The British occupation zone in Germany (German: ''Britische Besatzungszone Deutschlands'') was one of the
Allied-occupied areas in Germany after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
. The United Kingdom along with her
Commonwealth
A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...
were one of the three major
Allied powers who defeated
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
. In 1945 the allies had divided the country into four occupation zones: British,
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
,
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
and
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
lasting until 1949 from whence the new country of
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 ...
was established. Out of all zones, the British had the largest population and contained within the heavy industry region, the
Ruhr
The Ruhr ( ; german: Ruhrgebiet , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr area, sometimes Ruhr district, Ruhr region, or Ruhr valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 2,800/km ...
, as well as the naval ports and Germany's North West coast line.
Background
By the end of 1942, Britain was already thinking about post war strategy, and in particular the occupation of Germany. This became more of a reality when the
British Liberation Army
The British Liberation Army (BLA) was the official name given to the British Army forces which fought on the Western Front of the Second World War, between the Invasion of Normandy and the end of the war. Almost all BLA units were assigned to the ...
consisting largely of the
21st Army Group
The 21st Army Group was a British headquarters formation formed during the Second World War. It controlled two field armies and other supporting units, consisting primarily of the British Second Army and the First Canadian Army. Established in ...
had
landed in Normandy on 6 June 1944. Having fought all the way into Northern France and the Low Countries they had reached the German borders by the end of the year.
Meanwhile, the 'Big Three' -
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...
,
Franklin D. Roosevelt and
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet Union, Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as Ge ...
met at the
Yalta Conference
The Yalta Conference (codenamed Argonaut), also known as the Crimea Conference, held 4–11 February 1945, was the World War II meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union to discuss the post ...
between 4 and 11 February 1945 to discuss Germany's post-war occupation, which included coming to a final determination of the inter-zonal borders. The three powers divided "Germany as a whole" into four occupation zones for administrative purposes under the three
Western Allies
The Allies, formally referred to as the United Nations from 1942, were an international military coalition formed during the Second World War (1939–1945) to oppose the Axis powers, led by Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, and Fascist Italy ...
the United States, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union, respectively. This division was ratified at the August 1945
Potsdam Conference
The Potsdam Conference (german: Potsdamer Konferenz) was held at Potsdam in the Soviet occupation zone from July 17 to August 2, 1945, to allow the three leading Allies to plan the postwar peace, while avoiding the mistakes of the Paris P ...
. This set aside an earlier division into three zones (excluding France) proposed by the September 1944
London Protocol. Stalin agreed that France would have a fourth occupation zone in Germany and this was formed from the American and the British zones.
In the
final offensive the
First Canadian Army
The First Canadian Army (french: 1reArmée canadienne) was a field army and a formation of the Canadian Army in World War II in which most Canadian elements serving in North-West Europe were assigned. It served on the Western Front from July 1944 ...
wheeled left and liberated the northern part of the Netherlands and captured adjoining areas of Germany, the
British Second Army
The British Second Army was a field army active during the First and Second World Wars. During the First World War the army was active on the Western Front throughout most of the war and later active in Italy. During the Second World War the army ...
swept into and occupied much of north-west Germany. The liberation of the
concentration camp
Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...
s such as
Bergen Belsen put the strategy of post war Germany into a new direction. This meant that denazification was put at the forefront of British post war policy in Germany.
On 4 May 1945, Field Marshal
Bernard Montgomery
Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, (; 17 November 1887 – 24 March 1976), nicknamed "Monty", was a senior British Army officer who served in the First World War, the Irish War of Independence an ...
accepted the
unconditional surrender of the German forces in the Netherlands, in north west Germany and Denmark. This was followed by the
German Instrument of Surrender
The German Instrument of Surrender (german: Bedingungslose Kapitulation der Wehrmacht, lit=Unconditional Capitulation of the " Wehrmacht"; russian: Акт о капитуляции Германии, Akt o kapitulyatsii Germanii, lit=Act of capi ...
three days later.
Canadian forces went home following the German surrender, leaving Northern Germany to be occupied by the British.
For the French zone the Americans ceded their part -
land
Land, also known as dry land, ground, or earth, is the solid terrestrial surface of the planet Earth that is not submerged by the ocean or other bodies of water. It makes up 29% of Earth's surface and includes the continents and various isla ...
south of
Baden-Baden
Baden-Baden () is a spa town in the state of Baden-Württemberg, south-western Germany, at the north-western border of the Black Forest mountain range on the small river Oos, ten kilometres (six miles) east of the Rhine, the border with Fra ...
, land south of the
Free People's State of Württemberg
The Free People's State of Württemberg (german: Freier Volksstaat Württemberg) was a state in Württemberg, Germany, during the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany.
1918 revolution
With the German revolution near the end of World War I, the Kin ...
(which became
Württemberg-Hohenzollern), the
Lindau
Lindau (german: Lindau (Bodensee), ''Lindau am Bodensee''; ; Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Lindou'') is a major Town#Germany, town and Lindau (island), island on the eastern side of Lake Constance (''Bodensee'' in German) in Bavaria, Ge ...
region on
Lake Constance
Lake Constance (german: Bodensee, ) refers to three bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (''Obersee''), Lower Lake Constance (''Untersee''), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Lak ...
, and four regions in
Hesse
Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are ...
east of the Rhine. The British ceded the
Saarland
The Saarland (, ; french: Sarre ) is a state of Germany in the south west of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, a ...
, the
Palatinate, and territories on the left bank of the
Rhine
), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland
, source1_coordinates=
, source1_elevation =
, source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein
, source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland
, source2_coordinates=
, source ...
to
Remagen
Remagen ( ) is a town in Germany in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, in the district of Ahrweiler. It is about a one-hour drive from Cologne, just south of Bonn, the former West German capital. It is situated on the left (western) bank of the ...
(including
Trier
Trier ( , ; lb, Tréier ), formerly known in English as Trèves ( ;) and Triers (see also names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle in Germany. It lies in a valley between low vine-covered hills of red sandstone in the ...
,
Koblenz
Koblenz (; Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz''), spelled Coblenz before 1926, is a German city on the banks of the Rhine and the Moselle, a multi-nation tributary.
Koblenz was established as a Roman military post by Drusus around 8 B.C. Its nam ...
, and
Montabaur
Montabaur () is a town and the district seat of the Westerwaldkreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. At the same time, it is also the administrative centre of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Montabaur – a kind of collective municipality – to w ...
). Also created was the
Inner German Border
The inner German border (german: Innerdeutsche Grenze or ; initially also ) was the border between the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) and the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, West Germany) from 1949 to 1990. Not including the ...
as the boundary between the Western and
Soviet occupation zone
The Soviet Occupation Zone ( or german: Ostzone, label=none, "East Zone"; , ''Sovetskaya okkupatsionnaya zona Germanii'', "Soviet Occupation Zone of Germany") was an area of Germany in Central Europe that was occupied by the Soviet Union as a ...
s.
Occupation
![Germany Under Allied Occupation 1945 BU9660](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/Germany_Under_Allied_Occupation_1945_BU9660.jpg)
At the end of July 1945, Field Marshall
Bernard Montgomery
Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, (; 17 November 1887 – 24 March 1976), nicknamed "Monty", was a senior British Army officer who served in the First World War, the Irish War of Independence an ...
was made military governor of the British occupation zone with
Brian Robertson as Chief of Staff and Montgomery's Deputy. Both were also on the
Allied Control Council
The Allied Control Council or Allied Control Authority (german: Alliierter Kontrollrat) and also referred to as the Four Powers (), was the governing body of the Allied Occupation Zones in Germany and Allied-occupied Austria after the end of ...
. The
British Army of the Rhine
There have been two formations named British Army of the Rhine (BAOR). Both were originally occupation forces in Germany, one after the First World War and the other after the Second World War. Both formations had areas of responsibility located ...
