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ETO
European
Theater of Operations Common
clues: WWII arena; DDE's command; Ike's WWII domain; DDE
bailiwick; WWII theater; 1944 initials; '40s arena; Ike's domain;
Zone for DDE Crossword
puzzle frequency:
4 times a year Video: WW2
– Eisenhower and Churchill: The Partnership That Saved the
World
Every
gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired,
signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and
are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. ~ Dwight
D. Eisenhower
The
European Theater of Operations, or ETO, was the term used by the
United States in World War II to refer to all US military
activity in Europe which fell under the administrative command of
"European Theater of Operations, United States Army"
(ETOUSA).
From February 1944 the operational command was the Supreme
Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) which as an
Allied command also had operational control of British and all
other allied land forces and tactical air forces in the European
theatre.
The
term European Theater of Operations should not be confused with
the European Theatre of World War II which is often defined to
include the years before the US entered the war, the Italian
campaign, the European Strategic Bombing Campaign, the European
Eastern Front, all of the European Western Front in 1944 and
1945, as well and other actions which did not involve the use of
American forces.
Because
Dwight Eisenhower held positions in the ETO and the North African
Theater of Operations (NATO) here is a brief explanation of that
theatre. Operation Torch, the landings in North Africa, were
referred to as occurring in the North
African Theater of Operations
and then later (December 10, 1944), when the theater was
redefined to include Italy, as the Mediterranean Theater of
Operations or MTO. US forces in that theatre were initially under
the administrative command of NATOUSA which was redesignated
MTOUSA. They were under the operational command of Allied
(Expeditionary)
Forces Headquarters AFHQ.
Albert
Coady Wedemeyer was chief author of the Victory Program,
published 3 months before the U.S. entered the war in 1941, and
it advocated the defeat of the German armies on the European
continent.
When the U.S. entered the war, after the Japanese bombed Pearl
Harbor on December 7, 1941, and the U.S. declared war on both
Germany and Japan, a modified version of his plan was adopted by
President Franklin Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston
Churchill. Under the German first policy, the plan was expanded
to include the blue print for the Normandy landings.
A
scene from a beachhead landing.
Until
SHEAF was operational ETOUSA liaised closely with the British in
the planning and organizing of Operation Overlord.
Normandy
Campaign June 6, 1944 - July 24, 1944
Northern
France Campaign July 25, 1944 - September 14, 1944
Southern
France Campaign
Rhineland
Campaign
Ardennes-Alsace
Campaign December 16, 1944 - January 25, 1945 ("Battle of
the Bulge")
Central
Europe Campaign March 22, 1945 - May 11, 1945
This
article is licensed under the GNU
Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the Wikipedia
article "European Theater of Operations".
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