Allied Forces Central Europe from 1953 quarter at the
Palace of Fontainebleau() in 1965. Prior to World War II these offices housed the
Artillery School. The command traces its history to
Headquarters, Allied Forces Central Europe (
AFCENT), which was activated in August 1953 in
Fontainebleau, outside
Paris, France. Ensuring interoperability among land forces of the different NATO Member States has always been a challenge, which is why a variety of NATO standardization activities, such as the
NATO Standardization Office, have been underway since the 1950s. After General
Dwight D. Eisenhower was appointed as
Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) in 1950, he found that devising command arrangements in the Central Region, which contained the bulk of NATO's forces, was to be complicated. General Eisenhower considered naming an overall Commander-in-Chief (CINC) for the Central Region but soon realized it would be difficult to find an arrangement that would satisfy all three major powers with forces in the Centre - the United States, United Kingdom and France - because their views on the proper relationship of air and ground power differed significantly. Moreover, he wanted to control the most important region, Central Region, himself. Drawing upon his
Second World War experience, Eisenhower decided to retain overall control himself and did not appoint a CINC for the Central Region. Instead there would be three separate commanders-in-chief (for
Allied Air Forces Central Europe, Allied Land Forces Central Europe and Flag Officer Central Europe (FLAGCENT)), all reporting directly to SACEUR.
Vice Admiral Robert Jaujard of the
French Navy was appointed as Flag Officer Central Europe, and served from 2 April 51 until 20 August 1953. On 20 August 1953 General Ridgeway, Eisenhower's successor, established a single Commander-in-Chief (CINCENT) for the region with subordinate land, air and naval commanders (COMLANDCENT, COMAIRCENT, and COMNAVCENT respectively).|left One of the command's exercises in the 1950s was Operation Counter Punch. Counter Punch was a September 1957 AFCENT air-ground military exercise that also tested NATO's integrated air-defense system in its central European front. The exercise involved the national air-defense systems of Britain, France, Belgium and the Netherlands, with
Général d'Armée Jean-Étienne Valluy,
French Army, NATO's Commander-in-Chief Allied Forces Central Europe (CINCENT), in overall command. Operation Counter Punch revealed deficiencies in the
Integrated NATO Air Defense System as well as air force responsiveness to theoretical Soviet and Warsaw Pact ground advances. After July 1962 and the establishment of Commander
Allied Forces Baltic Approaches (COMBALTAP), German naval forces were shifted into that command. The U.S. III Corps also maintained a forward headquarters at Tapijn Kazerne,
Maastricht, Netherlands. The commander of US Army Europe, Gen.
William W. Crouch, assumed an additional role as commander of NATO LANDCENT on 15 February 1996. He was the first American to command LANDCENT since its 1993 activation. Originally, the LANDCENT command was to be rotated between German and Dutch generals. The dual command of
United States Army Europe (USAREUR) and LANDCENT allowed the continued integration of US Army Europe into NATO's post-Cold War structure. All NATO corps, except for the
:de:IV. Korps (Bundeswehr), 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). In addition, an agreement was made which set out the arrangements under which the
European Corps, consisting of units from Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg and Spain, would be made available to NATO in times of crisis. LANDCENT's missions were to: • Protect the peace and deter aggression in NATO's central region (Germany, Belgium, Luxemburg and the Netherlands). • Plan, prepare and direct operations of land forces under NATO command. • Plan, coordinate and conduct the land and air subcampaign jointly with NATO's Allied Air Command, Central. • Develop plans for, and participate in, the MCP and Partnership for Peace (PfP) initiative. • Support the flanks of the area of responsibilities. The departure from the Cold War era brought the implementation of a new NATO Integrated Military Structure and LandCENT was formally designated Joint Headquarters Centre (JHQ CENT) in a ceremony held on March 9, 2000.
Establishment of JFC Brunssum In 2000, the deactivation of Headquarters,
Allied Forces Northern Europe (AFNORTH) in
Kolsås,
Norway led to the redesignation of AFCENT as Regional Headquarters, Allied Forces Northern Europe (RHQ AFNORTH). The headquarters operated as RHQ AFNORTH until 2004, when it was renamed Allied Joint Force Command Brunssum (JFC-B) to add flexibility to the military command structure by removing regional restrictions. Circa 2010, JFC Brussum appears to be responsible for
Contingency Plan Eagle Guardian, NATO's Article 5 plan to defend Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. Until March 2013
Command Component Land Heidelberg (FC Heidelberg (Land)), the land component command, was under the control of this headquarter and located at
Heidelberg in Germany. ==Facilities==