Iceland's like 2.5 hours from Oslo and 3 hours from London or Copenhagen by plane, so it's much more accessible from Europe.
I was in Iceland last year, and met more than one person who expressed a bit of resentment towards the WWII Invasion of Iceland [1] and the subsequent US military presence through the cold war [2], ending only in 2006.
> The invasion force consisted of 746 marines, ill-equipped and only partially trained.
...
> The expedition was organized hastily and haphazardly. Much of the operational planning was conducted en route. The force was supplied with few maps, most of poor quality, with one of them having been drawn from memory. No one in the expedition was fully fluent in the Icelandic language.
...
> The British forces began their operations in Reykjavík by posting a guard at the post office and attaching a flier to the door. The flier explained in broken Icelandic that British forces were occupying the city and asked for cooperation in dealing with local Germans.
Are we sure this wasn't actually a plan for a war comedy film that somebody in the British hierarchy mistook for a serious proposal?
I was in Iceland last year, and met more than one person who expressed a bit of resentment towards the WWII Invasion of Iceland [1] and the subsequent US military presence through the cold war [2], ending only in 2006.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Iceland [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceland_in_the_Cold_War