(BAOR) was formed on 25 August 1945 with the headquarters being based in
Bad Oeynhausen
Bad Oeynhausen () is a spa town on the southern edge of the Wiehengebirge in the district of Minden-Lübbecke in the East-Westphalia-Lippe region of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The closest larger towns are Bielefeld (39 kilometres southw ...
with Field Marshal Sir
Gerald Templer
Field Marshal Sir Gerald Walter Robert Templer, (11 September 1898 – 25 October 1979) was a senior British Army officer. He fought in both the world wars and took part in the crushing of the Arab Revolt in Palestine. As Chief of the Imperi ...
serving as Director of Military Government. BAOR was made responsible for the occupation and administration of the British Zone. They requisitioned German buildings for military administration and accommodation. Some 800,000 soldiers from BAOR were in Germany by the end of 1945, new barracks had to be built due to the intense damage done to German cities during the war, particularly Hamburg.
![Niedersachsen Verordnung 55 3339](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/Niedersachsen_Verordnung_55_3339.jpg)
The RAF were also part of the occupation and were renamed British Air Forces of Occupation (BAFO) on 15 July 1945. The
Malcolm Clubs were set up for RAF personnel in towns and villages across the zone. Two years later however the BAFO had shrunk to ten squadrons at three airfields, all directly under control of the Air Headquarters at
Bad Eilsen
Bad Eilsen (West Low German: ''Ahlsen'') is a municipality in the district of Schaumburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approximately southwest of Stadthagen, and southeast of Minden.
Bad Eilsen is also the seat of the '' Samtg ...
.
The Control Commission for Germany (CCG/BE) had been set up consisting of British
civil servant
The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...
s as well as military personnel. It took over aspects of local government, policing, housing and transport. The CCG/BE re-established the city of Hamburg as a
German state but with borders that had been drawn by the Nazi government in 1937.
George Ayscough Armytage and
Governor Henry V. Berry identified with the city and worked through the
indirect rule
Indirect rule was a system of governance used by the British and others to control parts of their colonial empires, particularly in Africa and Asia, which was done through pre-existing indigenous power structures. Indirect rule was used by vario ...
, asking prospective Hamburg inhabitants to resume office in the administration. The British also created the new German states of with issue of
Ordinance No. 46
Ordinance No. 46 (full title: ''Abolition of the Provinces in the British Zone of the Former State of Prussia and Reconstitution thereof as Separate Länder''), effective 23 August 1946, was an ordinance issued by the British Military Government ...
:
*
Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sc ...
– emerging in 1946 from the
Prussian
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...
Province of Schleswig-Holstein
The Province of Schleswig-Holstein (german: Provinz Schleswig-Holstein ) was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia (subsequently the Free State of Prussia after 1918) from 1868 to 1946.
History
It was created from the Duchies of Schleswig and H ...
;
*
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...
– the merger of Brunswick,
Oldenburg, and
Schaumburg-Lippe
Schaumburg-Lippe, also Lippe-Schaumburg, was created as a county in 1647, became a principality in 1807, a free state in 1918, and was until 1946 a small state in Germany, located in the present day state of Lower Saxony, with its capital at Bü ...
with the
state of Hanover
The State of Hanover (german: Land Hannover) was a short-lived state within the British Zone of Allied-occupied Germany. It existed for 92 days in the course of the dissolution of the Free State of Prussia after World War II until the foundat ...
in 1946; and
*
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inha ...
– the merger of
Lippe
Lippe () is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Herford, Minden-Lübbecke, Höxter, Paderborn, Gütersloh, and district-free Bielefeld, which forms the region Ostwestfalen-Lippe.
...
with the Prussian provinces of the
Rhineland
The Rhineland (german: Rheinland; french: Rhénanie; nl, Rijnland; ksh, Rhingland; Latinised name: ''Rhenania'') is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly its middle section.
Term
Historically, the Rhinelands ...
(northern part) and
Westphalia
Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants.
The territory of the regio ...
– during 1946–47.
In March 1946 the British zonal advisory board (Zonenbeirat) was established, with representatives of the states, the central offices, political parties, trade unions, and consumer organisations. As indicated by its name, the zonal advisory board had no legislative power, but was merely advisory. The Control Commission for Germany – British Element made all decisions with its legislative power.
In 1947, the American Zone of Occupation being inland had no port facilities – thus the
Free Hanseatic City of Bremen
Bremen (), officially the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (german: Freie Hansestadt Bremen; nds, Free Hansestadt Bremen), is the smallest and least populous of Germany's 16 states. It is informally called ("State of Bremen"), although the term ...
and
Bremerhaven
Bremerhaven (, , Low German: ''Bremerhoben'') is a city at the seaport of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, a state of the Federal Republic of Germany.
It forms a semi-enclave in the state of Lower Saxony and is located at the mouth of the Riv ...
became exclaves within the British Zone.
;Military governors:
* 22 May 1945 - 30 April 1946:
Bernard Montgomery
Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, (; 17 November 1887 – 24 March 1976), nicknamed "Monty", was a senior British Army officer who served in the First World War, the Irish War of Independence an ...
* 1 May 1946 - 31 October 1947:
William Sholto Douglas
* 1 November 1947 - 21 September 1949:
Brian Hubert Robertson
Brian Hubert Robertson, 1st Baron Robertson of Oakridge, (22 July 1896 – 29 April 1974) was a senior British Army officer during the Second World War, who played an important role in the East African, North African and Italian Campaigns. Af ...
l
Displaced persons, refugees and POWs
![Germany Under Allied Occupation CL2534](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/Germany_Under_Allied_Occupation_CL2534.jpg)
By 22 June 1945, of the 7,614,914 prisoners (of all designations) held in British and American camps, 4,209,000 were soldiers captured before the German capitulation and who were therefore considered "POWs". The rest were classed as
Disarmed Enemy Forces
Disarmed Enemy Forces (DEF, less commonly, Surrendered Enemy Forces) was a US designation for soldiers who surrendered to an adversary after hostilities ended, and for those POWs who had already surrendered and were held in camps in occupied Ger ...
by the Americans and
Surrendered Enemy Personnel
Surrendered Enemy Personnel (SEP) is a designation for captive enemy soldiers (similar to Disarmed Enemy Forces). It was most commonly used by British forces towards German forces in Europe, and towards Japanese and associated forces in Asia after ...
by the British. According to Allied agreements, these were supposed to be split between Britain and the United States. The British in their zone were in possession of just over 2,000,000 German POWs, but were unable to handle this manyfeeding, housing and looking after them became a logistical nightmare. The British had no other choice but to recant with the Americans on their split. The British reported that they did not have places to keep them or men to guard them on the continent. In addition it was thought that moving them to England would arouse public resentment and adversely affect morale.
Another problem the British faced was that they had the largest population of the four allied powers. This was exacerbated by the great number of German refugees who had come by sea fleeing the Soviets as a well as
forced expulsion from Eastern Europe. German POWs from abroad also arrived by sea in their thousands, thus making the accommodation shortage even worse and also caused a reduction in the food ration in early 1946. Over the next year, however, many refugees obtained accommodation and work as the economy recovered - the vast majority were granted German citizenship.
In addition to this the British had to deal with tens of thousands of
displaced persons
Forced displacement (also forced migration) is an involuntary or coerced movement of a person or people away from their home or home region. The UNHCR defines 'forced displacement' as follows: displaced "as a result of persecution, conflict, g ...
. Many of these were from
Eastern European
Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whi ...
nations occupied by the Soviets, and as such many refused to go back. The British initially used them as watchman and labour units, but set up the
Mixed Service Organisation
The Mixed Service Organisation (MSO) was a civilian arm of the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) which employed displaced persons as drivers, clerks, mechanics and guards. Originally formed as Watchman and labour units in the immediate aftermath of ...
, using these displaced persons as drivers, clerks, mechanics and guards. Another organisation was needed to control the flow of refugees and prevent smuggling. In 1946 the
Frontier Control Service was set up, which was a civilian frontier force administered by the British Control Commission.
Many German POWs were formed into Civilian Labour unitsthey still had the status of Surrendered Enemy Personnel but they were used where help was needed such as unloading supplies. The German Civil Labour Organisation (GCLO) was set up on 1 August 1947, after the Labour Service units were broken up. The Germans were given the choice of either joining the GCLO or being sent to a prisoner-of-war camp until they were regularly released into civilian life. By late 1947, over 50,000 Germans were employed and organized in units that were attached to parts of the British Army or the RAF as labourers, drivers, mechanics and in many other role. They had a staff of between 220 and 475 men. Although the GCLO was considered a civil organisation, its members wore a kind of uniform and were incorporated into a structure that conformed to military principles. After numerous former members of the
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...
had left the GCLO over time, new members were hired by the British and made use of its right to forcibly recruit staff if necessary. Most captives of the British were released by the end of 1948. The GCLO was transferred to the German Service Organisation (GSO) on 21 October 1950.
