JOURFIXE

Bornholm was heavily bombarded by Soviet forces in May 1945. Gerhard von Kamptz, the German superior officer in charge of the island garrison refused to surrender to Soviets, as his orders were to surrender to the Western Allies. The Germans sent several telegrams to Copenhagen requesting that at least one British soldier should be transferred to Bornholm, so that the Germans could surrender to the western allied forces instead of the Russians. When von Kamptz failed to provide a written capitulation as demanded by the Soviet commanders, Soviet aircraft relentlessly bombed and destroyed more than 800 civilian houses in Rønne and Nexø and seriously damaged roughly 3000 more during 7-8 May 1945.

During the Russian bombing of the two major cities on 7 May and again 8 May, the Danish radio was not allowed to broadcast the news because as it was thought it would spoil the liberation festivities in Denmark.[10] On 9 May Soviet troops landed on the island and after a short fight, the German garrison (about 12,000 strong[11]) surrendered.[12] Soviet forces left the island on 5 April 1946. These events could be considered to be part of the origins of the Cold War as much as being part of WWII. More recently NATO radar installations have been placed on the island.

After the evacuation of its forces from Bornholm, the Soviets took the position that "The stationing 'foreign troops' on Bornholm would be considered a declaration of war against the Soviet Union, and that Denmark should keep troops on it at all times to protect it from such foreign aggression". This policy remained in force also after NATO was formed and Denmark joined it - i.e. the Soviets accepted the stationing of Danish troops, which were perforce part of NATO but were far from that alliance's most powerful element, but strongly objected to the presence of other NATO troops on the island - particularly, of US troops.[citation needed]

This caused diplomatic problems at least twice: once when an American helicopter landed outside the city of Svaneke due to engine problems in a NATO exercise over the Baltic Sea, and once (sometime between 1999 and 2003) when the Danish government suggested shutting down Almegårdens Kaserne, the local military facility, since "the island could quickly be protected by troops from surrounding areas and has no strategic importance after the fall of the Iron Curtain".