Page 26

standard air traffic rules. The Berlin Air
Safety Center, located in the ACA Building
and operated jointly by the Four Powers as
the air traffic control center, ensures uni-
formity in application of flight rules and
control. Navigation facilities are coordinated
and are being improved; in November a
radio range at Belzig, in the Soviet Zone,
was added to improve navigational accuracy
on the Berlin-Frankfurt corridor.
The Committee on Meteorology of the Air
Directorate formed the policy for the revival
of a German meteorological service in the
four zones. A basic plan was approved for
the zonal meteorological organizations, and
nearly all of the required installations have
been set up. Germany's strategic position
makes her a necessary unit in world mete-
orology - hence the importance of its proper
re-establishment.  The chief of the Mete-
orology Section of the Armed Forces Div-
ision, in addition to his position as US dele-
gate on the quadripartite committee, is re-
sponsible for supervision of the US Zone's
German meteorological organization.
ORGANIZED IN NOVEMBER 1944
A survey of the work of the service direct-
orates and their US elements shows that
their activities pre-date the establishment of
OMGUS. The US Group Control Council for
Germany organized the armed services di-
visions at Bushey Park, London, under the
plan agreed upon by the European Advisory
Commission in November 1944. The divisions
were Army (Ground), Naval, and Air. Re-
search was begun in anticipation of the prim-
ary task of disarmament and demobilization.
The divisions moved to the continent in
March 1945, and their teams entered Ger-
many to obtain and assemble necessary in-
formation regarding the final stages of or-
ganization and disposition of all the German
armed forces and para-military organizations.
This information, which was the basis for
the plans for demilitarization and elimination
of the war potential of Germany, was obtain-
ed interrogating key Germans and from cap-
tured German records.
After the Potsdam Agreement of July 1945.
the service directorates were instructed by
the Allied Coordinating Committee to make
studies and recommendations on the policy
for carrying out the disarmament provisions
of the agreement. The provisions give as a
stated purpose the "complete disarmament
and demilitarization of Germany and the
elimination or control of all German industry
that could be used for military production."
PROBLEM    FACED   BY ALLIES
The Four Powers faced the problem of de-
militarizing probably -the most militaristic
nation in history. At the end of the war Ger-
many possessed an army- of some eleven mil-
lion men, reinforced by a large but undeter-
mined number of Volkssturm, and directed
by a high command and general staff. In
addition to the armed forces, Germany pos-
sessed a vast network of airfields, fortifica-
tions, training institutions, and war factories.
US policy for demilitarization, as confirm-
ed in the Potsdam Agreement, required that
all military and para-military organizations,
including the General Staff, Officers Corps,
the Reserve Corps, and military academies
which might serve to keep alive the military
tradition in Germany be disbanded and dis-
solved; that all such individuals of the armed
forces and other organizations that might
endanger the occupation should be seized and
held; that all arms, ammunition, and imple-
ments of war be seized and the production
thereof stopped; and that all installations
such as airfields, military posts, and bases
that contribute to the war potential of Ger-
many be rendered ineffective. .
US Military Government published the
necessary laws for demilitarization of the US
Zone as soon as German territory had been
occupied. The US then sought, through quad-
ripartite negotiation, to ensure that the laws
promulgated in the US Zone become uniform
throughout Germany. In general, it has been
successful in securing agreement on these
laws, and the quadripartite legislation on de-
militarization follows very closely that ori-
ginally instituted in the US Zone.
26z