In January 1945, the basic German ration was 1,625 calories/day, and that was further reduced to 1,100 calories by the end of the war in the British zone. This remained at that level into the summer, with levels varying from 840 calories/day in the Ruhr to 1,340 calories/day in Hamburg.
The German population was existing on rations that would not sustain life in the long term.
In order to avert starvation in Germany, the
Lord President of the Council
The lord president of the Council is the presiding officer of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom and the fourth of the Great Officers of State, ranking below the Lord High Treasurer but above the Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal. The Lord ...
,
Herbert Morrison
Herbert Stanley Morrison, Baron Morrison of Lambeth, (3 January 1888 – 6 March 1965) was a British politician who held a variety of senior positions in the UK Cabinet as member of the Labour Party. During the inter-war period, he was Minis ...
negotiated a deal with the Americans whereby of grain was shipped to Germany in return for a cut of in shipments to Britain.
The British also had to deal with active resistance groups known as ''
Werwolf
''Werwolf'' (, German for " werewolf") was a Nazi plan which began development in 1944, to create a resistance force which would operate behind enemy lines as the Allies advanced through Germany, in parallel with the '' Wehrmacht'' fighting ...
s''. Violence however failed to mobilize a spirit of popular national resistance, largely due to war-weariness of the populace, and as a result ''Werwolf'' attacks were low and relatively few reprisals took place in the British zone.
At the end of October 1946, the British Zone had a population of:
* North Rhine-Westphalia 11.7 million
* Lower Saxony 6.2 million
* Schleswig-Holstein 2.6 million
* Hamburg 1.4 million
["I. Gebiet und Bevölkerung"](_blank)
Statistisches Bundesamt
The Federal Statistical Office (german: Statistisches Bundesamt, shortened ''Destatis'') is a federal authority of Germany. It reports to the Federal Ministry of the Interior.
The Office is responsible for collecting, processing, presenting and ...
. Wiesbaden.
Denazification
![Germany Under Allied Occupation, 1945 BU7016](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/Germany_Under_Allied_Occupation%2C_1945_BU7016.jpg)
Shortly after the German surrender, the allied armies were on the hunt for notorious German war criminals, generals and high-ranking Nazis. The British had already prepared a plan from 1942 onwards, assigning a number of civil servants to head the administration of liberated territory in the rear of the Armies with draconian powers to remove from their post, in both public and private domains, anyone suspected, usually on behavioural grounds, of harbouring Nazi sympathies.
![Irma Grese during Belsen Trial](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Irma_Grese_during_Belsen_Trial.jpg)
During the early months of occupation, the British were at the forefront of bringing to justice anyone, both soldiers and civilians, who had committed war crimes against POWs or captured Allied aircrew. One of the most infamous was
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was of the (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a main architect of th ...
he was arrested at a British checkpoint in disguise and was taken to the headquarters of the Second British Army in
Lüneburg
Lüneburg (officially the ''Hanseatic City of Lüneburg'', German: ''Hansestadt Lüneburg'', , Low German ''Lümborg'', Latin ''Luneburgum'' or ''Lunaburgum'', Old High German ''Luneburc'', Old Saxon ''Hliuni'', Polabian ''Glain''), also called ...
on 23 May 1945 for interrogation. Whilst being examined by a doctor, Himmler committed suicide with a concealed
cyanide
Cyanide is a naturally occurring, rapidly acting, toxic chemical that can exist in many different forms.
In chemistry, a cyanide () is a chemical compound that contains a functional group. This group, known as the cyano group, consists of ...
pill. The British established their own
War Crimes Investigation Teams also known as WCIT. Trials took place within the British occupation zone, the most notorious being the
Belsen trial following the liberation of
Bergen-Belsen concentration camp
Bergen-Belsen , or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, in 1943, parts of it became a concentra ...
in April 1945. Taken to trial were 45 former
SS men, women and ''
kapo
A kapo or prisoner functionary (german: Funktionshäftling) was a prisoner in a Nazi camp who was assigned by the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) guards to supervise forced labor or carry out administrative tasks.
Also called "prisoner self-administrat ...
s''. Eleven were sentenced to death and hanged, including Commandant
Josef Kramer
Josef Kramer (10 November 1906 – 13 December 1945) was Hauptsturmführer and the Commandant of Auschwitz-Birkenau (from 8 May 1944 to 25 November 1944) and of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp (from December 1944 to its liberation on 15 A ...
and
Irma Grese
Irma Ilse Ida Grese (7 October 1923 – 13 December 1945) was a Nazi concentration camp guard at Ravensbrück and Auschwitz, and served as warden of the women's section of Bergen-Belsen. She was a volunteer member of the SS.
Grese was convict ...
on 13 December 1945. There was also the
Hamburg Ravensbrück Trialsseveral in all that were held at the Curio house in the
Rotherbaum quarter of Hamburg, lasting two years. Executions relating to these trials were carried out on the
gallows
A gallows (or scaffold) is a frame or elevated beam, typically wooden, from which objects can be suspended (i.e., hung) or "weighed". Gallows were thus widely used to suspend public weighing scales for large and heavy objects such as sacks ...
at Hamelin prison by renowned hangman
Albert Pierrepoint
Albert Pierrepoint (; 30 March 1905 – 10 July 1992) was an English hangman who executed between 435 and 600 people in a 25-year career that ended in 1956. His father Henry and uncle Thomas were official hangmen before him.
Pierrepoin ...
. Between December 1948 and October 1949 he executed 226 people, often over ten over a day, and on several occasions groups of up to seventeen over two days.
Between November 1945 and October 1946, the
Nuremberg trials
The Nuremberg trials were held by the Allies of World War II, Allies against representatives of the defeated Nazi Germany, for plotting and carrying out invasions of other countries, and other crimes, in World War II.
Between 1939 and 1945 ...
also took place, this being an 'International Military Tribunal' in the American zone of occupation but with all four allied powers being involved. Judge
Geoffrey Lawrence was President of the Judicial group.
An
interrogation was set up at Bad Nenndorf by the
Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Centre
The term Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Centre (CSDIC) was used for facilities in the UK, the continent (Belgium and Germany) between 1942 and 1947, the Middle East, and South Asia. They were run by the British War Office on a joint basis ...
(CSDIC)it was notorious for its alleged mistreatment of detainees, allegedly involving torture using buckets of cold water, beatings, and burns with lit cigarettes. A public scandal ensued, with the centre eventually being closed down. Other smaller trials continued, but by 1948 these became few and far between as the political situation with the Soviet Union deteriorated. By this time also, the British government wanted the rebuilding of the German economy to take precedence over the imprisonment of Nazi criminals. By 1948 WCIT had brought around 350 cases to trial involving over 1,000 accused Nazis. Of these, 667 were imprisoned and 230 sentenced to death.
In October 1945, in order to constitute a working legal system, and given that 90% of German lawyers had been members of the Nazi Party, the British decided that 50% of the German Legal Civil Service could be staffed by "nominal" Nazis. Similar pressures caused them to relax the restriction even further in April 1946. The following year the British handed over all their denazification panels to the Germans.
Controversy came to a head when in the summer of 1947 American war crimes prosecutors presented the British government with 'overwhelming' evidence that four German officers held in British custody,
Erich von Manstein
Fritz Erich Georg Eduard von Manstein (born Fritz Erich Georg Eduard von Lewinski; 24 November 1887 – 9 June 1973) was a German Field Marshal of the ''Wehrmacht'' during the Second World War, who was subsequently convicted of war crimes and ...
,
Walther von Brauchitsch
Walther Heinrich Alfred Hermann von Brauchitsch (4 October 1881 – 18 October 1948) was a German field marshal and the Commander-in-Chief (''Oberbefehlshaber'') of the German Army during World War II. Born into an aristocratic military family, ...
,
Gerd von Rundstedt
Karl Rudolf Gerd von Rundstedt (12 December 1875 – 24 February 1953) was a German field marshal in the '' Heer'' (Army) of Nazi Germany during World War II.
