World War: BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC: First Lessons in Icelandic

U.S. bluejackets and leathernecks pouring ashore at Reykjavik last week looked over the possibilities of Iceland—as a place to live and a place to defend.

The boys ashore soon found their way to Reykjavik’s only cinema and saw Golden Boy. They went to the music halls and saw very proper classical shows. Despite tight restrictions on liquor sales, they managed to find a nip here & there. They wandered into shops and had a fine time trying to make the shopkeepers (who had learned the broad English words of the British) catch onto the American twang.

They buddied up to British soldiers and learned some of the Island’s lore. They learned that fire has had more to do with the volcanic island’s look than the ice for which it is named. That Reyk means smoke and Reykjavik is “the smoking harbor.” That Mount Hekla was considered by medieval Icelandic monks the entrance into Hell. That the poetic Icelanders have named their rocks and rills Waterfall of the Gods and Lava of Evil Deeds and Trembling River.

The Americans also learned that the winters aren’t so cold and the defenses aren’t so hot. Even though Iceland is tangent to the Arctic Circle, its air is warmed by the Gulf Stream, its houses by water piped from its many hot springs. The best natural element of defense is Lake Thingvalla, which, because it is fed by these hot springs, never freezes, and is therefore ideal for flying patrol boats. Otherwise the advantages of the natural defenses are offset by the scarcity of roads and materiel—scarcities which the Yanks knew their Army would not be able to alleviate too soon.

Iceland has half a dozen possible airfields, and more could be made on the flat south-coastal plains—if there are planes to put on them. Reykjavik is the only good harbor; though lots of little boats can huddle in the fiords by the herring ports on the north shore.

Last week Winston Churchill said that the British-Canadian forces would not be removed. Presumably the U.S. will soon begin to convoy to Reykjavik. There the British Navy can take over and convoy Lend-Lease goods the rest of the way to Britain. If this takes place it will enable the British to concentrate their convoy vessels on the last leg of the haul. The inevitable result: much lower mortality among British merchantmen, much higher mortality among U-boats. Add to this the fact that Reykjavik can now serve as a base for U.S. naval patrols, particularly air patrols, as far as the coast of Norway, and the U.S. occupation of Iceland may eventually prove to be a turning point in the Battle of the Atlantic.