Judge / EPA-EFE
The rule was written 74 years ago because of Hitler’s Germany. Now it is once again evoked because of Trump’s USA.
The Prime Minister of Denmark, Mette Frederiksen, already had: any military action by the USA against a Greenland would lead to the collapse of NATO.
Now, a directive from 1952 has been recovered: If the US attacks the island, the Danish army will immediately start shooting. Even without receiving orders for such.
The rule was written more than 70 years ago, on March 6, 1952. It is entitled “Provisions on a precautionary order for military defense against attacks in the field and during war”.
It was drawn up in the aftermath of World War II: it was created based on the attack of Germany the Adolf Hitler to Denmark, in April 1940 – much of the communications stopped working, many military units did not know how to react, recalls .
Military forces must attack after attack, without requiring specific commands. Without waiting for orders from above, they must “immediately begin the fight” against any attack on the country’s territory.
“If the defense forces are not fully mobilized before the war attack, any attack on Denmark from abroad or from its territory is considered a war order. mobilization”, reads the document.
Arctic Command – the Danish military authority in Greenland – is currently assessing whether a situation constitutes an attack.
However, the Danish Ministry of Defense confirmed, in the newspaper, that the rule remains in force.
“The fight must continue, even if the enemy threatens reprisals,” the directive states.
