With the German advance on Reykjavik faltering, the German high command committed a battalion of crack paratroopers as reinforcements. The battalion dropped near the German beachhead and gathered itself to march on the Icelandic capital alongside the mountain troops. But the Americans had received reinforcements of their own, who moved swiftly by night to deliver an unexpected spoiling attack

The Marine Provisional Rubber Boat Companies — they would not receive the title "Raider" until early 1942 — had trained for stealth attacks, and caught the Germans by surprise. The paratroopers recovered quickly enough to repel the attack, but not until the Marines had disabled their desperately needed artillery pieces. The German invasion of Iceland was not going well.