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Defence Organisation

[edit]
Western Union Defence Organisation
Badge
Active28 September 1948[1]
Disbanded20 December 1951
CountriesBelgium
France
Luxembourg
Netherlands
United Kingdom
BranchNavy (UNIMER)
Army (UNIAIR)
Air force (UNITER)
TypeMultinational military organisation
Sizec. 100 officers and 300 other personell.[2]
Part ofWestern Union
Garrison/HQFontainebleau, France
EngagementsCold War
Commanders
CinC Comm. ChairmanFM Montgomery
CinCLandGen. Lattre
CinCAirACM Robb
FOWEVice-Adm. Jaujard

The object of the Western Union defence organization is to provide for the coordination of defence between the Five Powers in the military and supply fields and for the study of the tactical problems of the defence of Western Europe; in addition, to provide a framework on which, in the event of any emergency. 3 command organization could be built up. It can be compared with the defence organization in the United Kingdom.

The Treaty of Brussels contained a mutual defence clause as set forth in Article IV:

If any of the High Contracting Parties should be the object of an armed attack in Europe, the other High Contracting Parties will, in accordance with the provisions of Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, afford the Party so attacked all the military and other aid and assistance in their power.[3]

Article V set forth the obligations of Brussels Pact members to cooperate with the United Nations Security Council to maintain international peace and security, and Article VI set forth the obligations of Brussels Pact members to not enter any third-party treaties that conflicted with the Treaty of Brussels.[3]

From April 1948, the member states of the Western Union decided to create a military agency under the name of the Western Union Defence Organisation (WUDO). WUDO was formally established on September 27–28, 1948.[4][5][6]

The overall command structure was patterned after the wartime Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF), which included a joint planning staff.[4]

In December 1950, with the appointment of General Eisenhower as NATO's first Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), the members of the Treaty of Brussels decided to transfer the headquarters, personnel, and plans of the Western Union Military Organisation (WUDO) to NATO.[7] This provided the nucleus of NATO's Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), which took over responsibility for the defence of Western Europe.[5][8][9][10]

Organisational chart as of November 1948

Defence Committee

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Government direction and control is provided by the Western Union Defence Committee which, in peacetime, was composed of the national defence ministers. The Defence Committee was served by the Chiefs-of-Staff Committee and the Military Supply Board, meeting regularly in London. These bodies were analogous to [the UK's] Chiefs of Staff Committee and Joint War Production Staff, respectively.

Secretariat

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The secretariat worked for the other bodies, and had a British Secretary General.

Military Supply Board

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In parallel with this Chiefs-of—Staff organisation, the Western Union Military Supply Board advised the Defence Committee on all questions affecting military supplies and made recommendations as to how the requirements of the Five Powers for Military Supplies could be met. The Supply Board was on a high level and is composed of one representative from each country. The British representative, who is to be chairman for the first year, is also Chairman of the British Joint War Production Staff. The infrequent meetings of the Board were served by a permanent Executive Committee working in London, composed of representatives from each country.

Combined Allied Command

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The Combined Allied Command of WUDO (UNILION) was established in the French town of Fontainebleau, south of Paris. UNILION employed c. 100 officers and 300 other personell.[11]. The top-level section of UNILION was housed in Château des Fougères in the neighbouring commune of Avon[12][13].

Branch commands

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The Henry IV quarter at the Palace of Fontainebleau
(48°24′10″N 2°42′8″E / 48.40278°N 2.70222°E / 48.40278; 2.70222) housed the air, sea and land commands
of the Combined Allied Command. Prior to World War II these
offices housed the Artillery School.
Building that housed the UNIAIR command (2011). Additionally, the office of CinCLand was situated under the balcony.

