Denmark must defend Greenland, but didn't issue 'shoot first, ask questions later' warning

In January 2026, following the U.S. military strike in Venezuela and capture of the country's President Nicolás Maduro, U.S. President Donald Trump put renewed pressure on Denmark to give Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark, to the United States. At one point, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the use of the U.S. military in Greenland is "always an option." Denmark has repeatedly rebuffed American efforts to acquire Greenland. 

As the White House continued to insist on taking Greenland despite Denmark's refusal, accounts on social media sites such as X (archived), Reddit (archived), Instagram (archived) and Facebook (archived) claimed Denmark had warned it would "shoot first and ask questions later" (archived) if U.S. troops invaded Greenland.

While Danish law does require its military forces to fight back against an attack in the absence of orders, it didn't issue a "warning" to the U.S. that it would do so. The phrase "shoot first and ask questions later" originated from English-language media reporting. Therefore, we are rating this claim as a mixture of true and false information.

The directive requiring Danish troops to fight back is from 1952. It reads: "In the event of an attack on Danish territory or on a Danish military unit outside Danish territory, the attacked forces must immediately take up the fight without waiting for or seeking orders, even if the declaration of war or state of war is not known to the commanders in question." The directive stipulates that the country's forces are not to obey orders to do otherwise without "sufficient certainty" that a "competent authority" issued the order.

This standing order arose from the 1940 Nazi invasion of Denmark, according to Lex (archived), Denmark's National Encyclopedia. Many Danish military units didn't know what to do when communications partially broke down during the invasion. "To avoid ending up in the same situation, order of measures must ensure that military forces and units take up the fight without further orders if Danish territory or Danish units outside Danish territory are attacked," according to Lex (as translated from Danish to English by Google).

Euro News reported that the Danish Defense Ministry confirmed to Berlingske, a conservative newspaper and the oldest in Denmark, that the 1952 order "remains in force." Berlingske published two articles about the 1952 order and Greenland on Jan. 7, 2026. While both articles were behind paywalls, the secondary headline for one article said the order would apply to a U.S. invasion of Greenland and is unambiguous. The other article's secondary headline said the 1952 order "clearly states" that Danish forces must fight back if necessary.

Snopes could not find the phrase "shoot first and ask questions later" from a Danish source, governmental or otherwise. Instead, the phrase seemed to originate from English-language media, possibly beginning with the British newspaper The Telegraph based on the when the English articles were published. The headline of a Jan. 7, 2026, Telegraph article that reported that the Danish Defense Ministry confirmed to Berlingske the 1952 order remained in force read, "Denmark 'will shoot first and ask questions later' over Greenland." 

The text of the article itself, however, did not include that phrase. In fact, The Telegraph reported that the Danish Defense Ministry's full comment to Berlingske was: "The order on precautionary measures for military defence in the event of attacks on the country and during war, remains in force."

As of this writing, there was no evidence Denmark issued a "warning" promising Danish forces would shoot without question in the event of an American attack on Greenland.