Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe of "Général d'Armée" Alphonse Juin, French Army. "Holdfast" was a major allied air-ground exercise involving 150,000 British Army of the Rhine, Dutch, Belgian and Canadian troops of NATO's Northern Army Group in coordination with the Allied Air Forces Central Europe. They maneuvered east of the Rhine River in the British Zone under the overall command of Lt. General Sir Richard Nelson Gale, British Army. Finally, "Rosebud" involved ground maneuvers by the U.S. Seventh Army in the American Zone of Occupation of Allied-occupied Germany. The initial plans saw the defence of Western Europe from a Soviet invasion resting heavily on nuclear
Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe Europe, as well as smaller commands. 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. Shaefer's aim was to begin the first effort to streamline NATO's Cold War structure to meet the new circumstances. Personnel in the headquarters fell from 18,354 in 1990 to 12,919 in 1996. Costs fell from US $621m to $482m over the same period. From 1994-c.1999, there were three Major Subordinate Commands in ACE: Allied Forces Northwestern Europe at RAF High Wycombe, Allied Forces Central Europe at