SHAPE (Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe)

The "Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force" was set up at the very end of 1943 as the headquarters of Operation Overlord, which led to the Normandy landings and the liberation of Western Europe in 1944. General Dwight Eisenhower was appointed to head it. This command body was made up exclusively of American and British general officers, the best known of whom were: Air Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder, General Bernard L. Montgomery and General Omar N. Bradley, Air Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory and Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay.

In April 1951, Eisenhower became the first Commander-in-Chief of NATO forces, heading SHAPE, which was established near Versailles before moving to Maisières, near Mons, in 1967, when General De Gaulle decided to withdraw France from NATO.