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Germany Summary subpages: Anglo-American Alliance European Maps
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Anglo-American Alliance ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
prior WWII Germany section: none next WWII Germany section: Battle of Atlantic
Germany Summary subpages: Anglo-American Alliance European Maps
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Anglo-American Alliance ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
bigpigeon.us webpage WWII Germany > Germany Summary > Anglo-American Alliance, © 2025 by Robert A. Christiansen, updated by RAC 31 Jul 2025
================================ The Anglo-American Alliance ================================
The political leaders:
With the entry of the United States into WWII in December 1941, the United States - Great Britain political and military partnership soon intensified.
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– High-Level Anglo-American Organization ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Key US Generals:
Key Events and Resulting Organizations:
The Mediterranean Theater and European Theater were terms not necessarily widely used by the British. For instance, the British tended to use Northwest Europe instead of the European Theater.
The political leaders:
- Winston Churchill, British prime minister from 1940–1945, had long warned of the goals of the Hitler-led German Third Reich, which followed Adolf Hitler's fervent nationalistic and racist version of the fascist ideology.
- Franklin Roosevelt, United States president from 1933–1945, supported British efforts during the early 1939-1941 phase of World War II to the extent possible considering the political realities of the United States at the time.
With the entry of the United States into WWII in December 1941, the United States - Great Britain political and military partnership soon intensified.
- Early in 1942, the two first US Army combat divisions, the 1st Armored and 34th Infantry, were sent to Northern Ireland, and then to North Africa in November 1942.
- The US Army Air Force bombed continental Europe from numerous air bases in southern England.
- England was used as a massive ETO staging area for men and material up to the end of WWII.
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– High-Level Anglo-American Organization ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Key US Generals:
- General Dwight Eisenhower, headed ETOUSA, then AFHQ/NATO in Africa, then jointly ETOUSA and SHAEF
- General Jacob Devers,
- General James Chaney,
- General George Marshall, US Army Chief of Staff
- General Frank Maxwell, killed in a plane crash in Iceland 3 May 1943.
- General Joseph McNarney,
- General Walter Bedell Smith, Eisenhower's chief of staff from September 1942 through the end of WWII.
- General Harold Alexander,
- General Kenneth Anderson,
- Field Marshall Alan Brooke, British Army Chief of Staff
- Field Marshall John Dill, headed the British military mission to the US, died November 1944, replaced by Henry Maitland Wilson.
- General Bernard Montgomery,
- General Frederick Morgan,
- General Henry Maitland Wilson,
Key Events and Resulting Organizations:
- December 1941 - The surprise Japanese attacks in the Pacific and the subsequent German declaration of war bring the United States into World War II as an active participant.
- Response: CSS, Combined Chiefs of Staff - consisting of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff and corresponding British members; set up early in 1942 with supporting personnel in Washington and first decisions about the Anglo-American conduct of the war are reached.
- early 1942 - US Army and US Army Air Force units begin arriving in the British Isles, thus requiring an administrative structure for support in areas such as facilities, logistics and training.
- Response: HQ, ETOUSA, European Theater of Operations, United States of America - created 8 Jun 1942 with heads Cheney --> Eisenhower (June 1942); --> Maxwell (early 1943) --> Devers (May 1943) --> Eisenhower again (January 1944),
- late 1942 - first joint US-British offensive, Operation Torch, the invasion of northwest Africa in the western Mediterranean thus requiring an administrative structure for invasion planning and subsequent operations.
- Response: AFHQ, Allied Forces Headquarters - created 12 Sep 1942 with heads Eisenhower --> Wilson (8 January 1944) --> Alexander (4 November 1944). Allied Northwest Africa ground combat forces were initially under the British First Army (Anderson).
- February 1943 - British 8th Army approaches Tunisia, having advanced from Egypt in the eastern Mediterranean in pursuit of retreating Axis forces, thus requiring a reorganization of the western Mediterranean area.
- Response: Febrary 1944: the western Mediterranean area is removed from the European Theater of Operations and NATO, North African Theater of Operations with heads Eisenhower --> Devers (8 Jan 1944 --> McNarney (October 1944); eventually redesignated MTO, Mediterranean Theater of Operations.
- Response: 19 Feb 1943 - the British 18th Army Group (Alexander) is established in Tunisia incorporating the British First and Eighth Armies.
- Summer 1944 - cross-channel invasion of France, thus requiring complex planning and a massive command and control system.
- Response: COSSAC, Chief of Staff, Supreme Allied Commander, joint British-American group charged with planning the cross-channel invasion of Europe, created March 1943 with head Frederick Morgan.
- Response: SHAEF, Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force - evolved from COSSAC in late 1943; Eisenhower appointed supreme commander in January 1944 with Bedell Smith Chief of Staff and Morgan Deputy Chief of Staff.
The Mediterranean Theater and European Theater were terms not necessarily widely used by the British. For instance, the British tended to use Northwest Europe instead of the European Theater.