Allied Forces Headquarters
The Allied Forces Headquarters ( AFHQ for short ) was a headquarters that led the Allied Forces of the Mediterranean Theater of Operations from 1942 until the end of World War II (1945).
history
The AFHQ was established in the UK in August 1942 by the order of General Dwight D. Eisenhower to coordinate the armed forces for Operation Torch . Eisenhower was the first to hold the title of Commander-in-Chief, Allied (Expeditionary) Force . Shortly after the AFHQ began its service, the Expeditionary was removed from the title. Eisenhower's title was now Commander-in-Chief, Allied Force .
When Libya was completely occupied by the British 8th Army after the Second Battle of El Alamein , it was also subordinated to the Allied Force Headquarters in February 1943 for the Tunisian campaign . The AFHQ was stationed in the Lascaris War Rooms in Malta .
Eisenhower remained in command of AFHQ until January 1944, overseeing Operation Husky (Allied landing in Sicily on July 10, 1943) and the Allied invasion of Italy in early September 1943. He was later transferred back to the UK to take command of the operation Overlord to take over. Field Marshal Sir Henry Maitland Wilson took over his post. Wilson's title became Supreme Commander, Mediterranean Theater of Operations .
Wilson served in command for less than a year since he was sent to Washington, DC in December 1944 to replace Field Marshal Sir John Dill , who had died suddenly, as the British Joint Staff Mission . On December 12, 1944, Wilson was replaced by Field Marshal Sir Harold Alexander , who was in command of the AFHQ until the end of the war and previously led the 15th Army Group in the Italian campaign .
After the war, the AFHQ was deactivated in August 1945 and dissolved in September 1947.
Evidence and references
literature
- Barbara Brooks Tomblin: With utmost spirit. Allied naval operations in the Mediterranean, 1942-1945. The University Press of Kentucky, Lexington KY 2004, ISBN 0-8131-2338-0 (English).
Individual evidence
- ^ The Supreme Commander: the war years of General Dwight D. Eisenhower , Stephen E. Ambrose, University Press of Mississippi, 1999, ISBN 1-57806-206-3 , 79
- ^ William Jackson: The Mediterranean and Middle East: Volume VI Victory in the Mediterranean. Part III - November 1944 to May 1945. Naval & Military Press, Uckfield 2004 ISBN 1-845740-72-6 . Pp. 69-73