Faroe Islands with the foundation of political parties of the Faroe Islands. In the first year of World War II, on 12 April 1940, British troops occupied the Faroe Islands, shortly after the Operation Weserübung with the Nazi German invasion of Denmark on 9 April 1940. In 1942–1943 the British Royal Engineers, under the leadership of Lt. Col. William Law MC, built the only airport in the Faroe Islands, Vágar Airport. Control of the islands reverted to Denmark following the war, but Danish rule had been undermined, and Iceland's independence served as a precedent for many Faroese. The Faroese independence referendum, 1946
Flora of the Faroe Islands from Tierra del Fuego to the Faroe Islands, making it the biggest "Nothofagus" population in Europe. Species from the Alaskan coastline and islands have also adapted well in the Faroe Islands, especially "Pinus contorta", "Picea sitchensis", "Salix alaxensis", "Populus trichocarpa" and "Alnus sinuata". The biggest Alaskan pine tree ("Pinus contorta") in Europe (in width, not in height), is to be found in the Selatrað plantation in the Faroe Islands. Generally, species from the oceanic climates of coastal Alaska, New Zealand, Tierra del Fuego and Tasmania are adapted to Faroe, while species from the more continental climates of Scandinavia and Europe