From April 1940 onwards some Danes chose to escape from Nazi-controlled Denmark to Sweden. Of these refugees a relatively large part (but not large in absolute numbers) had been officers and NCOs in the Danish Armed Forces.

When the war situation grew worse for Germany, the leading politicians in Denmark began to worry about what would happen when the German troops left Denmark. Many politicians were afraid that the Communists would take power in the chaotic situation that was likely to follow a German collapse. Beginning in autumn 1943 leading Danes petitioned the Swedish government for military assistance. They wanted to gather Danish military refugees in Sweden to train them with Swedish weapons. The Danes also wanted Sweden to prepare military equipment in large quantities in Sweden. Officially the idea was to train a "reserve police force" which should be able to guarantee law and order in the case of a German withdrawal.

The Swedish government agreed and in December 1943 the training began on a small scale. In May 1944, 1080 men were training and the number were rising: By the end of August there were 1600 men, in January 1945 around 2100 men, and by the first day of May 3500 men in fighting roles plus supporting units as well.

The refugees were organized into the "Danske brigade" called DANFORCE by the British. The brigade consisted of four light and one heavy battalions and a sapper company. The brigade had a very limited number of vehicles of its own and so was dependent upon borrowed vehicles or their own feet.

The Swedish government did not like the idea that foreign troops in Sweden had access to heavy weapons and so restricted training of the heavy battalion, at least with its heavy weapons. This lack of training probably left the battalion below the combat potential it could have otherwise attained.

The brigade was transported to Denmark on May 5, 1945, the morning after the German surrender in Denmark. The reason for not leaving Sweden earlier was that the Swedish government didn't allow it to; it thought that there was a greater chance of a peaceful end of the occupation if there wasn't an extra 5,000 armed Danes that wanted to take revenge on the Germans. When the brigade came to Denmark it was put under the control of SHAER

At the time of its transport to Denmark, the brigade had the following equipment: 7350 rifles, 3682 sub-machine guns, 137 LMGs, 84 HMGs, 48x 47 mm mortars, 18x 81 mm mortars, 4x 120 mm mortars, 12x 20 mm AA/AT-guns, 18x 37 mm ATguns, 1x 40 mm AA-gun and 10 flame-throwers.

Does Europa need DANFORCE? If Germany had attacked Sweden; it is likely that the brigade would have been issued its weapons to help Sweden defend itself It is also possible that due to political pressure from the western powers Sweden might have let the Danes go to Britain and fight on the western front.