diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-branch.yml b/.github/workflows/release-branch.yml
index 47fd41026..02a92410b 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release-branch.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-branch.yml
@@ -1,4 +1,8 @@
-name: Create Release Branch
+# GitBook external customer documentation: This action creates a branch for each release, which can optionally be used in GitBook to maintain service-versioned documentation streamlined with service-releases.
+# If an existing release is deleted and re-released, the original release-branch is deleted and recreated with the re-release.
+# Simply deleting a release without re-releasing does not delete the release-branch, as it could already be used by GitBook.
+
+name: Create Release Branch for GitBook
 
 on:
   release:
@@ -18,15 +22,37 @@ jobs:
         git config user.name "${{ github.actor }}"
         git config user.email "${{ github.actor }}@users.noreply.github.com"
 
-    - name: Create a new branch from the release
+    - name: Check if branch already exists
+      id: check-branch
+      run: |
+        # Normalize the release tag to ensure it is a valid branch name
+        SAFE_TAG_NAME=$(echo "${{ github.event.release.tag_name }}" | sed 's/[^a-zA-Z0-9._-]/-/g')
+        BRANCH_NAME="release/$SAFE_TAG_NAME"
+        
+        if git ls-remote --heads origin $BRANCH_NAME | grep -q $BRANCH_NAME; then
+          echo "Branch $BRANCH_NAME already exists."
+          echo "branch-exists=true" >> $GITHUB_ENV
+        else
+          echo "Branch $BRANCH_NAME does not exist."
+          echo "branch-exists=false" >> $GITHUB_ENV
+        fi
+
+    - name: Delete existing branch if it exists (re-release?)
+      if: env.branch-exists == 'true'
+      run: |
+        # Normalize the release tag to ensure it is a valid branch name
+        SAFE_TAG_NAME=$(echo "${{ github.event.release.tag_name }}" | sed 's/[^a-zA-Z0-9._-]/-/g')
+        BRANCH_NAME="release/$SAFE_TAG_NAME"
+        
+        echo "Deleting existing branch $BRANCH_NAME."
+        git push origin --delete $BRANCH_NAME || echo "Branch $BRANCH_NAME could not be deleted (might not exist on remote)."
+
+    - name: Create and push the new branch
       run: |
         # Normalize the release tag to ensure it is a valid branch name
         SAFE_TAG_NAME=$(echo "${{ github.event.release.tag_name }}" | sed 's/[^a-zA-Z0-9._-]/-/g')
         BRANCH_NAME="release/$SAFE_TAG_NAME"
         echo "Creating branch $BRANCH_NAME"
+        
         git branch $BRANCH_NAME
         git push origin $BRANCH_NAME
-
-    - name: Confirm branch creation
-      run: |
-        echo "Release-Branch created successfully."