The Mission of L. D. Clay Headquarters Compound is:

* To provide administrative capabilities for the Offices of the Commandant U. S. Army, Berlin. The Commander, Berlin Brigade, and the U. S. Minister, Department of State.

* To provide administrative and organizational space for the major departments and tenant groups of the U.S. Army, Berlin.

The U. S. Headquarters compound was named in honor of the dynamic and widely respected postwar military goyernor, General Lucius D. Clay who helped to direct the rebuilding of the city and who served during the crisis of the Berlin Blockade and Airlift (1948-49).

The Clay Headquarters compound was built for the German Air Force in the years 1936-38. Originally it was pne of seven Luftwaffe district headquarters, Luftgaukommando III, reporting directly to the Air Minister (Goering). In 1943, the seven air-defense districts on German soil were Consolidated into one Luftgaukommando-Mitte, headquartered on the same site. The new command was responsible for the air defense of the German homeland, including control of air defense artillery. Contrary to persistent belief, it was never Marshall Goering's headquarters.

The U. S. Army took control of the compound July 7, 1945, when Army Engineers surveyed it for damage which was slight. Subsequently, the property was confiscated under Allied Law No.52, which pertains to properties of the "former German Reich." By the end of 1945, the U. S. Military Government for Germany had established its headquarters on the site.

The Military Government ended in 1949 with the establishment of the Allied High Commission for Germany in Bonn. Since 1949 the Clay-allee compound has headquartered the three elements of the United States Command Berlin.

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