66: Danes in ww2, Danish Brigade in Germany 1947-57

This entry was posted by Sunday, 21 November, 2010
Read the rest of this entry »

Danske soldater i 1. verdenskrig  ww2 DANFORCE badges

 

Records of Allied Operational and Occupation Headquarters,  World War II

Records of Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary  Force (SHAEF)

On February 13, 1944 Headquarters, Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary  Forces, known also as SHAEF, replaced and absorbed the planning group called  the Chief of Staff Supreme Allied Command, or COSSAC, that had been established  in April 1943. COSSAC and SHAEF, as as integrated U.S.-British organizations  responsible to the Combined Chiefs of Staff, successively had the task of integrating  the British forces and the American forces for operations on the Continent. Gen.  Dwight D. Eisenhower was designated as the Supreme Allied Commander, Allied  Expeditionary Forces, and on his arrival in England from the North African  Theater in January 1944 he became also the commanding general of the European  Theater of Operations United States Army (ETOUSA).

The staff organizations of SHAEF and ETOUSA were, however, distinct. Each  headquarters as a rule had its own staff sections manned by separate personnel. The  staff organization in SHAEF was headed by the Chief of Staff. SHAEF directed  the operations of several subordinate interallied headquarters, including separate  commands for ground, air, and naval operations.

SHAEF was located at London until August 1944; at Versailles, France, August  1944-May 1945; and at Frankfurt, Germany, May-July 1945. On July 14,  1945, SHAEF was discontinued, and its civil-affairs and military-government  functions were assumed by the Allied Group Control Council, in Berlin. Some  of its United States components continued in Headquarters United States Forces,  European Theater.

During 1944-1945 operated SHAEF Missions that were established in liberated  nations to represent the Supreme Allied Commander and to maintain contact with  these countries without interfering with military operations. These missions  were located in France, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, and  Norway. As combined organizations they were disbanded in July 1945 with  the termination of SHAEF, but as national missions some of them continued as  late as 1947.

 


Leave a Reply