When, in May 1949 a retired former Gunner, Major General Sidney Charles Manley Archibald, took up the post of Religious Advisor and Head of the Religious Affairs Branch, he knew that the employment would last at most a year. Indeed, previous indications given by the Head of the Military Government had caused some people to conclude that it would only last a few months, a casualty of the cost cutting taking place throughout the organisation as it approached the end of its existence. Archibald was, though, to serve the full year. The Branch was barely reduced in size during his time in office and continued to function until the end of May 1950 when the zonal administration came to an end. General Archibald had been a career soldier. As he explained in a letter to Bishop Bell, when taking up the post, it had been his custom to send a regular digest of his activities to his superiors. The result of that practice was that a record of the main activities of the Branch, during its final year, can be found in the Bell Papers at Lambeth. In addition, Archibald also wrote a memoir of his service career which contained information on his time in Germany, both as Head of the Council of British Societies for Relief Abroad and then subsequently as Director of the Religious Affairs Branch of the Control Commission. These two documents have given an important insight into the Branch during its final months.

Archibald had had dealings with the Branch during his previous posting as Head of the British Relief Agencies. He recorded that the thought of taking over as the Director of Religious Affairs was ‘somewhat alarming’. He was interviewed by a senior member of staff at the Foreign Office, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and by General Sir Brian Robertson from Commission headquarters. This reflected what he felt was the experience he had of working for two masters, the Control Commission and the Church, and most notably for ‘Dr Bell, then bishop of Chichester and the Archbishop of Canterbury's representative’. It is of interest that he commented in his memoir, written in 1958, that, ‘I have never liked the Germans…and the more that I saw of them the less I liked them.