Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe was withdrawing from the NATO military structure. SHAPE and all the other NATO installations, including NATO Headquarters and Allied Forces Central Europe (AFCENT), were informed that they must leave French territory by April 1967. Belgium became the host nation for both NATO's political headquarters and SHAPE. General Lyman Lemnitzer, SACEUR at the time, had hoped that SHAPE could be located near to NATO Headquarters, as had been the case in Paris, but the Belgian authorities decided that SHAPE should be located at least 50 kilometres from Brussels, NATO's new location, because SHAPE was a major wartime military target. The Belgian
Gustave Fourreau - Major) on July 1, 1959. He was assigned to the 13th Demi-Brigade of the Foreign Legion 13 DBLE on four different occasional tours. The first assignment was at Bougie on July 22, 1960, on August 10, 1960, on November 3, 1960, then on November 17, 1961. He was then nominated to the 1st Mounted Chasseur Groupment () at Reims. He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-colonel, on October 1, 1964. In October, he was nominated to the Command of the general staff headquarters of Supreme Allied Armed Forces () in Europe, the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe SHAPE.