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Last updated 19 October 2004 |
1. General Eisenhower's combined headquarters for TORCH was formed on 11 August 1942 in London. General Clark's suggestion that the title "Allied Force Headquarters" (AFHQ) be adopted for this headquarters was accepted by the British on 24 August 1942. The word "expeditionary" contained in the directive to the commander in chief for TORCH (General Eisenhower) was omitted for security reasons. The Advance Echelon, AFHQ, arrived in Algiers on 9 November 1942. AFHQ was in ETO until the formal separation of NATO from ETO on 4 February 1943. AFHQ remained a combined administrative headquarters for the Allied commander in the Mediterranean after the establishment of the Mediterranean Theater of Operations (Allied) in December 1943 and after a British officer initially Gen. Sir H. Maitland Wilson, succeeded General Eisenhower in early 1944 as Commander in Chief, Mediterranean Theater (later designated SACMED).
2. General Eisenhower was formally designated Commander in Chief, Allied Expeditionary Force (for TORCH) by a CCS directive, CCS 103/1, approved in 36th meeting CCS, 13 August 1942. This directive, which General Eisenhower received from the CCS on 14 August 1942, officially confirmed an assignment upon which in reality he had been engaged since July 1942.
3. NATOUSA was separated from ETO on 4 February 1943. General Eisenhower (AUS general, 11 February 1943) was designated CG. By agreement between U. S. War and Navy Departments, NATO, like ETO, was a unified American command. In NATO the U. S. Army commander exercised planning and operational control of the U. S. Navy forces, Northwest African waters, under the doctrine of unity of command.
4. General Devers relinquished command of ETO and assumed command of NATO USA on 8 January 1944, simultaneously becoming Deputy Allied Commander in Chief, Mediterranean.
5. General McNarney succeeded General Devers both as Deputy Supreme Allied Commander, Mediterranean, and as Theater Commander, NATOUSA, 22 October 1944. General McNarney served as CG, NATOUSA, until 1 November 1944 when NATOUSA was redesignated Mediterranean Theater of Operations, U. S. Army.
6. CCS 387/3, 5 December 1943, provided in effect for the combination of the U. S. North African Theater of Operations and the British Middle Eastern theater to form the Mediterranean Theater of Operations. In this directive General Eisenhower as Commander in Chief, Allied Forces, North Africa, was given command of the Mediterranean theater. This directive brought the whole offensive in the Mediterranean under a single command and gave General Eisenhower responsibility for all operations in the Mediterranean other than strategic bombing. He retained command of NATOUSA. Effective 10 December 1943, a unified command was established in the Mediterranean theater under a Commander in Chief, Allied Forces, who was redesignated Allied Commander in Chief, Allied Forces, and still later,
9. March 1944, renamed Supreme Allied Commander, Mediterranean Theater (SACMED). Shortly after General Eisenhower left the theater for a visit to the United States prior to assuming his new post as Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force (for OVERLORD), General Wilson succeeded him in the supreme command, Mediterranean Theater (8 January 1944).
7. At the same time that General Wilson succeeded General Eisenhower in command of Allied forces in MTO, 8 January 1944. General Devers began his duties as CG, NATOUSA, and as General Wilson's deputy (Deputy Allied Commander in Chief, Mediterranean). Field Marshal Sir Harold Alexander relieved General Wilson of command of MTO on 12 December 1944, and another British officer, Lt. Gen. W. D. Morgan, was appointed Supreme Allied Commander, Mediterranean Theater, in early October 1945.
8. General McNarney assumed his duties of Deputy Commander in Chief, Mediterranean, when he relieved General Devers as CG, NATOUSA. When the North African Theater of Operations was redesignated MTOUSA General McNarney automatically became CG, MTOUSA.
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Last updated 19 October 2004 |