During the Second World War, Iceland was invaded and occupied by first the British and the Americans
During the Second World War, Iceland was invaded and occupied by first the British and the Americans out of a fear that it would be used as a base by the Germans, who had themselves occupied Denmark, the nation that previously also governed Iceland via their countries sharing a king.The reaction to the occupation was mixed, as while the Americans did things like build Reykjavík Airport, the Allied presence in the previously neutral kingdom made the local Icelandic people targets of the Nazis, with some 200 people killed by German mines, U-Boats and aircraft. The Icelandic people did use the time to officially declare themselves to be an independent republic separate from the Danish monarchy in While the Allied invasion of Iceland was justified by it being done preemptively in case the German did it (in addition to being surprisingly cordial and nonviolent, with accounts from the time being mostly Icelandic folk watching the British and Americans with bemusement), the same could not be said for the invasion of San Marino.The small neutral Republic of San Marino, which is surrounded by all sides by the Italian peninsula, had officially declared that they weren’t involved in the War from the start, and for the most part had been left alone by the fascist government of Italy.This came to an end in 1943, when Allied forces heading North through Italy first bombed San Marino under the mistaken belief that it had been occupied by the Germans (killing 35 people), closely followed by the German ACTUALLY invading (ignoring the signs the locals had put up on the border declaring their neutrality) to turn the country into defensive position against the Allies’ advance.Once it was confirmed that Germans were actually now in the city, British and Indian forces launched into the Battle of San Marino against the invading German forces. The British themselves occupied San Marino for a grand total of one day, before leaving the nation in the care of local defence forces, as the Allied advance pushed further North the next day. -- source link
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