Originally, Allied Forces Southern Europe was one of two major NATO commands in the Mediterranean area, the other being
Allied Forces Mediterranean based on the island of Malta, responsible for naval activities in the region. While
Admiral Robert B. Carney of the
U.S. Navy was appointed as Commander-in-Chief Allied Forces Southern Europe (CinCAFSOUTH) on 19 June 1951, AFMED was not activated until 1953. The delay was due to negotiations and compromises between the Americans and the British, who wished to retain one of their commanders over Britain's traditional
sea lines of communication stretching through the Mediterranean to the
Suez Canal and beyond. From 1951 to 2003, the Commander-in-Chief of Allied Forces Southern Europe was always a
United States Navy admiral, based at
Naples, who also held the US Navy position of Commander-in-Chief
United States Naval Forces Europe and functioned as the Navy service component commander for
United States European Command within the US-only chain of command. AFSOUTH headquarters was established at
Bagnoli, Naples. The initial command arrangements for AFSOUTH consisted of the classic three land, sea, and air headquarters preferred by Eisenhower.
Allied Land Forces Southern Europe (LANDSOUTH),
Allied Naval Forces Southern Europe (NAVSOUTH), and
Allied Air Forces Southern Europe (AIRSOUTH) were all established in Italy. Greece and
Turkey joined the alliance in early 1952. Under this command, with its headquarters in İzmir assisted by the subordinate Thessaloniki Advanced Command Post, were to be most of the Greek and Turkish armies in case of war. Some of AFSOUTH's first exercises took place in 1952. Operation Ancient Wall was a series of military maneuvers involving
ground small unit tactical training, land-based tactical air support, and carrier-based air support under the overall command of Admiral Carney.
Exercise Grand Slam was a combined naval exercise held in the Mediterranean Sea between 25 February to 16 March 1952. The exercise included allied warships escorting three convoys of supply ships which were subjected to repeated simulated air and submarine attacks, as well as
anti-submarine warfare (ASW) operations and naval gunfire shore bombardment.
Operation Longstep was a ten-day naval exercise held in the
Mediterranean Sea held during November 1952. It involved over 170 warships and 700 aircraft, and it featured a large-scale
amphibious assault along the western coast of
Turkey. 1953 AFSOUTH exercises included: • "Italic Weld" — a combined air-naval-ground exercise in
northern Italy involving the United States, Italy, Turkey, and Greece • "Weldfast" — a combined amphibious landing exercise in the Mediterranean Sea involving British, Greek, Italian, Turkish, and U.S. naval forces The drawdown of the British
Mediterranean Fleet, the military difficulties of the politically-decided command structure, and the withdrawal of the French from the military command structure forced a rearrangement of the command arrangements in the southern region. Allied Forces Mediterranean was disbanded on 5 June 1967, and all forces in the south and the Mediterranean were assigned to AFSOUTH. The U.S. contribution to the exercise was based on the
USS America carrier battle group. During the 1960s Exercise Deep Furrow appears to have been held annually. Deep Furrow was conducted from 20–29 September 1973 in the southern region of Allied Command Europe. Forces from Greece, Turkey and other countries in AF South Command participated. Land forces held maneuvers in Greek and Turkish Thrace, and naval Force exercised in the Eastern Mediterranean, including the Aegean Sea; naval activities included amphibious and carrier operations. As part of the exercise, ground units were airlifted from their home stations in the United Kingdom and the United States to northwestern Turkey, where Turkish National Forces executed plans for receiving them. Turkish National Forces also conducted operations with Hellenic Armed Forces and NATO air units, providing fighter-bomber and reconnaissance support throughout the area of operations. Highlights of the exercise in Turkish Thrace were a multi-national amphibious landing on 25 September 1973 and a multinational airborne operation on 26 September 1973. From 1967 the overall shape of AFSOUTH did not significantly change until the command was renamed in 2004. There were five principal subordinate commands (PSCs). The number rose to six when Greece was taking part in the military structure; Greece withdrew from the NATO military structure after the
Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, and after some behind the scenes negotiating by NATO officials, returned in October 1980. Two land commands, Allied Land Forces Southern Europe and Allied Land Forces Southeastern Europe, were tasked to defend Italy and Turkey, respectively. Each was directly responsible to Commander-in-Chief, AFSOUTH, and supported by a tactical air force,
Fifth Allied Tactical Air Force in Italy and Sixth Allied Tactical Air Force in Turkey. The two allied tactical air forces were under an overall air command, Allied Air Forces Southern Europe, headquartered at Naples in Italy under a
United States Air Force officer, ComAirSouth, responsible himself to CinCAFSOUTH. Due to political considerations, command of the naval forces in the region was split.
Allied Naval Forces Southern Europe, at Naples, operated most of the NATO allies' naval forces in the Mediterranean under an Italian admiral. But due to the U.S. desire to retain control of their nuclear-armed naval forces, the
United States Sixth Fleet reported directly to CinCAFSOUTH, supported by a separate headquarters named
Naval Striking and Support Forces Southern Europe (STRIKFORSOUTH). The sixth command was an Allied command responsible for the land defence of Greece, named Allied Land Forces South-Central Europe or LANDSOUTHCENT. However, it is not certain whether it was ever actually operational, with the 1998/99 NATO Handbook listing it as 'yet to be activated.' Below these PSCs were smaller headquarters such as Maritime Air Forces, Mediterranean, at
Sigonella, Sicily, responsible for the coordination of the aerial anti-submarine effort, Submarine Forces, South.
