Fifteen German military personnel who landed in Greenland in mid-January have quietly departed the island, the German Defence Ministry confirmed, after what German media described as the abrupt cancellation of onward travel from Nuuk airport. The personnel arrived on January 16, waited roughly 44 hours at Nuuk’s airport for an Icelandair flight that was subsequently cancelled, and were removed from the island in a move described by local and German outlets as secretive.
Berlin had dispatched the soldiers earlier in January as part of a broader European exploratory mission to assess possible military measures to bolster security in the high north. German authorities framed the deployment as a fact-finding element of multinational cooperation, but reporting on the ground shows conflicting figures about how many troops were sent and withdrawn, and that planned movements were stopped without public explanation.
Greenland is an autonomous Danish territory whose defence and foreign policy remain the responsibility of Copenhagen, and it hosts longstanding United States military infrastructure, notably at Thule. The island’s location astride emerging Arctic sea lanes, potential resource deposits, and air corridors to North America has made it a strategic flashpoint as climate change reshapes the region and great-power competition intensifies.
The episode takes place against a backdrop of heightened sensitivity about military activity in the Arctic. Media coverage of the deployment referenced past American statements about Greenland that caused alarm in Europe — notably former U.S. President Donald Trump’s 2019 public musings about buying the island — but that episode is distinct and historical rather than a contemporary change in U.S. policy. For European capitals, any unilateral or poorly coordinated military activity in Greenland risks diplomatic friction with Denmark and with NATO partners who see the Arctic as a collective-security concern.
The sudden and opaque withdrawal underlines the operational and political constraints that non-Arctic states face when seeking a larger role in northern security. It is likely to prompt follow-up diplomacy in Copenhagen and Brussels and could push Germany to frame future contributions through clearer NATO channels or with explicit Danish consent. At the same time, the episode will be watched in Moscow and Beijing as a barometer of how Europe intends to balance defence, sovereignty sensitivities and cooperative Arctic governance.