Headquarters Allied Force Command Heidelberg (HQ FC Heidelberg) was a Military formation of the

North Atlantic Treaty Organization The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental transnational military alliance of 32 member states—30 European and 2 North American. Established in the aftermat ...

(NATO) responsible for providing deployable joint staff elements (DJSE) in support of NATO operations worldwide. It was headquartered at Campbell Barracks,

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, and reported to the Joint Force Command Brunssum (JFCBS). During the

War in Afghanistan War in Afghanistan, Afghan war, or Afghan civil war may refer to: *Conquest of Afghanistan by Alexander the Great (330 BC – 327 BC), the conquest of Afghanistan by the Macedonian Empire * Muslim conquests of Afghanistan, a series of campaigns in ...

, it provided command and control elements to the

International Security Assistance Force The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was a multinational military mission in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2014. It was established by United Nations Security Council United Nations Security Council Resolution 1386, Resolution 1386 ac ...

(ISAF). It was disbanded on 1 April 2013. NATO Command AFCENT badges

History

Cold War

The Central Army Group (CENTAG) was established in 1952 and assigned to work with

United States Army Europe United States Army Europe and Africa (USAREUR-AF) is an Army Service Component Command (ASCC) /Theater Army responsible for directing United States Army operations throughout the U.S. European Command (EUCOM) and U.S. Africa Command (AFRICO ...

at Campbell Barracks, Heidelberg, Germany. When the

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was activated in 1955, some German personnel were assigned to the plans section of CENTAG. In April 1959, the plans section of CENTAG became Headquarters, Central Army Group and was commanded by an American general. It remained at Campbell Barracks and was charged with defending southern Germany against any prospective

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

attack. It consisted of the German II Corps, the German III Corps, the US V Corps, and the US VII Corps. In August 1961, CENTAG was relocated to Hammonds Barracks, (formerly Loretto Kaserne) Mannheim-Seckenheim, Germany and remained there until December 1980 when NATO determined coordination was better when three headquarters were located on the same installation. CENTAG was returned to Campbell Barracks to be collocated with the Fourth Allied Tactical Air Force (4 ATAF) and the Allied Command Europe Mobile Force-Land (AMF(L)).

Allied Land Forces, Central Europe, 1993-2000

Structural changes began in June 1993, when CENTAG and the Northern Army Group (NORTHAG),

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, Germany were deactivated and combined to form Allied Land Forces Central Europe (LANDCENT), which was activated in Heidelberg on 1 July 1993. LANDCENT's mission was to: *1) contribute to the protection of peace and deterrence of aggression, *2) plan, prepare and direct operations of allocated land forces for the security and defence of his area of responsibility, *3) plan, coordinate, and conduct synchronized air/land operations in support of CINCENT's theater campaign, and *4) be prepared to conduct peace support operations At the lower level, all strictly national corps in the central region were superseded, in wartime plans terms at least, by the mid 1990s. All NATO corps, except for the German IV Corps, were then multinational. In the mid-late 1990s there were four multinational main defence corps in NATO's Central Region: one Danish-German ( LANDJUT), one Dutch-German ( I. GE/NL Corps) and two German-United States (II GE/US and V US/GE). The two German-United States corps were strictly wartime command organisations. Beginning in 1993, LANDCENT provided troops in the Former Republic of Yugoslavia. In 1995, LANDCENT provided troops for the Implementation Force (IFOR) and later served as the headquarters of the Stabilization Force (SFOR) in

Bosnia-Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to the north a ...

. When NATO acted in Kosovo in 1999, LANDCENT began operations in

Pristina Pristina or Prishtina ( , ), . is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. It is the administrative center of the eponymous municipality and District of Pristina, district. In antiquity, the area of Pristina was part of the Dardanian Kingdo ...

Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...

and

Skopje Skopje ( , ; ; , sq-definite, Shkupi) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It lies in the northern part of the country, in the Skopje Basin, Skopje Valley along the Vardar River, and is the political, economic, and cultura ...

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and would serve as the headquarters for the

Kosovo Force The Kosovo Force (KFOR) is a North Atlantic Treaty Organization, NATO-led international NATO peacekeeping, peacekeeping force and military of Kosovo. KFOR is the third security responder, after the Kosovo Police and the EU Rule of Law (European ...

(KFOR). Originally, LANDCENT command was to be rotated between German and Dutch generals. In 1996, The commander of US Army Europe (USAREUR) assumed an additional role as commander of LANDCENT with General William W. Crouch assuming command. The dual command of USAREUR and LANDCENT allowed the continued integration of American forces into NATO's post-Cold War structure. In addition, an agreement was made which set out the arrangements under which the European Corps (Eurocorps), consisting of units from

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, and

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, would be made available to NATO in times of crisis.

Twenty-first century

The departure from the Cold War era brought the implementation of a new

NATO Military Command Structure The structure of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is complex and multi-faceted. The decision-making body is the North Atlantic Council (NAC), and the member state representatives also sit on the Defence Planning Committee (NATO), Defe ...

and LANDCENT was formally designated as Joint Headquarters Centre (JHQ CENT) in a ceremony held in March 2000. The new structure, which accompanied this designation, included personnel from five additional nations: the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Norway and Poland - making a total of 12 NATO Nations contributing to the Headquarters. In July 2004, JHQ CENT was once again reorganised and designated as Component Command-Land Headquarters, Heidelberg (CC-Land HQ HD). In 2006, NATO recognised the need for a more flexible command and control structure. To augment the current operational level commands, NATO experimented with the use of Deployable Joint Staff Elements (DJSE). The DJSE allow Allied Joint Force Command Brunssum,

Allied Joint Force Command Naples The Joint Force Command Naples (JFC Naples) is a NATO military command based in Lago Patria, in the Metropolitan City of Naples, Italy. It was activated on 15 March 2004, after effectively redesigning its predecessor command, Allied Forces Southe ...

, and Allied Joint Force Command Lisbon to command multiple operations from their home headquarters. CC-Land HQ HD was chosen to test the concept, and was designated Force Command Heidelberg (HQ FC HD) in 2010. The first operation in which the DJSE played a role was commanding the

(ISAF),

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

. Headquarters Allied Force Command Heidelberg has been deactivated as part of NATO's transformation. The newly activated Allied Land Command (LANDCOM), located in Izmir, Turkey, has assumed responsibilities from Allied Force Command Heidelberg in Germany as well as Allied Force Command Madrid in Spain. The deactivation was finally completed on March 14, 2013.

Notes

References

*Thomas-Durrell Young, 'Multinational Land Forces and NATO: Reforming Processes and Structures,' Strategic Studies Institute, Carlisle Barracks, 1997

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Headquarters Allied Force Command Heidelberg 1952 establishments in West Germany 2013 disestablishments in Germany Formations of the NATO Military Command Structure 1994–present Military units and formations established in 2010 Military units and formations disestablished in 2013 Organisations based in Baden-Württemberg Joint military headquarters