A.C.E. MOBILE FORCES / BRITISH FORCES 1 POSTAL SERVICE handstamp.

[Chris Weddell]

Hello All,

            I have been going though some items from the AK collection and found this. The handstamp is dated for the 20th of July 1981. Does anyone know anything about A.C.E. Mobil Forces this postal service or if the Royal Marines had anything to do with it as the postcard appears to be Norway.

                                                      Cheers

                                                        Chris

[Michael Dobbs]

Chris

Both the ACE Mobile Force and the Royal Marines held exercises in Norway, but they were completely separate, unless a RM Commando formed the British contingent to the AMF during a particular year.  AMF exercises usually had exercise names of two words, one beginning A the second word being Express (e.g. Ex Arctic Express).  British Army/RM exercises were usually called Hardfall or Clockwork (and sometimes with North or South added).  The following is a summary of the ACE Mobile Force taken from my NATO notes:

1. The Allied Command Europe (ACE) Mobile Force (AMF) can trace its origins back to 2 March 1960 when SACEUR announced that it had been proposed to establish a multinational Allied task force to be equipped with both conventional and nuclear weapons.  The proposed force would initially consist of some 2,500 - 3,000 personnel under a single commander, who SACEUR hoped would not be an American.  On 20 June 1961 in London SACEUR announced that a multinational "fire brigade" force was "in being" and comprised five reinforced infantry battalions, each of a different nationality.  The new multi-national force was initially called the Mobile Land Force (MLF) and was to be equipped with conventional weapons.

2. In 1963 the mobile force was redesignated Allied Command Europe Mobile Force (AMF) and comprised two components:

• ACE Mobile Force (Land) (AMF(L))
• ACE Mobile Force (Air) (AMF(A))

3. AMF(L) had a permanent headquarters - originally located Hammonds Barracks, Seckenheim, Germany but in December 1980 HQ AMF(L) moved into Building 7 at Campbell Barracks, Heidelberg.

4. The AMF(L) was intended as a multinational force that could be quickly despatched to any part of ACE - from north Norway, to Germany, to eastern Turkey - to demonstrate the solidarity of the Alliance and its ability to resist all forms of aggression against any member state.  During the Cold War the AMF(L) carried out frequent exercises in north Norway and Turkey as well as in other NATO countries.

5 On 19 July 2002 NATO approved the disbandment of AMF(L).  The decision came about because of the progress made on the implementation of the new NATO force structure concept of rapidly deployable multinational graduated readiness forces.  A dissolution ceremony was held at Headquarters AMF(L) in Heidelberg on 30 October 2002.

The datestamp on your card was a special rubber datestamp introduced for the FPO which served the ACE Mobile Force on exercise - depending on the diameter it is either a Type AC.2 (35mm) or Type AC.3 (38/39mm).  These type numbers have been set-up by me as I am trying to compile a standardised listing of datestamp types used by the British Forces Postal Service from 1945 to the present day (based on datestamp types intoroduced by the late John Daynes in 1972 (Newsletter 116)).

[Chris Weddell]

Thank you Mike. Is this card useful to you if it is you can have it as it does not have an RM connection then it does not fit with me.

                                                Cheers

                                                  Chris

[Michael Dobbs]

Chris

The only exercise that took place in Norway at that time which fits with the use of the ACE Mobile Force datestamp is:

Mjølfjell Camp, Voss, Norway
1/6/1981 - 1/9/1981 Ex Northern Quest 81
Inserted POGaz 27/5/1981 air parcel rate £4.30
Inserted POGaz 3/6/1981 acceptance of telegrams
Independent Field Troop RE AMF(L)

There appears to be no Royal Marine involvement - so, yes, if you do not want the postcard, I'll gladly take it!

Many thanks, Mike  ;)