Protocol between the governments of the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and the provisional government of the French Republic on the zones of occupation in Germany and the administration of “Greater Berlin”, September 12, 1944, as amended by the agreements of November 14, 1944 and July 26, 1945

The Governments of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the United States of America, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the Provisional Government of the French Republic, have reached the following agreement with regard to the execution of Article 11 of the Instrument of Unconditional Surrender of Germany:

1. Germany, within her frontiers as they were on the 31st December 1937, will, for the purposes of occupation, be divided into four zones, one of which will be allotted to each of the four Powers, and a special Berlin area, which will be under joint occupation by the four Powers.

2. The boundaries of the four zones and of the Berlin area, and the allocation of the four zones as between the U.K., the U.S.A., the U.S.S.R. and the Provisional Government of the French Republic will be as follows:

Eastern Zone […]
The territory of Germany (including the province of East Prussia) situated to the East of a line drawn from the point on Lübeck Bay where the frontiers of Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg meet […] will be occupied by armed forces of the U.S.S.R., with the exception of the Berlin area, for which a special system of occupation is provided below.

North-Western (United Kingdom) Zone […]
The territory of Germany situated to the west of the line defined in the description of the Eastern (Soviet) Zone; […] will be occupied by the armed forces of the United Kingdom.

South-Western (United States) Zone […]
The territory of Germany situated to the south and east of a line commencing at the junction of the frontiers of Saxony, Bavaria and Czechoslovakia and extending westwards along the northern frontier of Bavaria to […] where the latter meets the Austro-German frontier will be occupied by armed forces of the United States of America.

For the purpose of facilitating communications between the South-Western Zone and the sea, the Commander-in-Chief of the United States forces in the South-Western Zone will
(a) exercise such control of the ports of Bremen and Bremerhaven and the necessary staging areas in the vicinity thereof as may be agreed hereafter […].

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Western (French) Zone […]
The territory of Germany, situated to the south and west of a line commencing at the junction of the frontiers of Belgium and of the Prussian Regierungsbezirke of Trier and Aachen and extending eastward along the northern frontier of the Prussian Regierungsbezirk of Trier […] to the point where the eastern frontier of the district of Lindau meets the Austro-German frontier will be occupied by armed forces of the French Republic.

Berlin Area […]
The Berlin area (by which expression is understood the territory of 'Greater Berlin' as defined by the Law of the 27th April 1920) will be jointly occupied by armed forces of the U.K., U.S.A., and U.S.S.R., and the French Republic assigned by the respective Commanders-in-Chief. For this purpose the territory of “Greater Berlin” will be divided into the following four parts […].
(3) The occupying forces in each of the zones into which Germany is divided will be under a Commander-in-Chief designated by the Government of the country whose forces occupy that zone.

[…]

(5) An Inter-Allied Governing Authority (Komendatura) consisting of four Commandants, appointed by their respective Commanders-in-Chief, will be established to direct jointly the administration of the “Greater Berlin” Area.

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