American Zone of Occupation (Germany)

The American zone consists of Bavaria and Hesse in Southern Germany, and the northern portions of the present-day German state of Baden-Württemberg.

The ports of Bremen (on the lower Weser River) and Bremerhaven (at the Weser estuary of the North Sea) are also placed under American control because of the American request to have certain toeholds in Northern Germany.

The headquarters of the American military government is the former IG Farben Building in Frankfurt am Main.Beginning in May 1945, many of the American combat troops and airmen in and around Germany are sent back to the United States based on their Advanced Service Rating Scores.

Some of the experienced officers and non-commissioned officers are selected to be sent to the Pacific Theater of Operations for the proposed Invasion of Japan, but most of those men who had served the longest in combat are discharged from the U.S. Army, the Army Air Forces, and the U.S. Navy upon their returns home.

Following the Surrender of the Japanese Empire in mid-August 1945 – by its acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration – a higher percentage of soldiers, airmen, and sailors are granted their final discharges from service.

The official signing of the surrender takes place on September 2, 1945, but the hostilities had ended weeks earlier.