British occupation of the Faroe Islands on 9 April 1940, British forces launched "Operation Valentine" to occupy the Faroe Islands. On 11 April, Winston Churchill — then First Lord of the Admiralty — announced to the House of Commons that the Faroe Islands would be occupied: We are also at this moment occupying the Faroe Islands, which belong to Denmark and which are a strategic point of high importance, and whose people showed every disposition to receive us with warm regard. We shall shield the Faroe Islands from all the severities of war and establish ourselves there conveniently by sea and air until the moment comes
Faroe Islands the Faroe Islands is dominated by arctic-alpine plants, wildflowers, grasses, moss and lichen. Most of the lowland area is grassland and some is heath, dominated by shrubby heathers, mainly "Calluna vulgaris". Among the herbaceous flora that occur in the Faroe Islands is the cosmopolitan marsh thistle, "Cirsium palustre". Although there are no trees native to the Faroe Islands, limited species were able to be successfully introduced to the region, including the Black Cottonwood, also known as the California Poplar (Populus trichocarpa) A few small plantations consisting of plants collected from similar climates such as Tierra del Fuego in South America