British occupation zone

German Reich
Deutsches Reich
Military occupation
1945–1949
The C-Pennant
Post-Nazi German occupation borders and territories from 1945 to 1949. British (green), French (blue), American (yellow) and Soviet (red) occupation zones. Saar Protectorate (light blue) in the west under the control of France. Berlin is the quadripartite area shown within the red Soviet zone. Bremen consists of the two yellow American exclaves in the British sector.
Capital		Berlin (de jure) Frankfurt (American zone) Bad Oeynhausen (British zone) Baden-Baden (French zone) East Berlin (Soviet zone)
Political structure		Military occupation
Governors (1945)
•	British zone	F. Mar. Montgomery
•	French zone	Gen. Lattre de Tassigny
•	US zone	Gen. Eisenhower
•	Soviet zone	Marshal G. K. Zhukov
Historical era		Cold War
•	Surrender	8 May 1945
•	Allied Control Council	5 July 1945
•	Saar Protectoratea	15 December 1947
•	Federal Republic of Germany	23 May 1949
•	German Democratic Republicb	7 October 1949
•	Final Settlementc	12 September 1990
Currency		Reichsmark (1945–48) Rentenmark (1945–48) Deutschmark (W: 1948–49)d Deutschmark (E: 1948–49)e Saar mark (Saar: 1947–48) Saar franc (Saar: 1948–59)
Preceded by Succeeded by Nazi Germany West Germany East Germany Saar Protectorate West Berlin
Today part of		Germany
a.	Joined the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) on 1 January 1957.
b.	Reunited Germany by joining the Federal Republic of Germany on 3 October 1990.
c.	German reunification took place on 3 October 1990.
d.	The western Allied zones of Germany and the western sectors of Berlin.
e.	The Soviet zone of Germany and sector of Berlin.
The four sectors of the Allied occupation of Berlin and exclaves.

Upon the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, the victorious Allied powers asserted their joint authority and sovereignty over 'Germany as a whole', defined as all territories of the former German Reich which lay west of the Oder–Neisse line; having declared the extinction of Nazi Germany at the death of Adolf Hitler (see 1945 Berlin Declaration). The four powers divided 'Germany as a whole' into four occupation zones for administrative purposes, creating what became collectively known as Allied-occupied Germany (German: Alliierten-besetztes Deutschland). This division was ratified at the Potsdam Conference (17 July to 2 August 1945). In autumn 1944 the United States, United Kingdom and Soviet Union had agreed on the zones by the . The powers at Potsdam approved the detachment from 'Germany as a whole' of the German eastern territories east of the Oder-Neisse line; with the exact line of the boundary to be determined at a final German Peace Treaty. This treaty was expected to confirm the "shifting westward" of Poland's borders (back to approximately as they were before 1722), as the United Kingdom and the United States committed themselves to support there the permanent incorporation of former eastern German territories into Poland and the Soviet Union. In the closing weeks of fighting in Europe, United States forces had pushed beyond the agreed boundaries for the future zones of occupation, in some places by as much as 320 kilometres (200 mi). The so-called line of contact between Soviet and American forces at the end of hostilities, mostly lying eastward of the July 1945-established inner German border was temporary. After two months in which they had held areas that had been assigned to the Soviet zone, U.S. forces withdrew in the first days of July 1945. Some have concluded that this was a crucial move that persuaded the Soviet Union to allow American, British and French forces into their designated sectors in Berlin, which occurred at roughly the same time (July 1945), although the need for intelligence gathering (see Operation Paperclip) may also have been a factor.