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
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