While German forces were being disarmed, the Allied governments transmitted orders through a provisional German government headed by Doenitz. After two weeks this provisional regime was superseded. Doenitz, with several colleagues, and members of the German high command and the general staff, were taken into custody.
An Allied Control Committee, including Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Field Marshal Sir Bernard L. Montgomery, and Marshal Gregory K. Zhukov, assumed full control throughout Germany. German territory, as of Dec. 31, 1937, was delimited in four zones of occupation under American, British, Soviet, and French military administration.
