In 1933 the international court of the League of Nations ruled in the Danish-Norwegian dispute over Erik the Red's Land that for it to remain Danish, Denmark had to assert its sovereignty there.

Thus the patrol's discovery of these stations denied Germany such information with significant implications both for the Battle of the Atlantic and for air and land fighting in Europe, despite the enormous distance of Greenland from the main theatres of war.

[6] The Sirius Dog Sled Patrol discovered the German weather station Holzauge at Hansa Bay on the northeast coast of Sabine Island, which was subsequently destroyed by United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) bombers from Iceland.

[10] On 16 September 2023, an unwitnessed tsunami of undetermined origin struck the northern part of Ella Island, penetrating 50 metres (55 yd) inland and devastating the Sirius Dog Sled Patrol station there, washing much of it into the sea.

The cruise ship Ocean Albatros arrived on the scene on 17 September and contacted the Joint Arctic Command with the first report of the damage.

The sun sets for the last time around the beginning of November, and in the increasing darkness the winter storms get progressively worse, and more frequent.

The final group consisting of twelve men is picked as late as two to three weeks before they depart to Greenland for 26 consecutive months.

Because of the special nature of the Sirius Dog Sled Patrol operations, a wide range of unique equipment is required that is not normally used by the Danish armed forces.

[16][17][18] The Sirius Dog Sled Patrol uses the standard .30-06 Springfield 163–168-grain (10.56–10.89 g) M2 armor-piercing military rifle round (normally intended for use against lightly armored vehicles, protective shelters, and personnel, and can be identified by its black bullet tip.[19][20]).

The patrolmen are uniquely allowed to use hollow-point civilian rounds (loaded with a type of expanding bullet prohibited in warfare for Danish and many other armed forces by the Hague Convention of 1899[21]) to defend themselves against dangerous wild animals.