Supreme Allied Commander Europe

The **Supreme Allied Commander Europe** (**SACEUR**) is the commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) Allied Command Operations (ACO) and head of ACO's headquarters, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE). The commander is based at SHAPE in Casteau, Belgium.

The current SACEUR is General Christopher G. Cavoli of the United States Army.

## List of holders

Since 2003 the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) has also served as the head of Allied Command Europe and the head of Allied Command Operations.

The officeholders have been:

## Deputy

The position of Deputy Supreme Allied Command Europe (DSACEUR) has been known as Deputy Head of Allied Command Operations since 2003. From January 1978 until June 1993 there were two DSACEURs, one British and one German. From July 1993 this reverted to a single DSACEUR.  With a small number of exceptions who were German military officers, DSACEUR is normally a British military officer. The officeholders have been as follows:

**Single DSACEUR** (April 1951 - January 1978)

|No.|Portrait|Deputy Supreme Allied Commander|Start of term|End of term|Branch|Unit of Commission|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1.||Field Marshal **The Viscount Montgomery of Alamein**,|2 April 1951|23 September 1958||Royal Warwickshire Regiment|
|2.||General **Sir Richard Gale**,|23 September 1958|22 September 1960||Worcestershire Regiment|
|3.||General **Sir Hugh Stockwell**,|22 September 1960|1 January 1964||Royal Welch Fusiliers|
|4.||Marshal of the Royal Air Force **Sir Thomas Pike**,|1 January 1964|1 March 1967||N/A|
|5.||General **Sir Robert Bray**,|1 March 1967|1 December 1970||Duke of Wellington's (West Riding) Regiment|
|6.||General **Sir Desmond Fitzpatrick**,|1 December 1970|12 November 1973||1st The Royal Dragoons|
|7.||General **Sir John Mogg**,|12 November 1973|12 March 1976||Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry|
|8.||General **Sir Harry Tuzo**,|12 March 1976|3 January 1978 <small>_(As solo DSACEUR)_</small>||Royal Artillery|
**Two DSACEURs** (January 1978 until June 1993)
|colspan="6"|British|||colspan="6"|German|||||||||||||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|8.||General **Sir Harry Tuzo**,|3 January 1978 - 2 November 1978 <small>_(As Co-DSACEUR)_</small>||Royal Artillery|3 January 1978|2 November 1978|rowspan="2"|9.|rowspan="2"||rowspan="2"|General **Gerd Schmückle**|rowspan="2"|3 January 1978 - 1 April 1980|rowspan="2"||rowspan="2"|-|
|rowspan="2"|10.|rowspan="2"||rowspan="2"|General **Sir Jack Harman**,|rowspan="2"|2 November 1978 - 9 April 1981|rowspan="2"||rowspan="2"|2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen's Bays)|2 November 1978|1 April 1980|||||||
|1 April 1980|9 April 1981|rowspan="2"|11.|rowspan="2"||rowspan="2"|Admiral **Günter Luther**|rowspan="2"|1 April 1980 - 1 April 1982|rowspan="2"||rowspan="2"|Naval aviation|||||||
|rowspan="3"|12.|rowspan="3"||rowspan="3"|Air Chief Marshal **Sir Peter Terry**,|rowspan="3"|9 April 1981 - 16 July 1984|rowspan="3"||rowspan="3"|Royal Air Force Regiment (anti-aircraft artillery)|9 April 1981|1 April 1982|||||||
|1 April 1982|2 April 1984|13.||General **Günter Kießling**|1 April 1982|||||||||||||||
|2 April 1984|16 July 1984|rowspan="3"|14.|rowspan="3"||rowspan="3"|General **Hans-Joachim Mack**|rowspan="3"|2 April 1984 - 1 October 1987|rowspan="3"||rowspan="3"||||||||
