Faroe Islands - ever attacked?

[TPMM]

Hi to all.

My question would be whether Faroe Islands have ever been attacked by either planes of naval forces of the III Reich?
Basically, I know what did happen to the islands during the war - British seizure just after the invasion of Denmark (they have even built an airfield there) and returning them after the war. But: did Germans undertook anything against these islands? I am aware, that they are a bit too close to British mainland airfields to have been attacked by capships or seized (like Norway's islands in the Arctic Ocean have been), but still - Uboots (minelaying?)? Bombers? Anything?

Pozdrawiam

[phylo_roadking]

Apparently there were "occasional raids" on the nuisance level in 1941 and 1942, the same as Iceland...but I've never seen a list of the incidents. But apparently a worse risk to the islands and islanders were loose and floating sea mines that killed a total of 132 Faroese fishermen during the war. There's a memorial to them in the town of Tórshavn.

The Lovat Scouts formed part of the garrison in the ealy days of the occupation before returning to the UK in June 1942 to begin training for mobile Infantry and were made part of 52nd lowland Division...but while on the islands they managed to shoot down a Heinkel He111 with a Bren gun during a raid on Tórshavn harbour.

One item they DID damage quite severely was the Nólsoy lighthouse. During the Second World War, all lighthouses on the Faroes were blacked out, as they were in other countries affected by the war. The powerstation, the radio beacon and the fog signal unit on Nólsoy were totally destroyed and the staff quarters were seriously damaged in an air raid in 1941.

[phylo_roadking]

THIS source - and they don't come more secure or reliable at the time! http://filestore.nationalarchives.gov.u ... -15-46.pdf reports attacks plural on shipping in the Faroes in the first week of January 1942. On page 4 -
Enemy Attack on Seaborne Trade.

11. A Dutch merchant ship reported that she had been shelled by a U-boat
south of Java; otherwise there have been no U-boat attacks during the week.
On the East Coast three ships have been sunk by mines and two others have
been damaged. Aircraft have unsuccessfully attacked shipping in the Faroes,
and one ship in a northbound coastal convoy was slightly damaged on the East
Coast.

But further in, on page 8 of the document, it says -

45. Enemy activity by day included a shipping attack off Dungeness and
another in the Lisbon area. Three night attacks were made on shipping—off
Rattray Head, the Faroes and Land's End—and minelaying in the Thames
estuary was reported on one night.

[phylo_roadking]

Interestingly, there was also THIS level of activity in the area

By now visits by the Luftwaffe to Shetland were occasional hit and run nuisance raids. The purpose of these was to tie down valuable assets in the defence of the islands.

But there was one regular German flight which passed close to Fair Isle. This was the weather reconnaissance sortie from Oldenburg to the Faroes – known to the RAF as ‘Weather Willie’. At first the RAF made determined attempts to intercept the flight. But later they monitored the data being transmitted back to Germany, which they found to be useful, and ‘Willie’ was usually allowed to proceed unmolested.

http://www.crcshetland.co.uk/index.php?p=wwiicrashlog