiti, he served at theNaval Academy and at Quantico, untilanother overseas assignment, this timeto the American Legation in Managua,Nicaragua, where he remained from1922 to 1924. Following a number of as-

signments in the Quantico-Washingtonarea, including a brief tour again inNicaragua as a member of the U.S. Elec-toral Mission, in 1935 Colonel Marstonwas transferred to the American Em-bassy, Peiping. There he commanded theMarine Detachment, 1937-1938, andwas senior commander of Marine forcesin North China, 1938-1939. BrigadierGeneral Marston became commander ofthe 1st Marine Brigade (Provisional) inJune 1941 and took it to Iceland. Uponreturn to the United States in April 1942,he was promoted to major general andgiven command of the 2d Marine Divi-sion, moving with it to New Zealand. Hereturned to the States in August 1942and was appointed commander of theDepartment of the Pacific, with head-quarters in San Francisco. In April 1944,he was named Commanding General,

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Camp 1.ejeune, and served in that posi-tion until 1946, when he retired to Lex-ington, Virginia.

ATTt./

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Iceland finally, and reluctantly, invit-ed the American occupation thatWinston Churchill had requested andpromised.

On the night of 1 July, the trans-ports upped anchors at 2200 andslowly moved back out to sea headedfor Iceland. During the followingday, the transports steamed in file be-hind the Arkansas and New York.Fog drifted over the convoy, foghorns blew every few minutes, andall hands anxiously examined theships' formation when the fogcleared. One day at officers' schoolthe maps of Iceland were broken outand the staffs began to brief the com-pany officers on the island, its ter-rain, weather, people, and what themission would be. On 5 July, a moreserious note was added when troopswere ordered to wear life jackets atall times, for the convoy was enter-ing the European war zone. Then at2000 one night the destroyer on thestarboard flank picked up a lifeboatwith 14 survivors (four Red Crosswomen and 10 Norwegian sailors) ofa ship torpedoed 200 miles to thesouth on 24 June. Their ship, theVigrid, a Norwegian merchant ship,had developed engine trouble, fell be-hind its convoy, and was picked offby a German submarine.

The next day the convoy wentthrough the flotsam and jetsam of theBritish battleship HMS Hood, whichhad been sunk by the German pocketbattleship Bisrnarck on 24 May. Itemsof equipment from the Hood floatingalongside their ships brought the warto the close attention of sober Ma-rines lining the rails of theirtransports.

Early in the morning of 7 July, thebrigade's convoy approached Icelandand the capital city of Reykjavik. Thesea was glassy calm, the sun was wellup and bright as it did not set in Julyin northern lands. The strong odorof fish floated out over the troopships from the port. A couple of thetransports were able to tie up at thesmall stone quays and Marines linedthe rails to examine the people andsights of their new station.

Earlier, in May 1941, a battalionof Royal Marines had landed and oc-cupied the capital city, Reykjavik.Ten days later they were relieved bya Canadian Army brigade.

The Canadians soon left for En-gland and were replaced by BritishArmy and Royal Air Force units.Some of the replacements were rem-nants of regiments which had beenevacuated from Dunkirk. They weremostly Territorial Army units which

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are similar to the U.S. NationalGuard. Antiaircraft artillery units, airdefense fighters, and patrol bombersalso established island defense instal-lations. Hvalfjordur, a deep fjord 35miles north of Reykjavik, became thesite of an important naval anchorage.

Based at an airfield at Keflavik,about 30 miles south of Reykjavik,was a mixed bag of Royal Air Forceaircraft including a few Hurricanefighters. It also held some patrolbombers: Hudsons, Sunderlands,and a small group of obsolescentfloat planes. Most of the British pi-lots at the field were veterans of theBattles of Britain and were sent toKeflavik for a spell of more relaxedduty. By the summer of 1941, theBritish contingent had about 25,000troops in Iceland, including the Tyne-side Scottish, the Durham Light In-fantry, and the Duke of Wellington'sRegiment in the 79th Division, aswell as some Royal Artillery fieldbatteries, Royal Army engineers, andother detachments. In addition, 500RAF personnel and about 2,000sailors, who manned and serviced theanti-submarine vessels and minesweepers based at Hvalfjordur, wereon the island.

British soldiers ("Tommies") in theirrugged battle-dress uniforms, heavy

Only one ship at a time could enter or leave the only entranceto Reykjavik harbor in June 1941. When the brigade convoy

approached the port the sea was calm, the sun was well up,and a strong odor of fish floated out over the troop ships.

National Archives 1-'hoto 127-lN-15281