[2] General Eisenhower arrived in Paris on January 1, 1951, and quickly set to work with a small group of planners to devise a structure for the new European command.

France's withdrawal from NATO's integrated military structure forced SHAPE and several other ACE headquarters to leave French territory.

SHAPE closed its facility at Rocquencourt near Paris on 30 March 1967, and the next day held a ceremony to mark the opening of the new headquarters at Casteau.

An integrated military structure for NATO was first established after the Korean War raised questions over the strength of Europe's defences against a Soviet attack.

The first choice for commander in Europe was American General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower, as he had successfully directed the Allied landings in Normandy and subsequent march into Germany during World War II,[6] amid many inter-Allied controversies over the proper conduct of the campaign on the Western Front.

British Field Marshal Sir Bernard L. Montgomery moved over from the predecessor Western Union Defence Organization (WUDO) to become the first Deputy SACEUR, who would serve until 1958.

Devising command arrangements in the Central Region, which contained the bulk of NATO's forces, proved to be much more complicated.

Drawing upon his World War II experience, General Eisenhower decided to retain overall control himself and did not appoint a C-in-C for the Central Region.

[7] On April 2, 1951, General Eisenhower signed the activation order for Allied Command Europe and its headquarters at SHAPE.

[9] On the same day, ACE's subordinate headquarters in Northern and Central Europe were activated, with the Southern Region following in June.

[12] The initial plans saw the defence of Western Europe from a Soviet invasion resting heavily on nuclear weapons ('Massive retaliation'), with conventional forces merely acting as a 'tripwire.

What this strategy meant for the land battle in the central region was described for publicity purposes in January 1954 by then-Supreme Allied Commander Europe General Alfred Gruenther as:[18] We have... an air-ground shield which, although still not strong enough, would force an enemy to concentrate before attack.

[19] That year Allied Command Europe carried out Operation Counter Punch, which involved AFCENT forces on the European mainland, and two other major military exercises in September 1957.

Operation Strikeback was a series of multilateral naval exercises that concentrated on NATO's eastern Atlantic/northern European flank.

Eventually SACEUR was allocated planning control of a small number of US and British ballistic missile submarines,[23] and some 7,000 tactical nuclear weapons were deployed in Europe.

Some scattered notes about his time at SHAPE are recorded by Colodny and Shachtman's book The Forty Years War.

[27] A creature of habit, Haig took the same route to SHAPE every day – a pattern of behavior that did not go unnoticed by terrorist groups.

From 1993, the staffing of ACE was reduced in line with personnel reductions already in progress since 1990 and the Schaefer Plan, drafted by retired German general Shaefer.

Despite French President Jacques Chirac exchanging letters with Bill Clinton personally over the issue in September–October 1997,[33] the United States stood firm and today an American admiral remains in charge of the Naples command.

Although the move was publicly characterized as a purely administrative move necessitated by Clark's approaching retirement and the lack of an open four-star slot for the highly respected Ralston [a reality which would have compelled him to either accept a temporary demotion to two-star rank or retire from the service], Clark's relief has been often seen as a slap at the general on the part of a Pentagon leadership that had been very much at odds with him during the Kosovo war the previous spring.

Yet after Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania joined the alliance, and especially after the 2008 Georgia-Russia war, more attention began to be paid to NATO's core Article 5 defence obligations.

SHAPE retained its traditional name with reference to Europe for legal reasons although the geographical scope of its activities was extended in 2003.

[36] Fifteen French military officers, including General Jean-Jacques Bart, work there, of a total number of 1,100 personnel.

Joint Force Command Norfolk (JFC NF) was established due to the rising Russian threat, making the Atlantic sea routes more critical.

[citation needed] Ian Fleming referenced SHAPE in his short-story 'From a View to a Kill', collected as part of For Your Eyes Only.

Within the scroll, and behind the swords, are twelve silver fronds stemming from the olive sprays and denoting the original signatories of the North Atlantic Treaty.

The shield represents the crusading nature of SHAPE's mission and its colour signifies the peaceful woods and fields of Europe.The full achievement is composed of the arms as well as member states' flags, serving as supporters.