Peter / Chris

Not sure if I can help - done a quick search  and found a number of entries which feature S.S. Anglaise - including this one:
GUERRE 14-18 : griffe et cachet Convois automobiles S S Anglaise XI par Dijon

Also this site shows what S.S. stand for:
[url=https://horizon14-18.eu/abrv-militaires.html]https://horizon14-18.eu/abrv-militaires.html[/url]
lists S.S. as Service de Santé (Google translation: health service)

Could these be English motor ambulance conoys in support of French Army?

You could try David Trapnell - he authored a Special monograph on "French Military Posts & Railways 1914-1918 - The Authorizing Handstamps" in 2011 - with his French interest he may be able to offer some help.

Mike

Hi Nick

Many thanks for your kind words which I have passed on to Paul Carter.
In asking him for any details he had, I had attached scans of all three covers mentioned here.

Mike  :)

I've received the following response from Paul Carter of the British Postmark Society:

[color=maroon]Yes, I can help with this.  The temporary office dies first appeared in 1935, deployed during the Christmas pressure period, and seen each year until 1940.  Four of London's main district offices had these dies available and it is thought they were used at temporary premises similar to those pressed into service in the Birmingham and Sheffield areas in the 1970s (i.e. drill halls, church halls, scout huts, etc).

S.E. had just one die and it has been seen only from 1935.  S.W. had two dies while Battersea (a district office in its own right, I believe controlling SW12-SW20 sub-districts) had at least five dies - possibly as many as seven!  Finally, Paddington (which controlled W3-W14
sub-districts) had two dies.  We do not know the exact locations of the temporary premises within each district.

Although the dies were intended for Christmas use, there is a wartime angle... one of the S.W. dies subsequently saw use at a Brixton temporary location in 1941/42 and again at an Earl's Court temporary location in 1944, on both occasions as a result of bomb damage to the normal sorting offices in those sub-districts.

Attached is a summary of the various dies and earliest/latest dates reported for each of them.

Best wishes, Paul[/color]

From the BPS website:

BPS member Paul Carter is undertaking the mammoth task of listing all known Universal-pattern dies used in UK Stamp Cancelling Machines and their dates of use. Having completed his initial listing of the 'black' dies used with slogans or wavy lines for cancelling stamps, he has now also listed the 'red' dies - mostly inscribed 'Great Britain' - used with 'Paid' indicators on mail prepaid in cash. We plan to publish his magnum opus soon, and details will appear here when available.

I hope this helps answer your query, Mike  :)

Andy

I agree with Alan - the word is GIFTS.

I haven't seen such a cachet before - thus don't know what is below SOLDIER'S GIFTS

I'm glad you think its DPO - I thought it was OPO !  Still don't know what it stands for though.  A real mystery.

Mike  :)

Nick / Peter

Not seen these before.  However, under Collect British Postmarks (8th Edition) (Stanley Gibbons, 2011) such machines are listed under the brief reference 'London Temp Office' (19)35-49 (p186).  No further details.

Nick - your postmark is LONDON ?ATT. / TEMPY.OFFICE No 2 - which I feel sure is BATT (i.e. Battersea).

I know someone in the British Postmark Society who is writing a book on Universal machine cancellations, so I'll make some enquiries to see if he has got round to London yet and see if he knows anything about these temporary postmarks.

Mike  :)

Ingo

Re: mistaking 11 for N - in the UK we would say "you should have gone to Specsavers"!

The following text explains how and why Herford was chosen:

Orders were received from HQ 21 Army Group on 1 May 1945 to prepare for the establishment of an advanced section of the BAPO in Germany.  The postal authorities had evidently decided that the occupation troops would best be served by setting up a base post office in Germany to eventually replace the one in Belgium.  After viewing several locations, agreement was finally reached by 2 June 1945 with Postal and 'Q' Branches of HQ 21 Army Group on the siting.  This was to be in accordance with Army Group policy that the BAPO was to be established within a 25 mile radius of HQ 21 Army Group and the only suitable location found was the Poggenpohl Factory in Herford.