|15.||General **Sir Edward Burgess**,|16 July 1984||Royal Artillery|16 July 1984|26 June 1987|||||||||||||
|rowspan="2"|16.|rowspan="2"||rowspan="2"|General **Sir John Akehurst**,|rowspan="2"|26 June 1987 - 17 January 1990|rowspan="2"||rowspan="2"|Northamptonshire Regiment|26 June 1987|1 October 1987|||||||
|1 October 1987|17 January 1990|rowspan="2"|17.|rowspan="2"||rowspan="2"|General **Eberhard Eimler**|rowspan="2"|1 October 1987 - 2 October 1990|rowspan="2"||rowspan="2"|N/A|||||||
|rowspan="2"|18.|rowspan="2"||rowspan="2"|General **Sir Brian Kenny**,|rowspan="2"|17 January 1990 - 5 April 1993|rowspan="2"||rowspan="2"|4th Queen's Own Hussars|17 January 1990|2 October 1990|||||||
|2 October 1990|5 April 1993|rowspan="2"|19.|rowspan="2"||rowspan="2"|General **Dieter Clauss**|rowspan="2"|2 October 1990 - 1 July 1993|rowspan="2"||rowspan="2"|-|||||||
|20.||General **Sir John Waters**,|5 April 1993 - 1 July 1993 <small>_(As Co-DSACEUR)_</small>||Gloucestershire Regiment|5 April 1993|1 July 1993|||||||||||||
**Single DSACEUR** (July 1993 – present)
|No.|Portrait|Deputy Supreme Allied Commander|Start of term|End of term|Branch|Unit of Commission|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|20.||General **Sir John Waters**,|1 July 1993 <small>_(As solo DSACEUR)_</small>|12 December 1994||Gloucestershire Regiment|
|21.||General **Sir Jeremy Mackenzie**,|12 December 1994|30 November 1998||Queen's Own Highlanders|
|22.||General **Sir Rupert Smith**,|30 November 1998|17 September 2001||Parachute Regiment|
|23.||General **Dieter Stöckmann**|17 September 2001|18 September 2002||Panzergrenadier|
|24.||Admiral **Rainer Feist**|18 September 2002|1 October 2004||N/A|
|25.||General **Sir John Reith**,|1 October 2004|22 October 2007||Parachute Regiment|
|26.||General **Sir John McColl**,|22 October 2007|March 2011||Royal Anglian Regiment|
|27.||General **Sir Richard Shirreff**,|March 2011|March 2014||14th/20th King's Hussars|
|28.||General **Sir Adrian Bradshaw**,|March 2014|March 2017||14th/20th King's Hussars|
|29.||General **Sir James Everard**,|March 2017|April 2020||17th/21st Lancers|
|30.||General **Sir Tim Radford**,|April 2020|July 2023||The Light Infantry|
|31.||Admiral **Sir Keith Blount**,|July 2023|Incumbent||Fleet Air Arm|

## Infobox (official post)

- **post**: Supreme Allied Commander Europe
- **flag**: Flag of the Supreme Allied Commander Europe.svg
- **flagsize**: 200px
- **flagcaption**: Standard
- **insignia**: Coat of arms of Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe.svg
- **insigniasize**: 90px
- **insigniacaption**: SHAPE coat of arms
- **image**: Gen. Christopher G. Cavoli SACEUR.jpg
- **incumbent**: General Christopher G. Cavoli
- **incumbentsince**: 4 July 2022
- **department**: North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Allied Command Operations (Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe)
- **abbreviation**: SACEUR
- **reports to**: North Atlantic Council,
through NATO Military Committee
- **residence**: Chateau Gendebien
- **seat**: Casteau, Mons, Belgium
- **nominator**: President of the United States,
with United States Senate, Senate advice and consent
- **appointer**: North Atlantic Council
- **formation**: 2 April 1951
- **first**: General of the Army (United States), General of the Army
Dwight D. Eisenhower
- **website**: [https://shape.nato.int/saceur-2 shape.nato.int]