The proof that every Berge graph falls into one of the five basic classes or has one of the four types of decomposition follows a case analysis, according to whether certain configurations exist within the graph: a "stretcher", a subgraph that can be decomposed into three induced paths subject to certain additional constraints, the complement of a stretcher, and a "proper wheel", a configuration related to a wheel graph, consisting of an induced cycle together with a hub vertex adjacent to at least three cycle vertices and obeying several additional constraints. For each possible choice of whether a stretcher or its complement or a proper wheel exists within the given Berge graph, the graph can be shown to be in one of the basic classes or to be decomposable. This case analysis completes the proof.