Born into a Prussian family with a long military tradition, Rundstedt entered th ...
and
Adolf Strauss were complicit in war crimes. The Soviets also requested their extradition of Manstein and Runstedt early the following year. This led, in early July, to a Cabinet agreement on bringing these officers to trial, and all were transferred from
Island Farm (also known as Special Camp 11) in
Bridgend
Bridgend (; cy, Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr or just , meaning "the end of the bridge on the Ogmore") is a town in Bridgend County Borough in Wales, west of Cardiff and east of Swansea. The town is named after the medieval bridge over the River Og ...
,
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
, to ''
Munsterlager
Munster Training Area (German: ''Truppenübungsplatz Munster'') is a military training area in Germany on the Lüneburg Heath. It comprises two separate areas with different purposes: Munster North (''Munster-Nord'') (size: ) and Munster South ...
'' to await trial. Tensions had also mounted between the
War Office
The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...
and
Foreign Office
Foreign may refer to:
Government
* Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries
* Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries
** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government
** Foreign office and foreign minister
* Unit ...
over the morality and political desirability of British war crimes trials. This resulted in a decision to call a halt to all other outstanding war crimes proceedings by 1 September 1948. Brauchitsch died that October and Rundstedt and Strauss were released on medical grounds in March 1949. Manstein did have prominent British support such as author
B. H. Liddell Hart
Sir Basil Henry Liddell Hart (31 October 1895 – 29 January 1970), commonly known throughout most of his career as Captain B. H. Liddell Hart, was a British soldier, military historian and military theorist. He wrote a series of military histor ...
and Labour politician
Reginald Paget.
Manstein's trial was held in Hamburg from 23 August to 19 December 1949the last trial the British would make against Nazis during the occupation. Manstein was found guilty and sentenced to eighteen years prison, however this was reduced to twelve years on medical grounds.
Disarmament
British forces had to dispose of numerous German war material - many aircraft, tanks, ships, submarines and a huge number of ordnance had to be scrapped, blown up or sunk respectively.
![Admiral Hipper cruiser in dry dock Kiel 1945](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/Admiral_Hipper_cruiser_in_dry_dock_Kiel_1945.jpg)
The Royal Air Force disarmament wing blew up tons of ordnance and scrapped hundreds of German aircraft. In addition captured tanks, arms, vehicles were all scrapped unless they were of any use for evaluation. The British army took control of many factories - one of these was the
Maschinenfabrik Niedersachsen in Hanover with two plants at
Laatzen
Laatzen is a town in the district of Hanover, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated directly south of Hanover.
Division of the town
In 1964, the municipalities of Laatzen (nowadays about 22,000 inhabitants) and Grasdorf (3,500 inh.) were merg ...
and the other
Linden. Here, a group of tanks including incomplete
Jagdpanther
The ''Jagdpanther'' (German: "hunting Panther"), Sd.Kfz. 173, was a tank destroyer ('' Jagdpanzer'', a self-propelled anti-tank gun) built by Germany during World War II.
The ''Jagdpanther'' combined the 8.8 cm Pak 43 anti-tank gun, similar to t ...
and
Panther Tank
The Panther tank, officially ''Panzerkampfwagen V Panther'' (abbreviated PzKpfw V) with Sonderkraftfahrzeug, ordnance inventory designation: ''Sd.Kfz.'' 171, is a German medium tank of World War II. It was used on the Eastern Front (World War ...
s that were built under British supervision, namely the Royal Electrical & Mechanical Engineers. In 1946/1947 the Linden plant was dismantled, and its parts dismantled sent back to the UK, while the Laatzen plant was in use by the British until 1957.
The Royal Navy seized all the majority of the German naval fleet in the harbours - mainly in
Kiel
Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021).
Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the Jutland ...
. The
U-Boat
U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare ro ...
s were disposed of during
Operation Deadlight
Operation Deadlight was the code name for the Royal Navy operation of November 1945 – February 1946 to scuttle German U-boats surrendered to the Allies after the defeat of Germany near the end of World War II.
Operation
Of the 156 U-bo ...
- the Royal Navy towed the submarines to three areas about north-west of Ireland to sink them. A number of Germany's capital ships were seized - on 27 May 1945, the German cruiser
''Prinz Eugen'' and the light cruiser —the only major German naval vessels to survive the war in serviceable condition—were escorted by the British cruisers and to
Wilhelmshaven
Wilhelmshaven (, ''Wilhelm's Harbour''; Northern Low Saxon: ''Willemshaven'') is a coastal town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the western side of the Jade Bight, a bay of the North Sea, and has a population of 76,089. Wilhelmsh ...
. In July
German cruiser Admiral Hipper
''Admiral Hipper'' was the lead ship of the of heavy cruisers which served with Nazi Germany's '' Kriegsmarine'' during World War II. The ship was laid down at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg in July 1935 and launched February 1937; ...
which had been severely damaged by
RAF Bomber Command
RAF Bomber Command controlled the Royal Air Force's bomber forces from 1936 to 1968. Along with the United States Army Air Forces, it played the central role in the strategic bombing of Germany in World War II. From 1942 onward, the British bo ...
and then scuttled in port was raised and towed to
Heikendorfer Bay and subsequently broken up for scrap between 1948 and 1952. Other severely damaged cruisers
''Leipzig'' and
''Emden'' met the same fate - while the capsized
German cruiser Admiral Scheer was partially broken up for scrap.
The German island of
Heligoland
Heligoland (; german: Helgoland, ; Heligolandic Frisian: , , Mooring Frisian: , da, Helgoland) is a small archipelago in the North Sea. A part of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein since 1890, the islands were historically possession ...
in the
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian ...
fell within the British zone and had contained a large U-Boat base. On 18 April 1947, in an attempt to destroy the base and remove it as a fleet base location for Germany, the Royal Navy detonated 6,700 tonnes of explosives. Known as "
Operation Big Bang" or "British Bang" this resulted in
one of the biggest single non-nuclear detonations in history. The blow shook the main island several miles down to its base, changing its shape and as a result an area known as the '' was created.
As well as disarmament there was much to find in the way of war booty and intelligence. With the completion of the
T-Force
T-Force was the operational arm of a joint US Army–British Army mission to secure German scientific and industrial technology before it could be destroyed by retreating German forces or looters during the final stages of the Second World War ...
and the
Alsos missions which had gathered intelligence and booty in the fighting, which were all turned over to the US
Field Information Agency, Technical The Field Information Agency, Technical (FIAT) was a US Army agency for securing the "major, and perhaps only, material reward of victory, namely, the advancement of science and the improvement of production and standards of living in the United Nat ...
(FIAT). FIAT was authorized to "coordinate, integrate, and direct the activities of the various missions and agencies" interested in scientific and technical intelligence but prohibited from collecting and exploiting such information on its own responsibility. As a result, the British set up a number of new post war operations within their zone - the
Fedden Mission
The Fedden Mission was a British scientific mission sent by the Ministry of Aircraft Production to Germany at the end of the Second World War in Europe, to gather technical intelligence about German aircraft and aeroengines. It was named for t ...
was set up to exploit German aeronautics and deny German technical skills to the Soviet Union. The mission was sent by the
Ministry of Aircraft Production
Ministry may refer to:
Government
* Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister
* Ministry (government department), a department of a government
Religion
* Christian ...
to gather technical
intelligence
Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. More generally, it can ...
about German aircraft and
aero-engines.
Operation Surgeon Operation Surgeon was a British post-Second World War programme to exploit German aeronautics and deny German technical skills to the Soviet Union.
A list of 1,500 German scientists and technicians was created, with the goal of forcibly removing th ...
was also created: a list of 1,500 German scientists and technicians were drawn up, with the goal of forcibly removing them from Germany to lessen the risk of their falling into Soviet hands. The German scientists and technicians were, in general, very co-operative with the British interviewers with some wishing to emigrate to the U.S. or Canada. Of the scientists relocated from 1946-1947, 100 chose to work for the UK.
