Imperial Valley Press

Iceland Seizure Based on Secret Reports of Nazi Plan for Attack

American Forces Supplanting British On Island Republic Occupied to Bar Germany from Menacing Sea Lanes

WASHINGTON, July 8. (UP) — President Roosevelt took over the military protection of Iceland after reports reached him that the German general staff was considering attacking it to obtain a base from which to control North Atlantic shipping lanes, a usually well informed congressional source said today.

United States naval forces were gradually supplanting a British garrison defending the independent island republic which is 180 miles from Greenland, 800 miles from the Norwegian wing of Germany's war front, and 2,500 miles from New York. It was a partial fulfillment of President Roosevelt's fears that all the Atlantic outposts of the western hemisphere, including the Azores and the Cape Verde islands, would have to be taken over as defensive measures.

The report of German plans said to have reached Mr. Roosevelt said also that the Germans planned another strong base at Dakar, French West Africa, and from it and Iceland hoped to sink or capture 80 per cent of the Atlantic shipping en route to Egypt and the British Isles.

There was no indication here, nor is it believed likely, that the United States would attempt to put a protective force at Dakar. One reason advanced by Mr. Roosevelt for taking over in Iceland was that German occupation of the island would be a "threat against the steady flow of munitions to Great Britain—which is a matter of broad policy clearly approved by congress."

The British occupied Iceland a month after the Germans occupied its sister country, Denmark, in the spring of 1940, and have released various photographs showing troops entrenched and big guns emplaced ready to meet any German attack. It was believed that the Germans would be less likely to attack the American garrison.

Axis Sees Seizure As War Move

ROME, July 8. (UP)—Responsible Italian quarters today termed United States occupation of Iceland an "actual intervention" in European waters and said it probably would result in Axis-American incidents because it would not cause the Axis to relax its blockade of the British Isles.

The purpose of the occupation, they asserted, was to create a vast zone in which vessels carrying supplies for Britain could navigate safely and, in effect, amounted to actual convoying since it would bring the United States navy into the German blockade area.

The "so-called" American safety belt, they observed, started as a 300 mile zone and then expanded to 1,250 miles, "although this was contrary to all concepts of international law."

The occupation, they declared, will not be considered as another extension of the safety belt, but rather as "actual intervention in European waters."

This is the first time the United States actually has occupied territory regarded as being part of Europe, these quarters said, and brings the United States closer to conflict with the Axis powers than ever before.