Iceland's dispersed defence and vulnerable supply routes

The geography of transatlantic reinforcement required NATO to protect more than a single line on a map. Ships headed for British, French, and possibly Mediterranean ports, while air and naval forces based around Greenland, Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom covered the approaches. An attack on Iceland would be more difficult than fiction often suggests because local forces and pre-positioned equipment could disperse quickly instead of remaining concentrated at an airfield. A Soviet landing would therefore need more shipping and troops than the rapid coup de main depicted in Red Storm Rising.