Page 104 Western Europe against land attack, the greater part of his forces will be land forces. But he will also have under his command considerable air forces and some naval forces. Another geographical area will be the North Atlantic Ocean. It so happens that this area consists almost entirely of water and it therefore seems improbable that the Supreme Commander will have much in the way of land forces under his control. In fact the vast bulk of his forces must obviously be naval forces. But there will in addition be important air forces placed at his disposal. For example, we might well place under his command that part of R.A.F. Coastal Command which will be allocated to the defence of shipping in the Atlantic.
7. The North Atlantic Ocean area will be divided into various sub-areas, of which much the most important will be the West Atlantic and the East Atlantic. The forces allocated to the former will be under the operational control of an American Commander-in-Chief; those in the East under a British Commander- in-Chief. Coastal waters on both sides of the Atlantic will be entirely outside the Supreme Commander's control.
8. Criticisms of the appointment of an American officer as Supreme Commander Atlantic have often taken the extreme form of a statement that the British Home Fleet will be under the command of an American Admiral. Strictly speaking we can place as few or as many of our naval forces at the disposal of N.A.T.Ŏ. as we choose. It is for us to decide what contribution we are to make. Nevertheless, too much should not be made of this point since it is, in fact, our present intention to contribute the greater part of the Home Fleet. The important point is that by doing so we shall not be completely abdicating control over our own forces.
9. The precise form of his command organisation will be largely a matter for the Supreme Commander himself. It is, however, certain that he will have a Deputy Supreme Commander who will be a British Naval Officer. It can also be taken as certain that this country will be strongly represented on the Supreme Commander's staff; and it is important to remember that the Supreme Commander and all his staff will be integrated, international, N.A.T.O. officers owing no direct allegiance to the countries from which they happen to come.
10. There will, however, be attached to the Supreme Commander's head- quarters a British Liaison Officer (probably a British Admiral) whose function it will be to represent the British view to the Supreme Commander and vice versa.
11. It is also important to note that the Supreme Commander will not in operational matters be a law unto himself. He will be acting in accordance with directives issued to him by the Standing Group. The Standing Group is a body situated in Washington and consisting of representatives of the United States, United Kingdom and France. The British representative at the moment is Lord Tedder. These three represent the views of their respective Chiefs of Staff and are in fact extensions in Washington of those Chiefs of Staff. In peace-time they are responsible for planning, and in war-time they would be responsible for the higher strategic direction of the war. These responsibilities have been delegated to them by the Military Committee of N.A.T.O., which consists of the Chiefs of Staff of the twelve N.A.T.O. nations. Lord Tedder, of course, although an R.A.F. officer, represents in his capacity as a member of the Standing Group all three of the British Chiefs of Staff. Technically, indeed, it is the Chiefs of Staff themselves who are the members of the Standing Group. It is obvious that they cannot normally exercise this function when they are 3,000 miles away, but they could do so at any time if they wished and upon occasion have done so.
12. It is to be remembered, too, that Lord Tedder has available as advisers a senior officer of each of the Services in the Heads of the Joint Services Mission; the Head of the Naval Mission is a full Admiral.
13. There are thus several safeguards against the possibility that the Supreme Commander will arbitrarily dispose of British forces in a manner contrary to our wishes or interests:
(a) We can make our views known through the British Liaison officer at his
headquarters.
Page The Supreme Commander will take his orders from the Standing Group.
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