Structure in 1989 At the end of the Cold War AFSOUTH consisted of the following commands: •
Allied Forces Southern Europe (AFSOUTH), in
Naples, Italy •
Allied Land Forces Southern Europe (LANDSOUTH), in
Verona, Italy •
3rd Italian Corps, in
Milan •
4th Italian Alpine Corps, in
Bolzano •
5th Italian Corps, in
Vittorio Veneto • Earmarked Portuguese Mixed Brigade •
Allied Land Forces South-Eastern Europe (LANDSOUTHEAST), in
İzmir, Turkey •
1st Turkish Army, in
Istanbul •
3rd Turkish Army, in
Erzincan •
Allied Land Forces South-Central Europe (LANDSOUTHCENT) in
Larissa, Greece •
Allied Air Forces Southern Europe (AIRSOUTH), in Naples, Italy •
Fifth Allied Tactical Air Force (5 ATAF), in Vicenza, Italy •
Sixth Allied Tactical Air Force (6 ATAF), in İzmir, Turkey • Seventh Allied Tactical Air Force (7 ATAF) in Larissa, Greece, a planned command for the
Greek Air Force, but never actually established •
Allied Naval Forces Southern Europe (NAVSOUTH), in Naples, Italy, with the following national commands: • Commander Gibraltar Mediterranean (COMGIBMED), in
Gibraltar, under a
Royal Navy Rear Admiral, who doubled as Commander
British Forces Gibraltar. British plans, to Captain Peter Melson (RN)'s knowledge in 1990 "committed no forces to defence of the Strait, while Spain was willing to commit substantial elements of their ORBAT [order of battle, their armed forces]." • Commander Western Mediterranean (COMMEDWEST), under a
French Navy admiral, until 1962 in
Algiers, then
Toulon, after France left NATO's integrated command structure in 1966 the command was absorbed by NAVSOUTH • Commander Central Mediterranean (COMEDCENT), in
Naples, under an
Italian Navy admiral •
Commander Eastern Mediterranean (COMEDEAST), in
Athens, under a
Hellenic Navy admiral • Commander South-Eastern Mediterranean (COMMEDSOUTHEAST), under a
British admiral in
Malta, after the disbanding of the
Mediterranean Fleet, the command was absorbed by NAVSOUTH • Commander North-eastern Mediterranean (COMEDNOREAST), in
Ankara, under a
Turkish Naval Forces admiral (includes the
Black Sea) • Commander Maritime Air Forces Mediterranean (COMMARAIRMED), at
Naval Air Station Sigonella, Italy, under Commander
US Navy Fleet Air Wing Mediterranean • Commander Submarines Mediterranean (COMSUBMED), in Naples, under Commander US Navy
Submarine Group 8 •
Naval Striking and Support Forces Southern Europe (
STRIKFORSOUTH), in Naples, Italy, centered around the US Navy
Sixth Fleet Post Cold War From 1992 AFSOUTH was heavily involved in NATO operations in the Balkans, initially with NATO seaborne enforcement of a UN arms embargo, Operation 'Maritime Monitor,' which began in July 1992. This operation was fused with a similar
Western European Union effort and thus became
Operation Sharp Guard from July 1993. AFSOUTH also directed activities such as
Operation Deny Flight from AIRSOUTH headquarters in Italy. Commander-in-Chief AFSOUTH directed the NATO peacekeeping missions in Bosnia & Hercegovina,
IFOR and
SFOR, from December 1995. Beginning 10 July 1951, Headquarters Allied Land Forces Southern Europe was responsible for defending the North-Eastern Italian sector in cooperation with other NATO nations. During the intervening 40 years, the HQ produced plans and studies to counter a potential invasion by the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact. After 53 years in the city of Verona, what had become Joint Command South (JCS) closed its doors on 15 June 2004.
Establishment as JFC Naples NHQ Sarajevo remains operational, as also NATO Headquarters Tirana, an outgrowth of the former
Kosovo Force (KFOR) Communications Zone West, originally established in 1999. Communication Zone West was retitled NHQ Tirana on 17 June 2002. In 2013 a further command structure reorganisation began to take effect.
Allied Maritime Command Naples,
Allied Air Command İzmir and
Allied Force Command Madrid were all deactivated. From 2013
Allied Command Operations started directing the
Allied Joint Force Command Brunssum and Allied Joint Force Command Naples, and three component commands,
Allied Air Command at Ramstein, Germany,
Allied Land Command at İzmir, Turkey, and
Allied Maritime Command at Northwood, UK. NATO and Romanian Ministry of Defense representatives activated the
Headquarters Multinational Division Southeast (HQ MND-SE) headquarters in Bucharest, Romania, on December 1, 2015. In February 2026, it was leaked, and subsequently announced by
NATO that it would transfer the control of JFC Naples from the current American commander to an Italian commander. ==References==