accept." In September 1943, AGF representatives met with Devers to discuss his needs, and he asked for 250 of the new T26E1 tanks, later redesignated the M26 Pershing, to be produced and shipped as a matter of urgency. The Ordnance Department concurred, but added on 1,000 T23 series tanks, an advanced design handicapped by problems with the reliability of its electric transmission. McNair rejected the request, writing that "the M4 tank, particularly the M4A3, has been widely hailed as the best tank on the battlefield today.... Other than this particular request, which represents the British view—there has been no call from any theater for a 90mm tank gun. There appears to be no fear on the part of our forces of the German Mark VI (Tiger) tank... there can be no basis for the T26 tank other than the conception of a tank versus tank duel—which is believed unsound and unnecessary.... there is no indication that the 76mm antitank gun is inadequate against the Mark VI (Tiger) tank." North African Theater of Operations, United States Army (NATOUSA) At the Tehran Conference in November 1943, President Roosevelt named Eisenhower as the Supreme Allied Commander for Overlord. Devers hoped that he would be appointed commander of the First Army Group, but he was instead sent to the Mediterranean as Commander North African Theater of Operations, United States Army (NATOUSA), which was primarily a logistical administrative organization. American formations in the theater included Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark's Fifth Army and George Patton's Seventh Army; the Twelfth Air Force, led by Major General John K. Cannon; the Fifteenth Air Force, commanded by Major General Nathan Twining; and the NATOUSA Services of Supply, headed by Lieutenant General Thomas B. Larkin. Eaker went with Devers as Commander in Chief of the Mediterranean Allied Air Forces. Devers, who arrived at Allied Force Headquarters (AFHQ) in Algiers on 4 January 1944, was also deputy to the Supreme Allied Commander, Mediterranean Theater, British General Sir Henry Maitland Wilson. Devers and Wilson worked well together, and despite the administrative nature of his position, Devers spent most of his time at the front. Wilson often had Devers deal with difficult cases like the French and the Poles, and Devers was later decorated by the Polish government-in-exile for allowing Poles who were captured in German uniform to join the Polish II Corps in Italy. At the beginning of 1944, Allied Armies