On this day, 83 years ago, June 25, 1942 (May 12, 1942, lunar calendar), Eisenhower became the U.S. commander of the European Theater. Eisenhower On June 25, 1942, U.S. general Eisenhower took office as commander of the U.S. military in the European Theater. The theater command is based in London. The establishment of this new command structure, with Eisenhower as commander, meant that the United States had decided to open up a second battlefield. Although the Allies suffered setbacks in Libya and Egypt at the time, Eisenhower claimed that the establishment of the command was an "inevitable product" of the development of cooperative relations between the United States and Britain.