This article lists the military commandants of divided Berlin between 1945 and 1994. Following the end of World War II in Europe, the Allies divided Berlin into distinct, occupied sectors, each had its own military governor, often referred to as commandant. This practice ended officially with the German reunification in 1990, but the several military commanders were in place until as late as 1994, when the respective occupying/protective forces were withdrawn, according to the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany.
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Commandants
editAmerican sector
edit
| Commandant[1] | In Office |
|---|---|
| MG Floyd L. Parks | 4 July 1945 – 2 September 1945 |
| MG James M. Gavin | 3 September 1945 – 10 October 1945 |
| MG Ray W. Barker | 11 October 1945 – 1 May 1946 |
| MG Frank A. Keating | 1 May 1946 – 13 May 1947 |
| MG Cornelius E. Ryan | 14 May 1947 – 23 September 1947 |
| MG William Hesketh | 24 September 1947 – 30 November 1947 |
| BG Frank L. Howley | 1 December 1947 – 31 August 1949 |
| MG Maxwell D. Taylor | 31 August 1949 – 31 January 1951 |
| MG Lemuel Mathewson | 1 February 1951 – 2 January 1953 |
| MG Thomas S. Timberman | 3 January 1953 – 4 August 1954 |
| MG George B. Honnen | 5 August 1954 – 9 September 1955 |
| MG Charles L. Dasher | 10 September 1955 – 3 June 1957 |
| MG Barksdale Hamlett | 4 June 1957 – 15 December 1959 |
| MG Ralph Osborne | 20 December 1959 – 3 May 1961 |
| MG Albert Watson II | 4 May 1961 – 2 January 1963 |
| MG James H. Polk | 2 January 1963 – 31 August 1964 |
| MG John F. Franklin, Jr. | 1 September 1964 – 3 June 1967 |
| MG Robert G. Fergusson | 3 June 1967 – 28 February 1970 |
| MG George M. Seignious | 28 February 1970 – 12 May 1971 |
| MG William W. Cobb | 12 May 1971 – 10 June 1974 |
| MG Sam S. Walker | 10 June 1974 – 11 August 1975 |
| MG Joseph C. McDonough | 11 August 1975 – 7 June 1978 |
| MG Calvert P. Benedict | 7 June 1978 – 5 July 1981 |
| MG James G. Boatner | 5 July 1981 – 27 June 1984 |
| MG John H. Mitchell | 27 June 1984 – 1 June 1988 |
| MG Raymond E. Haddock | 1 June 1988 – 2 October 1990 |
British sector
edit
| Commandant[2] | In Office |
|---|---|
| Maj Gen Lewis Lyne | 5 July 1945 – 30 August 1945 |
| Maj Gen Eric Nares | 30 August 1945 – 13 June 1947 |
| Lt Gen Otway Herbert | 13 June 1947 – 23 January 1949 |
| Gen Geoffrey Bourne | 23 January 1949 – 24 October 1951 |
| Lt Gen Charles Coleman | 24 October 1951 – 13 March 1954 |
| Lt Gen William Oliver | 13 March 1954 – 30 April 1955 |
| Maj Gen Robert Cottrell-Hill | 1 May 1955 – 6 February 1956 |
| Maj Gen Francis Rome | 26 March 1956 – 20 March 1959 |
| Maj Gen Rohan Delacombe | 23 March 1959 – 3 May 1962 |
| Maj Gen Claude Dunbar | May 1962 – December 1962 |
| Lt Gen David Peel Yates | December 1962 – January 1966 |
| Maj Gen John Nelson | February 1966 – February 1968 |
| Maj Gen James Bowes-Lyon | March 1968 – November 1970 |
| Maj Gen Lord Cathcart | November 1970 – July 1973 |
| Lt Gen David Scott-Barrett | August 1973 – November 1975 |
| Maj Gen Roy Redgrave | November 1975 – January 1978 |
| Lt Gen Robert Richardson | January 1978 – September 1980 |
| Gen David Mostyn | September 1980 – October 1983 |
| Maj Gen Bernard Gordon Lennox | October 1983 – December 1985 |
| Maj Gen Patrick Brooking | December 1985 – January 1989 |
| Maj Gen Robert Corbett | 1989 – 2 October 1990 |
French sector
edit| Commandant[3] | In Office |
|---|---|
| Geoffroi du Bois de Beauchesne | 11 July 1945 – 12 March 1946 |
| Charles Lançon | 12 March 1946 – 4 October 1946 |
| Jean Ganeval | 4 October 1946 – 5 October 1950 |
| Pierre Carolet | 1 October 1950 – 31 December 1952 |
| Pierre Manceaux-Démiau | 1 January 1953 – 31 December 1954 |
| Amédée J.B. Gèze | 1 January 1955 – 30 September 1958 |
| Jean Lacomme | 1 October 1958 – 25 February 1962 |
| Edouard K. Toulouse | 1962 – 1964 |
| François Binoche | 1964 – 1967 |
| Bertrand Huchet de Quénétain | 1967 – 1970 |
| Maurice Routier | 1970 – 1973 |
| Camille Metzler | 1973 – 1975 |
| Jacques Mangin | 1975 – 1977 |
| Bernard d'Astorg | 1977 – 1980 |
| Jean P. Liron | 1980 – 1984 |
| Olivier Le Taillendier de Gabory | 1984 – 1985 |
| Paul Cavarrot | 1985 – 1987 |
| François Cann | 1987 – 2 October 1990 |
Soviet sector
edit| Commandant[3] | In Office |
|---|---|
| Soviet Commandants | |
| Nikolai Berzarin | 28 April 1945 – 16 June 1945 |
| Alexander Gorbatov | 17 June 1945 – 19 November 1945 |
| Dmitry Smirnov | 19 November 1945 – 1 April 1946 |
| Aleksandr Kotikov | 1 April 1946 – 7 June 1950 |
| Sergey Dengin | 7 June 1950 – 28 May 1953 |
| Pyotr Dibrova | 28 May 1953 – 23 June 1956 |
| Andrey Chamov | 28 June 1956 – 26 February 1958 |
| Matvei Zakharov | 26 February 1958 – 9 May 1961 |
| Andrey Soloviev | 9 May 1961 – 22 August 1962 |
| East German Commandants | |
| Helmut Poppe | 22 August 1962 – 31 May 1971 |
| Arthur Kunath | 1 June 1971 – 31 August 1978 |
| Karl-Heinz Drews | 1 September 1978 – 31 December 1989 |
| Wolfgang Dombrowski | 1 January 1990 – 30 September 1990 |
| Detlef Wendorf | 30 September 1990 – 2 October 1990 |
See also
edit
- Cold War
- Allied-occupied Germany
- Allied Kommandatura
- Berlin Wall
- West Berlin / East Berlin
- Berlin border crossings
- United States Army Berlin (for the American forces in the city)
- Berlin Operations Base
- Berlin Infantry Brigade (for the British forces in the city)
- French Forces in Berlin
- 6th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade (for the Soviet forces in the city)
References
edit- ^ Grathwol, Robert P.; Moorhus, Donita M.; Steen, Gareth L., eds. (1999). Berlin and the American Military: A Cold War Chronicle. NYU Press. p. 192. ISBN 9780814731338. Retrieved 17 March 2013.
- ^ Army Commands Archived 2015-07-05 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b German states after 1945
Further reading
edit- Durie, William (2012). The British Garrison Berlin 1945 - 1994: nowhere to go ... a pictorial historiography of the British Military occupation / presence in Berlin. Berlin: Vergangenheitsverlag (de). ISBN 978-3-86408-068-5. OCLC 978161722.