This is how the Danes prepared for battle – against the USA

Jonathan Norberg

Published 17.18

 

Mette Frederiksen has landed in Nuuk. Photo: Oscar Scott Carl / Ritzau Scanpix

Trump's threat of violence against Greenland has been called off.

Just the week before, a secret order was issued to Danish soldiers, according to sources to DR.

The Danes were to prepare for battle.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen landed in Nuuk on Friday afternoon. There she was received by Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen.

The meeting between them comes after several intense weeks. Only on Thursday were European leaders able to breathe a sigh of relief – at least temporarily – when Donald Trump spoke in Davos.

After a year of threats, the US president promised not to use military force to take Greenland from Denmark.

– I don't need to use force, I don't want to use force. I will not use force, Trump said.

Just days before, the assessment from the Danish Armed Forces was completely different, according to new information to DR.

 

Donald Trump in Davos. Photo: Markus Schreiber /AP/TT / AP

A large-scale military operation was then launched under the name "Arctic Endurance", where both military and civilian aircraft began transporting soldiers from Denmark to Greenland.

Was to bring live ammunition

According to information to the channel, the operation had been planned as an exercise for some time, but had suddenly been brought forward.

"The defense must strengthen the ability to implement the defense plan for Greenland as soon as possible," reads an order to the Danish soldiers that DR has seen.

The order that was sent out contains several details that indicate that the Danish action was about more than just an exercise.

Among other things, the Danish soldiers were urged to bring weapons with live ammunition to Greenland.

The ammunition would be of a type that could quickly make the soldiers ready for immediate combat.

“Not ruling out the use of military force”

The order is called “historic” by NATO expert Sten Rynning, and shows that the Danish soldiers have prepared for an imminent American attack.

“I never thought in my life that we would get to the point where you could imagine Danish soldiers being sent out to practice for a defense plan with live ammunition because you might politically feel a need to deter the US,” he tells DR.

 

The military ship HDMS Knud Rasmussen in Nuuk. Photo: Evgeniy Maloletka /AP/TT / AP

Since Trump's promise from the stage in Davos, both Danish and Greenlandic parties have called for calm. Meanwhile, the military operation is still underway in Greenland to strengthen the island's defenses and is expected to last until 2026.

According to sources to DR, there is still broad political consensus to take up the fight against the US if the US president were to change his mind.

 

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen does not rule out the use of military force against the US. Photo: Liselotte Sabroe / Scanpix Denmark

As late as the night before Trump's speech in Davos, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen stated that Denmark is prepared for a military conflict:

- It is true that the US president has unfortunately not ruled out the use of military force. Therefore, the rest of us cannot rule it out either.