Three subordinate commands, for each service, were housed in the Henri IV quarter at the French Palace of Fontainebleau:

  • Sea Command (UNIMER)
  • Air Command (UNIAIR)
  • Land Command (UNITER)

Chiefs-of-Staff Committee

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The Western Union Chiefs of Staff Committee (WUCOS), based in London, United Kingdom[14], directed the operative organisation, and consisted of the five national chiefs of staff.[15]

WUCOS advised the Defence Committee on all matters affecting the defence of Western Europe, taking account of commitments in other parts of the world. Within this broad direction its special tasks were to ensure that within Western Europe questions such as:

  • The military resources of the five countries are organized to meet the strategic requirements of the Allies.
  • The forces of the various nations are welded into an effective fighting machine.
  • The combined resources of the five nations are allotted in the best way.
  • A proper balance is maintained between the conflicting requirements of internal security and home defence on the one hand, and the European battle on the other.
  • The evaluation, preparation and distribution of the necessary resources, in particular to the Commander of the European battle, whose special task will be to make the necessary operational plans and to put them into operation.
  • The exact area of the responsibility of the command of the European battle in war is to be defined. It will be necessary to keep this constantly under review.

WUCOS included observers from the United States and Canada. This American liaison mission was initially led by Major General Lyman L. Lemnitzer, U.S. Army, and subsequently by Major General A. Franklin Kibler, USA.[16]

Commanders-in-Chief Committee

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The office of Chairman Montgomery of the C-in-C Committee was situated in Château des Fougères (48°25′17″N 2°43′58″E / 48.42139°N 2.73278°E / 48.42139; 2.73278) in Fontainebleau's neighbouring commune Avon. This château was demolished in February 1998.[17]
Montgomery's private residence was Château de Courances

The Western Union Commanders-in-Chief Committee, responsible to the Western Union Chiefs-of-Staff Committee, was created on 5 October 1948[8][18].

The committee consisted of Western Union Commanders-in-Chief for the three military branches (Land, Naval and Air), as well as the senior officer, designated Chairman. Château de Courances served as private residence for Chairman Montgomery.[19][8][9]

Members of the Western Union Commanders-in-Chief Committee
Portrait Name Title Defence branch Nationality
Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery.[16] Chairman British Army United Kingdom
General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny Commander-in-chief, Land Forces, Western Europe (CinCLand) French Army France
Air Chief Marshal Sir James Robb Commander-in-chief, Air Forces, Western Europe (CinCAir) Royal Air Force United Kingdom
Vice-Admiral Robert Jaujard Flag Officer, Western Europe (FOWE)[20][4][19] French Navy France

Much ill-feeling was caused in the headquarters from disagreements between Chairman Montgomery and de CinCLand Lattre.[21][22]

As WUDO's capacities were transferred to NATO's SHAPE, Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery resigned as Commanders-in-Chief Committee Chairman on 31 March 1951 and took the position of deputy SACEUR Supreme Allied Commander Europe on 1 April 1951.

Their immediate task was to study the tactical problems of the defence of Western Europe, i.e. make plans to meet a Russian armed threat in Western Europe. They did not assume executive command of any forces in peacetime, although they were in close contact with Military Governors of the occupation zones, and it is hoped that it may be possible, to a limited extent, to adjust peacetime dispositions to meet the needs of defence.

The committee formed a nucleus command organization which, in war, would be capable of commanding all land forces and supporting air forces to meet a Russian armed threat.

Exercises

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The Western Union undertook the following training exercises (incomplete list):

  • Exercise Cupola (Air; 1950)[25]
  • Operation Bulldog (Air, 1949)[26]