The British had enough material to conduct launches of
V-2 rocket
The V-2 (german: Vergeltungswaffe 2, lit=Retaliation Weapon 2), with the technical name ''Aggregat 4'' (A-4), was the world’s first long-range guided ballistic missile. The missile, powered by a liquid-propellant rocket engine, was develop ...
s and set up
Operation Backfire. The operation was carried out
during October 1945 from a launch pad near
Arensch in order to demonstrate the weapon. The handling and launch procedures were operated by German personnel (many who were 'lent' by the Americans), as they were the only ones who knew of the procedures. The British treatment of the German soldiers, which included enlisted men, technicians, and officers were generous. Four rockets were launched including one on 17 October 1945 that reached an altitude of about .
On 23 December 1946, a study group of the
British Interplanetary Society
The British Interplanetary Society (BIS), founded in Liverpool in 1933 by Philip E. Cleator, is the oldest existing space advocacy organisation in the world. Its aim is exclusively to support and promote astronautics and space exploration.
S ...
submitted a redesign of the V-2 rocket to the
British Ministry of Supply
The Ministry of Supply (MoS) was a department of the UK government formed in 1939 to co-ordinate the supply of equipment to all three British armed forces, headed by the Minister of Supply. A separate ministry, however, was responsible for aircr ...
but the proposal was never adopted.
File:Germany Under Allied Occupation CL3304.jpg, Two members of a Royal Air Force Disarmament Wing check an aircraft wreckage dump at Flensburg
Flensburg (; Danish, Low Saxon: ''Flensborg''; North Frisian: ''Flansborj''; South Jutlandic: ''Flensborre'') is an independent town (''kreisfreie Stadt'') in the north of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg is the centre of the ...
airfield
File:The Destruction of Heligoland Defenses. April 1947, Still Taken From An Admiralty Documentary Film Processed For Scientific Purposes. the Camera Was Set Up on the Island of Dune, Half a Mile Away From Heligolan A31319.jpg, A still taken from the 'Destruction of Heligoland Defenses' on 18 April 1947 - an Admiralty documentary film processed for scientific purposes. This was one of the largest artificial non-nuclear explosions
There was also the
Target Intelligence Committee
TICOM (Target Intelligence Committee) was a secret Allied project formed in World War II to find and seize German intelligence assets, particularly in the field of cryptology and signals intelligence.
It operated alongside other Western Allied ...
(TICOM) which was a secret project to find and seize German
intelligence
Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. More generally, it can ...
assets, particularly in the field of
cryptology
Cryptography, or cryptology (from grc, , translit=kryptós "hidden, secret"; and ''graphein'', "to write", or ''-logia'', "study", respectively), is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of adver ...
and
signals intelligence
Signals intelligence (SIGINT) is intelligence-gathering by interception of '' signals'', whether communications between people (communications intelligence—abbreviated to COMINT) or from electronic signals not directly used in communication ...
. This was an Anglo-American project with the aim to seek out and capture the cryptologic secrets of Germany. The concept was for six teams of cryptologic experts, mainly drawn from the code-breaking center at
Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park is an English country house and estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes (Buckinghamshire) that became the principal centre of Allied code-breaking during the Second World War. The mansion was constructed during the years following ...
. They went to Germany just after the war had ended to capture the documents, technology and personnel of the various German signal intelligence organizations before these precious secrets could be destroyed, looted, or captured by the Soviets. The biggest discovery was the "Russian FISH" a set of German wide-band receivers used to intercept Soviet high-level radio
Teletype
A teleprinter (teletypewriter, teletype or TTY) is an electromechanical device that can be used to send and receive typed messages through various communications channels, in both point-to-point and point-to-multipoint configurations. Init ...
signals. These were sent back to England reconstructed and were tested in
Steeple Claydon
Steeple Claydon is a village and civil parish in the Buckinghamshire district of the ceremonial county of Buckinghamshire, England. The village is about south of Buckingham, west of Winslow and northwest of Waddesdon. The 2011 Census recorde ...
in
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-e ...
where they soon encountered Russian radio traffic.
Industry
Much of Germany's industrial plant fell within the British zone, especially Germany's industrial power house, the
Ruhr
The Ruhr ( ; german: Ruhrgebiet , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr area, sometimes Ruhr district, Ruhr region, or Ruhr valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 2,800/km ...
. There was a concern that rebuilding a former enemy's industrial powerhouse would eventually prove a danger to British security and compete with the weakened British economy. In January 1946 the Allied Control Council set the foundation of the future German economy by putting a cap on German steel production capacity. The British had argued for a less-limited reduction of twelve million tons of steel per year, but had to submit to the will of the US, France, and the Soviet Union (which had argued for a 3 million ton limit). Steel plants thus made redundant were to be dismantled by the allies - the resources being sent back to the respective country.
["Cost of Defeat"](_blank)
''Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...
'', 8 April 1946.
Coal production in the Ruhr accounted for 93% for all zones combined. The French in particular wanted to place the area under international control. The British however refused and had begun to pursue an anti Soviet foreign policy which strongly influenced its occupational policy. The British thus feared of Soviet influence in the Ruhr and were prepared to snub the French. Once this internationalisation had receded, British
Foreign Secretary
The secretary of state for foreign, Commonwealth and development affairs, known as the foreign secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), minister of the Crown of the Government of the United Kingdom and head of the Foreign, Commonwe ...
Ernest Bevin
Ernest Bevin (9 March 1881 – 14 April 1951) was a British statesman, trade union leader, and Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician. He co-founded and served as General Secretary of the powerful Transport and General Workers' Union in th ...
and US
Secretary of State George C. Marshall agreed that the Ruhr's industries should be distributed to help the economy of war weary Europe.
The destroyed German transportation infrastructure created additional logistical difficulties, with rail lines, bridges, canals and terminals left in ruins.
The turnaround time for rail wagons was five times higher than the pre-war average. Only 1,000 of the 13,000 kilometres of track in the British zone were operable. Urban centres often had to be supplied with horse-drawn carriages and wheeled carts.
![Autotentoonstelling RAI, Bestanddeelnr 902-7194 (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/Autotentoonstelling_RAI%2C_Bestanddeelnr_902-7194_%28cropped%29.jpg)
One of the many factories the British had taken over was the
Volkswagen plant at Wolfsburg in June 1945. This was put under the overall direction of Colonel Michael McEvoy at Rhine Army Headquarters. A
Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers
The Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME ) is a corps of the British Army that maintains the equipment that the Army uses. The corps is described as the "British Army's Professional Engineers".
History
Prior to REME's for ...
(REME) officer Major
Ivan Hirst revived the factory soon after, which had been badly damaged by allied air attacks. Hirst had the drains fixed, and bomb craters filled in; land in front of the factory was given over to food production. He discovered an intact
Volkswagen Beetle
The Volkswagen Beetle—officially the Volkswagen Type 1, informally in German (meaning "beetle"), in parts of the English-speaking world the Bug, and known by many other nicknames in other languages—is a two-door, rear-engine economy car, ...
within the factory from which he was able to present at headquarters. Hirst recognized that economical vehicle production would help in remedying the transport bottlenecks of the British Army. On 22 August he received an order to produce a vast number of Volkswagen Beetles for the British military administration. Cars were put together with old-stock and whatever could be found, many using parts from the
Kübelwagen until 1946, when the factory produced about 1,000 cars a month.
With the start of civilian series production by 27 December 1945, the Wolfsburg plant became the first automotive factory in Germany to resume production after the war. Aside from some remaining military production, civilian output reached almost 9,000 units in 1947, and for 1948 total production increased to 19,244 cars. Hirst also managed to establish a network for exports to the
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
. He carried on the supervision until
Heinz Nordhoff
Heinz Heinrich Nordhoff (6 January 1899 – 12 April 1968) was a German engineer who led the Volkswagen company as it was rebuilt after World War II.
Life and career
Nordhoff was born in Hildesheim, the son of a banker. He graduated from the Tech ...
was appointed director of the factory in 1949.
Other German businesses were assisted by the Army, including the
KWS Grain Factory and the Huth-Apparatebau radio factory in Hanover. The latter employed locals to make radio sets manufactured primarily from components salvaged from German military equipment.
A solution by the British for the Germans to become self sustaining industry was to build up a strong, free
trade union movement in Germany. In early 1947 several unions joined to form the ''Gewerkschaftsbund in der britischen Besatzungszone''. On 23–25 April the
Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund, DGB was founded in
Bielefeld
Bielefeld () is a city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population of 341,755, it is also the most populous city in the administrative region (''Regierungsbezirk'') of Detmold and the ...
as a confederation of twelve unions. By 30 June 1949 the DGB within the British zone had some 2,885,036 members.
