Allied Force Headquarters

Allied Force Headquarters patch.

Allied Force Headquarters (AFHQ) was the headquarters that controlled all Allied operational forces in the Mediterranean Theatre of World War II from late 1942 to the end of the war.

It was established in the United Kingdom in August 1942 under General Dwight D. Eisenhower in order to command the forces committed to Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of French North Africa. Eisenhower had the title Commander-in-Chief, Allied Expeditionary Force. Shortly after the establishment of the headquarters, "Expeditionary" was deleted from its title, for reasons of operational security. Eisenhower thus became Commander-in-Chief, Allied Force.

By the end of 1942, there was a need to unify command of the Allied forces in North Africa, since those from the west, the British First Army, under Lieutenant-General Kenneth Arthur Noel Anderson, landed during Operation Torch, and those from the east that had won the Second Battle of El Alamein were now close enough together to need coordination. Therefore, in February 1943, Allied Force Headquarters assumed control of the British Eighth Army, under Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery, advancing from the east as well.

General Eisenhower remained in command of AFHQ until January 1944, overseeing the Allied invasion of Sicily, which began on 10 July 1943 and the Allied invasion of the Italian mainland, on 3 September 1943. He then returned to the United Kingdom to assume command of the Allied forces assembling for Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of Normandy. He was succeeded by General Sir Henry Maitland Wilson. Wilson's title became Supreme Commander, Mediterranean Theater of Operations.

Wilson was in command for just under a year, until he was sent to Washington in December 1944 to replace Field Marshal Sir John Dill of the British Joint Staff Mission who had died suddenly. Wilson was succeeded by Field Marshal Sir Harold Alexander who was Supreme Commander and commander of AFHQ until the end of the war. After the war AFHQ became a small interallied staff responsible for combined command liquidation activities and commanded by Lieutenant-General Sir William D. Morgan as Supreme Allied Commander Mediterranean. AFHQ was abolished, effective September 17, 1947, by General Order 24, AFHQ, September 16, 1947.

See also

• Mediterranean Theater of Operations (MTO) was originally called North African Theater of Operations (NATO) and is an American term for the conflict that took place between the Allies and Axis powers in North Africa and Italy during World War II.