Should it happen that the USA tries to take over Greenland with military force, Danish soldiers must take up the fight.
In case of attack on Danish territory or on Danish military forces outside Danish territory, Danish soldiers are obliged to counterattack.
This is established by a rationing order from 1952, writes Berlingske.
Thus, the soldiers of the Norwegian Armed Forces in Greenland would have to take up arms if American forces attacked, writes the media.
In the relative order, it is stated, among other things, that the attacked forces must without hesitation “take up the fight without waiting for orders or seeking to obtain them”.
Orders still valid
The Norwegian Defense Command and the Ministry of Defense confirm to Berlingske that the rationing order still applies.
The question has become relevant after the US president, Donald Trump, has repeated his desire to gain control of Greenland for the sake of US national security.
Use by the US military has not been ruled out.
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen (S) said that “everything comes to an end” if the US were to choose to attack Greenland and thus Denmark.
Against Berlingske, war captain and researcher at the Department of Strategy and War Science at the Norwegian Defense Academy Kenneth Øhlenschlæger Buhl calls the order from 1952 “unequivocal”.
The US must report activities first
As an example of an attack, he mentions that it could be if American soldiers sailed or flew into Greenland and tried to take control of the government buildings. Or if they threatened Danish soldiers.
The USA already has a very broad framework for its military presence in Greenland as a result of the defense agreement of 1951 between Denmark and the USA.
But their activities must be reported first, explains Kenneth Øhlenschlæger Buhl to Ritzau.
– So it is clear that if soldiers from the US Marine Corps suddenly appear who have nothing to do there, there is probably only a logical explanation, the way the world looks now, he says.
Kenneth Øhlenschlæger Buhl points out that American activities in Greenland could also function as “a shell hideout”.
– It could be a Trojan horse, so we have to be careful. If we overreact, it could also be used as a pretext to take control, he explains.
It will be the military leader on the spot, the head of the Arctic Command, who assesses and reads whether a situation is an attack, says the researcher.
– Greenland is vital for American security
Kenneth Øhlenschlæger Buhl believes that the defense agreement with the USA made good sense when it was made.
– Greenland is of vital interest to American security, and we would like to accommodate that. If we didn’t do that, the United States would probably deal with the courts, because somewhere it is a question of the existence of the United States.
He points to the Pituffik Space Base – Thule Air Base – which is an American military base in Greenland from 1952. It is “their eyes against incoming missiles against the USA”, says Kenneth Øhlenschlæger Buhl.
The order of relations from 1952 was born of Germany’s attack on Denmark on April 9, 1940. When communications partially broke down, many military units did not know what to do, says Denmark’s National Lexicon, lex.dk.
To avoid ending up in the same situation, the relative order must ensure that military forces and units without further orders take up the fight in the event of an attack.
/ritzau/