[Rosenburger, Ruth (2014)]
"The History of HRM in Germany"
in ''The Development of Human Resource Management Across Nations: Unity and Diversity'', p. 170. Edward Elgar Publishing.
To solve the issue with the Ruhr, an Authority was set out in the communiqué issued 7 June 1948, after the
London Six-Power Conference. The Authority would "supervise the production, organization, trade and ownership policies of the Ruhr industries and distribute their products so that all countries cooperating for the common economic good will have adequate access to them".
The Statute for the
International Authority for the Ruhr
The International Authority for the Ruhr (IAR) was an international body established in 1949 by the Western Allies to regulate the coal and steel industries of the Ruhr area in West Germany. Its seat was in Düsseldorf.
The Ruhr Authority was s ...
(IAR) was signed and came into effect on 28 April 1949.
Media and sport
![Germany Under Allied Occupation 1946-1946 CL3272](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/Germany_Under_Allied_Occupation_1946-1946_CL3272.jpg)
A radio station was set up in Hamburg as the sole broadcasting station by British authorities to provide information to the population of the area.
Hugh Carleton Greene, on secondment from the
BBC was sent to create a public service broadcasting in their Zone. On 22 September 1945, Radio Hamburg became
Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk
Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk (NWDR; ''Northwest German Broadcasting'') was the organization responsible for public broadcasting in the German Länder of Hamburg, Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia from 22 September 1945 to ...
(NWDR) which was run as part by the REME.
["Sir Hugh Greene"]
''The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...
'', 21 February 1987, p. 14
In Hanover, Major
John Seymour Chaloner who was assigned to the
Public Relations and Information Services Control, a unit rebuilding the German media industry under the supervision of the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is a department of the Government of the United Kingdom. Equivalent to other countries' ministries of foreign affairs, it was created on 2 September 2020 through the merger of the Foreig ...
helped set up a magazine titled ''Diese Woche'' (meaning ''This Week'' in English), which had first been published in November 1946. Challoner worked with recently released German prisoner of war
Rudolf Augstein and the magazine was later renamed ''
Der Spiegel
''Der Spiegel'' (, lit. ''"The Mirror"'') is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of 695,100 copies, it was the largest such publication in Europe in 2011. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...
'' which was first published on 4 January 1947.
The British helped to revive
association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
in Germany. An attempt was made to stage a
German football championship
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
in 1947 but this failed. The 1947
British occupation zone football championship
The British occupation zone football championship was an association football competition in the British zone of Allied-occupied Germany after the Second World War. Two editions of the tournament were held, in 1947 and 1948, both of which were won ...
saw the best teams in the regional leagues compete against each other with
Hamburger SV
Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its football section. Though the current HSV was founded in June 1919 from a merger of three ...
winning the final. Eventually an attempt to stage a German championship paid off from all four zones. A championship was staged with the best two clubs from the British zone championship who qualified for the tournament. In
1948 German football championship
The 1948 German football championship, the 38th edition of the competition, was the culmination of the 1947–48 football season in Allied-occupied Germany. 1. FC Nürnberg were crowned champions for the seventh time after one-leg knock-out tourn ...
was created with
1. FC Nürnberg
1. Fußball-Club Nürnberg Verein für Leibesübungen e. V., often called 1. FC Nürnberg (, en, 1. Football Club Nuremberg) or simply Nürnberg, is a German association football club in Nuremberg, Bavaria, who currently compete in the 2. Bund ...
becoming champions.
Sub-zones
Army units from other countries were stationed within the British occupation zone. The largest was the
Belgian zone, who were allocated a territory on 1 April 1946, three Belgian infantry brigades of
I Corps I Corps, 1st Corps, or First Corps may refer to:
France
* 1st Army Corps (France)
* I Cavalry Corps (Grande Armée), a cavalry unit of the Imperial French Army during the Napoleonic Wars
* I Corps (Grande Armée), a unit of the Imperial French Ar ...
under the command of Lieutenant General
Jean-Baptiste Piron
Lieutenant General Jean-Baptiste Piron (10 April 1896 – 4 September 1974) was a Belgian military officer, best known for his role in the Free Belgian forces during World War II as commander of the 1st Belgian Infantry Brigade, widely know ...
. They formed a strip from the Belgian-German border at the south of the British zone, and covered the cities of
Aachen
Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th ...
,
Cologne
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...
,
Soest,
Siegen
Siegen () is a city in Germany, in the south Westphalian part of North Rhine-Westphalia.
It is located in the district of Siegen-Wittgenstein in the Arnsberg region. The university town (nearly 20,000 students in the 2018–2019 winter semest ...
and
Kassel
Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020 ...
. Corps headquarters moved to
Haelen Caserne
Haelen (; li, Hale) is a town in the south-eastern Netherlands.
History
The village was first mentioned in 1224 as "Gregorio (de) Haele", and means "bend of the highland". Haelen developed along the Haelense Beek. It used to belong to the Coun ...
,
Junkersdorf
Junkersdorf is a historic village, now quarter 306 of the city of Cologne, Germany, in District Three.
Geography
Junkersdorf lies to the west of the historic city centre, next to the Köln-West motorway junction where Bundesautobahn 1 and Bunde ...
,
Lindenthal, Cologne
Lindenthal ( , ) is a borough of the City of Cologne in Germany. It includes the quarters Braunsfeld, Junkersdorf, Klettenberg, Lindenthal, Lövenich, Müngersdorf, Sülz, Weiden and Widdersdorf. It has about 153,000 inhabitants (as of Decem ...
, in 1948.
Polish units which included
1st Armoured Division were stationed in the
zone
Zone or The Zone may refer to:
Places Climate and altitude zones
* Death zone (originally the lethal zone), altitudes above a certain point where the amount of oxygen is insufficient to sustain human life for an extended time span
* Frigid zone, ...
, in the northern area of the district of
Emsland
Landkreis Emsland () is a district in Lower Saxony, Germany named after the river Ems. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Leer, Cloppenburg and Osnabrück, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (district of Steinf ...
, as well as
Oldenburg and
Leer. The administrative centre was the city of
Haren and was renamed ''Maczków'' (after divisional commander
Stanisław Maczek
Lieutenant General Stanisław Maczek (; 31 March 1892 – 11 December 1994) was a Polish tank commander of World War II, whose division was instrumental in the Allied liberation of France, closing the Falaise pocket, resulting in the destructio ...
) from 1945 to 1947. Polish units within the British Army were demobilised in June 1947 the last elements leaving the following year.
The
Norwegian Brigade Group in Germany had 4,000 soldiers based in Hanover. It would later have headquarters in
Oerlinghausen
Oerlinghausen (Low German ''Ankhiusen'') is a city in the Lippe district of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany located between Bielefeld and Detmold in the Teutoburger Wald. It has c. 16,700 inhabitants (2013).
Geography
Geographically, Oerlinghaus ...
,
Neumünster and
Rendsburg
Rendsburg ( da, Rendsborg, also ''Rensborg'', nds, Rendsborg, also ''Rensborg'') is a town on the River Eider and the Kiel Canal in the central part of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is the capital of the ''Kreis'' (district) of Rendsburg-Eck ...
.
Cold War
Under the
Barber-Lyashchenko Agreement
Lieutenant-General Sir Colin Muir Barber & Bar (27 June 1897 – 5 May 1964) was a senior British Army officer who fought in both World War I and World War II where he commanded the 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division during their actions acr ...
the CCG had to cede some areas of occupation to the Soviet Union – specifically the
Amt Neuhaus of
Hanover
Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...
and some exclaves and fringes of
Brunswick, for example the
County of Blankenburg
The County of Blankenburg (german: Grafschaft Blankenburg) was a state of the Holy Roman Empire. Its capital was Blankenburg, it was located in and near the Harz mountains.
History
County of Blankenburg
About 1123 Lothair of Supplinburg, then D ...
, and exchanged some villages between British
Holstein
Holstein (; nds, label=Northern Low Saxon, Holsteen; da, Holsten; Latin and historical en, Holsatia, italic=yes) is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider. It is the southern half of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost state of German ...
and Soviet
Mecklenburg
Mecklenburg (; nds, label= Low German, Mękel(n)borg ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schweri ...
