Both World Wars, when access to funding became severely limited, caused even greater disruption. Moreover, after World War II the Society's Berlin headquarters fell within the Soviet Zone of Occupied Germany. In 1961 the BMS established a branch in West Berlin, which remained in contact with its only remaining missionary field, namely in South Africa, for the next 28 years. However, from 1962 it began granting independence to its mission churches which, in time, became amalgamated with other Lutheran mission churches in the region and formed the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa.