Bild: German troops leave Greenland after sudden order

Bundeswehr servicemen stationed in Greenland unexpectedly received orders from Berlin on the morning of January 18 to urgently leave the island, Bild reports, citing its own sources.

According to the newspaper, 15 soldiers and officers, led by Admiral Stefan Pauly, are already at Nuuk airport and are supposed to leave on an Icelandair passenger plane.

However, the advance group of the Bundeswehr received no explanation from the German authorities for the sudden departure, the newspaper claims. All planned activities on site have been cancelled. Moreover, there have been no official statements, and everything is being handled in secrecy, Bild notes.

Initially, it was expected that the Bundeswehr personnel would stay in Greenland, where they arrived on January 16, for a longer period. The newspaper does not rule out that they are leaving the island in a hurry after US President Donald Trump threatened to impose additional tariffs on Germany and several other European countries over Greenland.

Germany sent a small reconnaissance team (15 Bundeswehr personnel) to Greenland at the invitation of Denmark. The mission was coordinated with other European NATO partners to assess conditions on the ground and explore how Germany could contribute to regional security efforts — such as maritime surveillance, training, and planning for future exercises.

This deployment is part of an exercise framework often called Operation Arctic Endurance, led by Denmark, with troops from countries like Germany, France, Sweden and others. The main goal was to demonstrate European and NATO support for Greenland’s security amid rising geopolitical tensions in the Arctic, particularly after US President Trump's ambitions to "purchase" the island.

By Khagan Isayev