Allied Land Forces South East Asia
The British 11th Army Group was the main British Army force in Southeast Asia. It was activated in November 1943 upon the formation of South East Asia Command. Its commander was General George Giffard, who had formally been Commander-in-Chief West Africa Command and Commander, Indian Eastern Army. Its main subordinate formations were Fourteenth Army and the Ceylon Army. Its headquarters was situated in New Dehli, eventually moving to Ceylon. It would have been logical for 11th Army Group to have the Northern Combat Area Command under its control as well, so that the whole front in Burma would have been under a single commander, but Stilwell the NCAC operational commander, (who was also Deputy Supreme Commander South East Asia and therefor Giffard's superior,) refused to serve under Giffard's command.
Allied Land Forces South East Asia
11th Army Group remained a in existence until 12 November 1944. It was redesignated Allied Land Forces South East Asia, still under SEAC. Lieutenant General Sir Oliver Leese succeeded Giffard in command. 11th Army Group was redesignated because it was felt that an inter-Allied command was better than the purely British headquarters that 11th Army Group was. Command problems with General Joseph Stilwell and his interactions with the Joint Chiefs of Staff had precipitated the change. It was made just after Stilwell was recalled to the U.S. and Lieutenant General Daniel Sultan became commander of the U.S. Forces, India-Burma Theater (USFIBT) and commander of NCAC.
This article is a stub. You can help BambooWeb by .
