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

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

quick reaction force, headquartered at

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

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Casteau Casteau () originated as a village in the Hainaut Province, Hainaut province of Wallonia, in the French language, French speaking south of Belgium. Casteau has become a district of the municipality of Soignies, centred around Soignies (town), and ...

, Belgium. The land component of the force, consisting of a

brigade A brigade is a major tactical military unit, 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 ...

-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, 1975–1991 and Turley Barracks, Mannheim, 1991–1995.

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 (, ''Federal Defence'') are the armed forces of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. The is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part consists of the four armed forces: Germ ...

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 , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

, 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

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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 in 2002 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 forceincluded 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

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

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*1962 ''Southern Express'', Greece *1963

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, 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 () is the third-largest List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Nordland Counties of Norway, county, Norway, by population. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Narvik (town), town of Narvik. Some of the notable villag ...

, Norway *1971 ''Hellenic Express'', Greece *1972 ''Canadian Club'', Germany *1973 ''Absalom Express'' Denmark *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 Avalanche Express, Norway *1984 ''Ardent Ground'', Great Britain * *1985 ''Archway Encounter,''Turkey *1985 Albatross Exchange, Denmark *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 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'', Puglia, 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