's capital
Schwerin
Schwerin (; Mecklenburgian Low German: ''Swerin''; Latin: ''Suerina'', ''Suerinum'') is the capital and second-largest city of the northeastern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern as well as of the region of Mecklenburg, after Rostock. It ...
. The redeployment was accomplished on 26 November, the respective occupational forces withdrew two days later to their new zonal territory. The British occupational forces provided evacuation to all the inhabitants of villages to be ceded to the Soviet zone.
![BRIXMIS shoulder flash](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/BRIXMIS_shoulder_flash.jpg)
In order to exchange military missions between the British and Soviet zones an agreement was further made on 16 September 1946 with the Robertson-Malinin Agreement. This led to the creation of the
British Commanders'-in-Chief Mission to the Soviet Forces in Germany (BRIXMIS) and the Soviet equivalent in the British Zone, 'SOXMIS'. The idea was "to maintain Liaison between the Staff of the two Commanders-in-Chief and their Military Governments in the Zones". Subsequent agreements in 1947 led to the exchange of similar missions between the Soviet zone and those controlled by French and US forces, although the British–Soviet arrangement was significantly larger than either of the others. This liaison was undertaken by 31 members – 11 officers and no more than 20 others – appointed to each mission.
BRIXMIS maintained a permanent presence in its nominal home, the Mission House in
Potsdam
Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of ...
, but its actual headquarters and operational centre were in
West Berlin
West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...
. These were located in London Block, a part of the
Olympic Stadium
''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games. An Olympic stadium is the site of the opening and closing ceremonies. Many, though not all, of these venues actually contain the words ''Olympic Stadium'' as ...
complex which housed the military government of the British Sector of Berlin. These liaison staff were issued passes allowing freedom of travel and circulation, with the exception of certain restricted areas, within each other's zone. Although never openly stated, this liaison role also presented an ideal opportunity for the gathering of military intelligence through reconnaissance and surveillance and the occasional theft of military matériel, from which both sides took an opportuntiy. The British Mission comprised members of the British Army, Royal Navy, and Royal Air Force who conducted uniformed liaison activities in marked cars and in two
Chipmunk
Chipmunks are small, striped rodents of the family Sciuridae. Chipmunks are found in North America, with the exception of the Siberian chipmunk which is found primarily in Asia.
Taxonomy and systematics
Chipmunks may be classified either as ...
light aircraft.
Cooperation between the Western Allies and the Soviets ultimately broke down because of disagreements over Germany's political and economic future. On 1 January 1947 the British and Americans unified their zones to become known as the
Bizone
The Bizone () or Bizonia was the combination of the American and the British occupation zones on 1 January 1947 during the occupation of Germany after World War II. With the addition of the French occupation zone on 1 August 1948J. Robert We ...
so as to better co-operate politically and economically. With the addition of the French occupation zone on 1 August 1948 the entity became the
Trizone
The Bizone () or Bizonia was the combination of the American and the British occupation zones on 1 January 1947 during the occupation of Germany after World War II. With the addition of the French occupation zone on 1 August 1948J. Robert We ...
.
[J. Robert Wegs & Robert Ladrech (1996). ''Europe since 1945: a concise history''. New York.]
In March 1948, the Soviets withdrew from the Allied Control Council after learning of Allied proposals to create a new West German state and the seeds of the
Cold War began. On 18 June the United States, Britain and France announced that on 21 June the
Deutsche Mark
The Deutsche Mark (; English: ''German mark''), abbreviated "DM" or "D-Mark" (), was the official currency of West Germany from 1948 until 1990 and later the unified Germany from 1990 until the adoption of the euro in 2002. In English, it was ...
would be introduced, but the Soviets refused to permit its use as legal tender in Berlin.
Berlin and the airlift
The British along with the three other allied powers also had a separate occupation zone within the capital
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
, this despite being deep inside the Soviet occupation area. The British sector (165.5 km
2), consisted of the boroughs of
Tiergarten,
Charlottenburg
Charlottenburg () is a locality of Berlin within the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Established as a town in 1705 and named after Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, Queen consort of Prussia, it is best known for Charlottenburg Palace, the ...
,
Wilmersdorf
Wilmersdorf (), an inner-city locality of Berlin, lies south-west of the central city. Formerly a borough by itself, Wilmersdorf became part of the new borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf in Berlin's 2001 administrative reform.
History
The v ...
and
Spandau
Spandau () is the westernmost of the 12 boroughs () of Berlin, situated at the confluence of the Havel and Spree rivers and extending along the western bank of the Havel. It is the smallest borough by population, but the fourth largest by land ...
. The
Olympiastadion
Olympiastadion is the German, Finnish and Swedish word for Olympic Stadium and may refer to:
* Stockholm Olympic Stadium, the host of the 1912 Summer Olympics (though mostly referred as simply ''Stockholms Stadion'')
* Olympiastadion (Berlin), the ...
became the headquarters for the British occupiers.
Spandau Prison
Spandau Prison was located in the borough of Spandau in West Berlin. It was originally a military prison, built in 1876, but became a proto-concentration camp under the Nazis. After the war, it held seven top Nazi leaders convicted in the Nurem ...
was also located in the British sector but was operated by the
Four-Power Authorities
Following the defeat of Nazi Germany and then the partition of German territory, two Four-Power Authorities, in which the four main victor nations (the United States, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and France) managed equally, were created.
...
to house the Nazi war criminals sentenced to imprisonment at the Nuremberg Trials.
On 24 June, following increased tension and agitation, the Soviets
blockaded Berlin. At the time,
West Berlin
West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...
had 36 days' worth of food, and 45 days' worth of coal. Militarily, the Americans and British were greatly outnumbered because of the postwar scaling back of their armies - the British forces numbered around 7,606. During the ensuing blockade the British with help from pilots from Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, conducted their airlift known as "Operation Plainfare".
RAF Gatow
Royal Air Force Gatow, or more commonly RAF Gatow, was a British Royal Air Force station (military airbase) in the district of Gatow in south-western Berlin, west of the Havel river, in the borough of Spandau. It was the home for the only k ...
was modernised with a 2,000 yards (1,800 m) long concrete runway, using 794 German workers. The airfield was key during the 'airlift' and also served the
Berlin Infantry Brigade
The Berlin Infantry Brigade was a British Army brigade-sized garrison based in West Berlin during the Cold War. After the end of World War II, under the conditions of the Yalta and Potsdam agreements, the Allied forces occupied West Berlin. T ...
. The RAF would be relied on to increase its numbers quickly. It could fly additional aircraft in from Britain in a single hop, bringing the RAF fleet to about 150
Douglas Dakota
The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota ( RAF, RAAF, RCAF, RNZAF, and SAAF designation) is a military transport aircraft developed from the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II and remained in ...
s and 40 of the larger
Avro Yorks with a 10-ton
payload. The British ran a system, flying southeast from several airports in the Hamburg area through their second corridor into RAF Gatow and then also returning out on the center corridor, turning for home or landing at Hanover. They ran some round-trips, using their southeast corridor. To save time many flights didn't land in Berlin, instead air dropping material, such as coal, onto the airfields.
Short Sunderland
The Short S.25 Sunderland is a British flying boat patrol bomber, developed and constructed by Short Brothers for the Royal Air Force (RAF). The aircraft took its service name from the town (latterly, city) and port of Sunderland in North Ea ...
flying boats flying from
Finkenwerder
Finkenwerder (; Low German: ''Finkwarder'', ''Finkenwarder'' or ''- wärder''; German: ''Finkeninsel''; translation: Island of finches) is a quarter of Hamburg, Germany in the borough Hamburg-Mitte. It is the location of a plant of Airbus and its ...
on the
Elbe
The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Re ...
near Hamburg to the
Havel river next to Gatow, their corrosion-resistant hulls were able to deliver baking powder and other salt into the city.
On 4 May 1949 the Soviets lifted the blockade, as they were unable to shoot down aircraft coming in as this would have led to war. Out of a total of 2,326,406 tons of supplies and food delivered the British contribution came to 541,937 tons. The cost was moderate with eight aircraft being lost in accidents but 40 personnel having lost their lives.
