- Denmark and its allies deployed troops to Greenland in January fearing a US invasion
- According to a report, the plan involved wiring Greenland's runways with explosives to prevent US attack
- Explosives and blood supplies were reportedly flown to the autonomous Danish territory after Venezuela was hit
They had the Venezuela example at the start of the year.
With US President Donald Trump's rhetoric on Greenland getting sharper and urgent, Denmark was forced to develop a desperate contingency plan.
They chose a radical, violent ploy.
According to a report in The Telegraph, the plan involved wiring Greenland's runways with explosives to prevent US military planes from landing should the mercurial president order an invasion.
Explosives and blood supplies were reportedly flown to the autonomous Danish territory after the US president attacked Venezuela, took President Nicolas Maduro hostage, and warned he could take Greenland "the hard way".
Neither the Danish military nor government, nor the Greenlandic government, have commented on the report.
"When Trump says all the time that he wants to buy Greenland, and then we see what happens in Venezuela -- we had to take all possible scenarios seriously," a Danish military official speaking on condition of anonymity told Danish state broadcaster DR on Thursday.
Under cover of a NATO exercise dubbed "Arctic Endurance", a Danish regiment and elite forces were sent to Greenland, as well as French alpine troops and German and Swedish soldiers, the broadcaster said.
Danish F-35 fighter planes and a French naval vessel were sent towards the North Atlantic.
The troops were deployed with blood for transfusions and explosives, the broadcaster quoted a source as saying to back up the claim it was not an exercise.
Like the US, Denmark is a founding member of NATO.
The plans for a war between Nato allies were revealed by Danish broadcaster DR, which cited domestic and European security sources.
Denmark made preparations for a possible US attack, sending a "substantial force" on January 19 as part of "Operation Arctic Endurance".
It also secured the support of European allies to send soldiers to Greenland to show they were taking its defence seriously.
Operation Arctic Endurance was presented as an exercise, but it was a serious mission. Blood and explosives are not packed on regular training exercises, Telegraph said quoting a source.
The government and defence chiefs had decided to fight back if attacked after long, top-secret meetings, Danish broadcaster DR reported, although there were no illusions about the prospects of defeating the US.
Trump has repeatedly said he believes the US must control Greenland to ensure its national security, and long refused to rule out the use of military force to get it.
"We have not been in such a situation since April 1940," the Telegraph quoted one Danish defence source, referring to the occupation of Denmark during the Second World War.
Although Denmark had no real intelligence of American attack plans, many sources feared the US could invade Greenland at any time and spoke of sleepless nights, the report claimed.
After several intense weeks of aggressive remarks that plunged the alliance into its deepest crisis in years, Trump, in a speech in Davos, backed down from his threats on January 21, announcing that he had reached a "framework" agreement on Greenland with NATO's secretary general, the details of which remain vague.
(With agency inputs)