Planned clandestine operations

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  • Operation Gladio, a clandestine "stay-behind" operation preparing for, and implementing, armed resistance in the event of a Warsaw Pact invasion and conquest.
  1. ^ "Multinational Commands". Air of Authority - A History of RAF Organisation. RAFWeb.org. 6 November 2007. Retrieved 2010-11-27.
  2. ^ https://books.google.no/books?id=IE4EAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover&hl=no#v=onepage&q&f=true
  3. ^ a b "Treaty of Brussels". European Navigator. 17 March 1948. Retrieved 2010-11-27.
  4. ^ a b c Maloney, Sean M. (1995). Secure Command of the Sea: NATO Command Organization and Planning for the Cold War at Sea, 1945-1954. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. pp. 66–67. ISBN 1-55750-562-4.
  5. ^ a b Duke, Simon (2000). The elusive quest for European security: from EDC to CFSP. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 13–14. ISBN 978-0-312-22402-8. Retrieved 2010-11-27.
  6. ^ Cichock, Mark A. (1977). "Chronology of Major European Events, 1815-1985". University of Texas at Arlington. Retrieved 2010-11-27. Compiled by Dr. James A. Kuhlman, University of South Carolina, 1977; edited by Dr. Mark A. Cichock, University of Texas at Arlington.
  7. ^ Hansard extract February 18, 1957
  8. ^ a b c "Did you know that Europe already had a defensive military alliance prior to NATO?". Allied Command Operations (ACO). NATO. 2010. Retrieved 2010-08-08.
  9. ^ a b Kaplan, Lawrence S. NATO 1948: the birth of the transatlantic Alliance. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. pp. 139–165. ISBN 0-7425-3917-2. Retrieved 2010-08-08.
  10. ^ "Brussels Treaty Organisation (Resolution)". Hansard. 565. London: House of Commons of the United Kingdom. 18 February 1957. cc19-20W. Retrieved 2010-11-27.
  11. ^ https://books.google.no/books?id=IE4EAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover&hl=no#v=onepage&q&f=true
  12. ^ http://www.avon77.com/IMG/pdf/sauvons_bellefontaine.pdf
  13. ^ http://www.avon77.com/IMG/pdf/Elan47.pdf
  14. ^ https://books.google.no/books?id=zxF4BgAAQBAJ&pg=PA392&lpg=PA392&dq=%22Flag+Officer,+Western+Europe%22&source=bl&ots=nYmzbedKXL&sig=Gvr1HacLWumfvQUxe-jwrwBEJWo&hl=no&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj3w8e5q9jcAhXhKJoKHVRdBfMQ6AEwAXoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=%22Flag%20Officer%2C%20Western%20Europe%22&f=false
  15. ^ Sean Maloney, 'To Secure Command of the Sea,' the University of New Brunswick thesis 1991, p.95-97 and Lord Ismay, NATO: The First Five Years
  16. ^ a b Barlow, Jeffrey G. (2009). From Hot War to Cold: the U.S. Navy and National Security Affairs, 1945–1955. Palo Alto, California: Stanford University Press. p. 209. ISBN 9780804756662. Retrieved 2010-08-20.
  17. ^ http://www.avon77.com/IMG/pdf/Elan47.pdf
  18. ^ *Mead, Richard (2007). Churchill's Lions: A biographical guide to the key British generals of World War II. Stroud (UK): Spellmount. p. 309. ISBN 978-1-86227-431-0.
  19. ^ a b Lord Ismay (December 6, 2001). "Origins of the North Atlantic Treaty: The Brussels Treaty". NATO: The First Five Years. NATO. Retrieved 2010-08-09.
  20. ^ NATO Archives, The First Five Years and The Western Union and its defence organisation, RUSI Journal, 1993 (reprint from 1948-9)
  21. ^ Volume 3 of Nigel Hamilton's Life of Montgomery of Alamein gives a good account of these disagreements.
  22. ^ https://www.britishpathe.com/video/western-union-defence-chiefs-deny-split-aka-disuni/query/%22Western+Union%22
  23. ^ a b c d e "WESTERN UNION: Exercise Verity". TIME. 1 July 1949. Retrieved 2010-08-06. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  24. ^ Heathcote, Thomas Anthony (2002). The British Admirals of the Fleet 1734 - 1995, A Biographical Dictionary. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Ltd. p. 162. ISBN 0-85052-835-6. Retrieved 2010-08-08.
  25. ^ https://www.britishpathe.com/video/exercise-cupola-western-union-air-exercises/query/%22Western+Union%22
  26. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8yA2UqJ7Y4


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