The Allied Command Europe Mobile Force (AMF) was a small

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

quick reaction force, headquartered at Heidelberg,

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

, active from 1960 to 2002. It formed part of Allied Command Europe (ACE), headquartered at

SHAPE A shape or figure is a graphical representation of an object or its external boundary, outline, or external surface, as opposed to other properties such as color, texture, or material type. A plane shape or plane figure is constrained to lie on ...

Casteau Casteau ( wa, Castea) is a village of Wallonia and a district of the municipality of Soignies, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. With the other villages Chaussée-Notre-Dame-Louvignies, Horrues, Naast, Neufvilles, Soignies (town), ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

. The land component of the force, consisting of a

brigade A brigade is a major tactical military formation that typically comprises three to six battalions plus supporting elements. It is roughly equivalent to an enlarged or reinforced regiment. Two or more brigades may constitute a division. ...

-sized formation of about 5,000 personnel, was composed of units from 14 NATO states. HQ CO US AMF(L) Infantry was at Coleman Barracks, Mannheim, GE 95-02 HQ AMF (L) was at Sullivan Barracks, Mannheim, 1975-78.

ACE Mobile Force (Land)

The ACE Mobile Force-Land or AMF(L) was intended as a multinational force that could be quickly despatched to any part of ACE's command area - from North Norway, to Germany, to eastern Turkey - to demonstrate the solidarity of the alliance and its ability to resist all forms of aggression against any member state. During the Cold War the AMF-L did frequent exercises in North Norway and in other areas. The

Bundeswehr The ''Bundeswehr'' (, meaning literally: ''Federal Defence'') is the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. The ''Bundeswehr'' is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part con ...

responded to the request of NATO from December 9, 1960, from January 1961 to provide a paratrooper battalion, a medical company, an airborne telecommunications company, and air transport units. In October 1961 Bundeswehr units, including parts of the 1st Airborne Division (the Parachute Battalion 262) in the AMF in October 1961 in Sardinia during Exercise First Try in part, on the Belgian, British and American soldiers were also involved. In November 1965, the Parachute Battalion 262 took part in the AMF maneuver Eastern Express II on the southeast flank of NATO, which took place in Turkey under the leadership of the AMF commander Major General Michael Fitzalan-Howard (UK). In total, 3,500 soldiers from the US, UK, Belgium, Germany and Italy participated in the maneuvers. In 1967 the maneuver Sunshine Express in Greece, also with German participation. In 1970 at Narvik in northern Norway on the north flank of NATO, the AMF United maneuver Arctic Express with 4000 soldiers. It was first deployed operationally in 1991 during the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...

, when part of its air component was dispatched to watch the Turkish borders, in the face of a potential threat to a member's territory. The AMF(L) was one of the NATO formations deployed to Norway during Exercise Strong Resolve 1998. The AMF(L) formed the core of the Albania Force (AFOR), a

-led international force responsible for establishing and delivering humanitarian aid to refugees from

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Eur ...

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the ...

during the Kosovo crisis in 1999. It was led by Major General John Reith, Commander AMF(L). The Immediate Reaction Task Force (Land) (IRTF-L) was a novel command and control concept successfully developed and evaluated by the AMF(L) between 1999 and 2001. The IRTF(L) concept allowed the AMF(L), an existing Immediate Reaction Force multinational brigade HQ, to command a divisional sized force with minimal augmentation and no intermediate HQs. The trial concluded in December 2001. The Telegraph wrote that NATO had to disband the ACE Mobile Force, '..after Britain withdrew its contribution to ensure troops were available to join any US attack on Iraq. Britain's contribution to

he force He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...

included key support troops, without which the 6,000-strong force could not operate. With no other NATO member prepared to contribute more soldiers, the alliance had no choice but to disband it.' HQ AMF(L) was disbanded on October 31, 2002 and has since been replaced by the NATO Response Force.

Exercises

Norway, Narvik, Maneuver Strong Resolve, 3rd - 27th March 1998, (NSE)

The ACE Mobile Force took part in a large number of exercises. *1961 ''First Try'',

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label= Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label= Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, af ...

*1962 ''Southern Express'', Greece *1963 Finnmark, Norway *1963 ''Summer Marmara Express'', Greece *1965 ''Eastern Express'', Turkey *1966 ''Summer Marmara Express'', Greece and Turkey *1967 ''Sunshine Express'', Greece *1968 Greece *1969 ''Olympic Express'', Turkey *1970 ''Deep Express'', Turkey *1970 ''Arctic Express'',

Narvik ( se, Áhkanjárga) is the third-largest municipality in Nordland county, Norway, by population. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Narvik. Some of the notable villages in the municipality include Ankenesstranda, Ba ...

, Norway *1971 ''Hellenic Express'', Greece *1972 ''Canadian Club'', Germany *1975 ''Deep Express'', Turkey *1975 ''Advent Express'', Great Britain *1976 ''Halina Express'', Great Britain *1977 ''Schwarzer Husar'', Great Britain *1980 ''Anorak Express'', Norway *1980 ''Ardent Ground'', Great Britain *1981 ''Amber Express'', Denmark *1981 ''Ardent Ground'', Portugal *1982 ''Ardent Ground'', Portugal *1983 ''Ardent Ground'', Belgium *1984 ''Ardent Ground'', Great Britain *1985 ''Archway Express'', Turkey *1986 ''Ardent Ground'', Belgium *1987 ''Ardent Ground'', Great Britain. Members of the Allied Command Europe Mobile Force from Belgium, the Netherlands, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom and the United States participated in the live artillery/air exercise ARDENT GROUND '87 at

Salisbury Plain Salisbury Plain is a chalk plateau in the south western part of central southern England covering . It is part of a system of chalk downlands throughout eastern and southern England formed by the rocks of the Chalk Group and largely lies w ...

Training Area in Wiltshire. *1987 ''Accord Express'', Denmark *1987 ''Aurora Express'', Turkey *1988 ''Arrowhead Express'', Norway *1988 ''Alley Express'', Turkey *1989 ''Ardent Ground'', Italy *1989 ''Armanda Exchange'', Pavia di Udine and Paularo, Italy *1989 ''Action Express'', Denmark *1990 ''Array Encounter 90'', Norway *1991 ''Alley Express'', Denmark *1992 ''Ardent Ground'', Otterburn, Northumberland, Great Britain *1992 ''Alley Express'', Turkey *1993 ''Arena Exchange'', Umbria, Italy *1993 ''Action Express'', Denmark *1993 ''Ardent Ground'', Belgium *1994 ''Arctic Express'', Bardudoss, Norway *1994 ''Ardent Ground'', Baumholder, Germany *1994 ''Arrow Exchange'', Gaziantep, Turkey *1995 ''Strong Resolve'', Trondheim, Norway *1995 ''Arctic Express'', Norway *1996 ''Cooperative Adventure Express'', Belgium *1997 ''Adventure Express'', Norway *1997 ''Ardent Ground'', Turkey *1998 Cooperative Adventure Exchange, Slovenia *1998 ''Strong Resolve'', Norway *1998 ''Strong Resolve'', Portugal *1999 Adventure Exchange, Italy *2000 ''Joint Winter'', Norway *2000 Ardent Ground, Hungary *2000 Adventure Exchange, Greece *2001 ''Adventure Exchange'', Turkey *2002 ''Cooperative Adventure Exchange'', Ukraine

References

*NATO Handbook, 50th Anniversary Edition, 1998–99, p. 253, 255
NATO website describing AFOR

ACE Mobile Force (Land)

Exercises

References

Further reading