File:Germany after WWII Berlin zones UK.png, The British sector of Berlin
File:Airliftbases.jpg, Allied airlift bases
File:NAFFI Mobile Canteen No.750 beside the Brandenburg Gate.jpg, NAAFI
The Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes (NAAFI ) is a company created by the British government on 9 December 1920 to run recreational establishments needed by the British Armed Forces, and to sell goods to servicemen and their families. It runs ...
Mobile Canteen No.750 beside the Brandenburg Gate 16 July 1945
File:Douglas DC-3 - Lübeck - D 044287 Berlin Airlift.jpg, An RAF Douglas Dakota
The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota ( RAF, RAAF, RCAF, RNZAF, and SAAF designation) is a military transport aircraft developed from the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II and remained in ...
is towed out of a hangar at RAF Lubeck
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
, after maintenance in April 1949 during the Berlin airlift
End of the occupation
On 10 April 1949, the
Occupation statute
The Occupation Statute of Germany (german: Besatzungsstatut) of April 10, 1949 specified the roles and responsibilities of the newly created government of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the Allied High Commission. It was draw ...
was drawn up by American, British and French representatives. This specified the roles and responsibilities of the newly created government of the Federal Republic of Germany (
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 ...
) which gave them conditional sovereignty. Nevertheless, the allies retained the right to keep occupational forces and enact administrative duties in the country.
In July the Enclave of
Bonn
The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...
was created - as it was in the British zone the city was not under British or any other allied control - instead it was led by the
Allied High Commission
The Allied High Commission (also known as the High Commission for Occupied Germany, HICOG; in German ''Alliierte Hohe Kommission'', ''AHK'') was established by the United States, the United Kingdom, and France after the 1948 breakdown of the Alli ...
. In October, the Soviet zone was proclaimed the
German Democratic Republic
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**G ...
(GDR), under communist rule. In June the following year,
Ivone Kirkpatrick
Sir Ivone Augustine Kirkpatrick, (3 February 1897 – 25 May 1964) was a British diplomat who served as the British High Commissioner in Germany after World War II, and as the Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, the hig ...
became the
British High Commissioner for Germany. Kirkpatrick carried immense responsibility, particularly with respect to the negotiation of the
Bonn–Paris conventions
The Bonn–Paris conventions were signed in May 1952 and came into force after the 1955 ratification. The conventions put an end to the Allied occupation of West Germany.Joachim von ElbU.S. Embassy Bonn HistoryU.S. Diplomatic Mission to Germa ...
during 1951–1952, which terminated the occupation and prepared the way for the rearmament of West Germany. This came into force on 5 May 1955.
;High commissioners
* 21 September 1949 - 24 June 1950: Brian Hubert Robertson
* 24 June 1950 - 29 September 1953:
Ivone Kirkpatrick
Sir Ivone Augustine Kirkpatrick, (3 February 1897 – 25 May 1964) was a British diplomat who served as the British High Commissioner in Germany after World War II, and as the Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, the hig ...
* 29 September 1953 - 5 May 1955:
Frederick Hoyer-Millar
Aftermath
![British army inner german border](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/British_army_inner_german_border.jpg)
In 1955 the Federal Republic became a fully sovereign state, the western occupation zones ceased to exist, and the high commissioners were replaced by ambassadors. The four allied powers nevertheless still had special rights and responsibilities in Germany until the
Final Settlement of 1990.
From November 1951, the Canadian forces also deployed a contingent of 10,000 soldiers in several bases around
Soest. In 1970, this however was reduced to less than 3,000 men and was then moved to
Lahr
Lahr (officially Lahr/Schwarzwald since 30 September 1978) (); gsw, label= Low Alemannic, Lohr) is a town in western Baden-Württemberg, Germany, approximately 50 km north of Freiburg im Breisgau, 40 km southeast of Strasbourg, and 95&nb ...
, a town in the region of the
Black Forest
The Black Forest (german: Schwarzwald ) is a large forested mountain range in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is t ...
.
In 1954 the British Army headquarters was moved to
Mönchengladbach
Mönchengladbach (, li, Jlabbach ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located west of the Rhine, halfway between Düsseldorf and the Dutch border.
Geography Municipal subdivisions
Since 2009, the territory of Mönchengladbac ...
where it was known as
JHQ Rheindahlen
JHQ (Joint Headquarters) Rheindahlen was a military base in Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany active from 1954 to 2013. It functioned as the main headquarters for British forces in Germany and for the NATO Northern Army Group. Lat ...
. The RAF in Germany would be reformed to its original name
RAF Second Tactical Air Force
The RAF Second Tactical Air Force (2TAF) was one of three tactical air forces within the Royal Air Force (RAF) during and after the Second World War. It was made up of squadrons and personnel from the RAF, other British Commonwealth air forces, ...
on 1 September 1951 and then was formed into
Royal Air Force Germany
The former Royal Air Force Germany (RAFG) was a command of the Royal Air Force and part of British Forces Germany. It consisted of units located in Germany, initially as part of the occupation following the Second World War, and later as part o ...
(RAFG). British troops however still manned the Inner German Border - the British Frontier Service played a front-line role in managing tensions there. Its officers were called to the scene of border incidents or unusual activity to defuse disputes and provide an independent British view of situations. This continued right up until
German reunification in 1991.
Disbandment of the (BAOR) and (RAFG) took place in 1994, following the end of the Cold War and the
Options for Change
Options for Change was a restructuring of the British Armed Forces in summer 1990 after the end of the Cold War.
Until this point, UK military strategy had been almost entirely focused on defending Western Europe against the Soviet Armed Forces, ...
defence review in the early 1990s. This meant that the British Armed Forces in Germany were reduced in strength by almost 30,000 with just one division (1st Armoured) remaining by the late 1990s.
After this UK forces became known as
British Forces Germany, and in 2020 it became known as
British Army Germany
British Army Germany is the superior institution under which the remaining installations of the British Forces Germany are organised after the completion of the withdrawal of the British Forces from Germany in February 2020. Apart from the Alpine ...
.
Cultural legacy
* The German
fast food dish
currywurst which is attributed to
Herta Heuwer
Herta Charlotte Heuwer (née Pöppel; 30 June 1913 – 3 July 1999) owned and ran a food kiosk in West Berlin. She is frequently credited with the invention of the take-out dish that would become the currywurst, supposedly on 4 September 1949. T ...
was invented in Berlin in 1949, after she obtained
tomato ketchup
Ketchup or catsup is a table condiment with a sweet and tangy flavor. The unmodified term ("ketchup") now typically refers to tomato ketchup, although early recipes used egg whites, mushrooms, oysters, grapes, mussels, or walnuts, among oth ...
,
Worcestershire sauce and
curry powder
Curry powder is a spice mix originating from the Indian subcontinent where it is typically called garam masala.
History
Key ingredients of curry powder consist of ginger, garlic, fennel, mace, cumin, coriander, cardamom, cinnamon and turmeric ...
from British soldiers garrisoned in the city around
Charlottenburg
Charlottenburg () is a locality of Berlin within the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Established as a town in 1705 and named after Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, Queen consort of Prussia, it is best known for Charlottenburg Palace, the ...
.
* The 2019 film ''
The Aftermath'' based upon
Rhidian Brook
Rhidian Brook (born 1964) is a Welsh novelist, screenwriter and broadcaster.
Biography
Brook was born in Tenby in 1964. He attended Churcher's College in Hampshire, leaving in 1982. His first novel, ''The Testimony Of Taliesin Jones'' (HarperCol ...
's novel, depicts events in the British occupation zone in and around Hamburg during the winter of 1946.
See also
*
List of administrators of Allied-occupied Germany
*
Allied-occupied Austria
*
Interzonal traffic {{Unreferenced, date=April 2020
Inter-zonal traffic was the cross-border traffic between the four designated garrison zones in Germany between 1945 and 1973 that were created in 1945 by the victors of the Second World War.
History
Following the ...
References
;citations
Bibliography
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{{Authority control
States and territories established in 1945
States and territories disestablished in 1949
1945 establishments in Germany
1949 disestablishments in Germany
British military occupations
Allied occupation of Germany
World War II occupied territories
Germany–United Kingdom relations