The premises were inspected on 18 June 1945 and it was decided to take over the whole of the factory first floor including staff welfare accommodation at the end, part of the ground floor extending from the left hand side going into the factory nearly as far as the railway line.  The APO had the exclusive use of the main lift and main staircase and also a suite of toilet accommodation across the yard.  However, this site was in need of a considerable amount of clearance work and RE works services to render it usable.

Mike  :)

Ingo

The Zone Postal Depot (later 101 Zone Postal Depot) was located in Herford and was the main routing / sorting depot for mails to BAOR.
Your datestamp is ZONE POSTAL DEPOT / 11 (not N) - the Depot had a Krag machine and had datestamps numbered 1 to 11.  I have recorded numbers 2,6,7,8,10 and 11.

This is my text on the Depot:

This Depot was established in the former Poggenphol Factory at Herford, Germany on 27 June 1945 as an Advance Base Post Office to serve 21 Army Group / British Army of the Rhine and was initially known as the Zone Postal Depot.  It was a sub-unit of 8 Base Army Post Office (8 BAPO) and was re-named as 101 Zone Postal Depot when a revised War Establishment became effective on 8 December 1945.  A month later, on 8 January 1946, the HQ unit of 8 BAPO transferred to the Depot.  In 1951 the Depot and HQ unit combined to form 8 Command Postal Depot, by which time datestamps inscribed 'Zone Postal Depot' ceased to be used; the Krag machine was last reported used in December 1948.

Regards, Mike  :)

Peter H.

You were nearly correct - South West Pacific Area - it was an Allied command (largely American)
see Wikipedia entry - [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_West_Pacific_Area_(command)]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_West_Pacific_Area_(command)[/url]

Mike  :)

Peter
I think I would agree with you that it is almost certainly a forgery - there is no signature of the "censor" and also how can it have been censored as it does not appear to have been opened and re-sealed.

I have no heard of any requirements for mail from UK or overseas addressed to HM Forces in Northern Ireland to be censored.  If that was the case I think we would have heard long before now.

Mike  :)

Whether the information I have provided below if helpful or not, I don't know but I hope in some way if may be useful.  I have two copies of unofficial FPO listings clearly obtained some three years after the end of WW2 and I feel obtained from official listings, returns, etc.  There is no indication as to who created these listings - both clearly based on the same original information but set out in two different formats and one containing sometimes more information than the other.  They are typewriter written on foolscap paper, one a photocopy (of a photocopy, which in some instances has not been copied neatly and so has had manuscript entries prior to a second photocopy which I have) and the other a carbon copy of the original.  The relevant combined information from these two lists is as follows:

FPO 37 26 Nov 1940 issued to 13 Corps D.7  India; 23 Dec 41 - 14 Mar 1944 MELF
FPO 38 26 Nov 1940 issued to 13 Corps D.6 23 Dec 41 - 14 Mar 1944 MELF
                                                                                14 Mar 44 - 18 Jun 1947 CMF
FPO 40 26 Nov 1940 issued to 13 Corps 23 Dec 41 - 14 Mar 1944 MELF
                                                                                14 Mar 44 - 18 Jun 1947 CMF

On 1 January 1941 the Western Desert Force was redesignated XIII Corps (13 Corps)
Were these datestamps issued to 13 Corps Postal Unit?

I have identified a 13 Corps Postal Unit War Diary in The National Archives - WO 169/8633 (Apr-Dec 1943).  There does not appear to have been any earlier war diaries for this unit - does this mean it was not formed until April 1943? 

However Proud lists FPO 37 as being issued to [u]XXII[/u] Corps on 26 Nov 1940 - typo error?
For FPO 37 why India is mentioned is not known. 

6th Infantry Division formed in Egypt on 3 Nov 1939 by redesignation of 7th Infantry Division (in Palestine and then Egypt at the outbreak of WW2) and on 17 Jun 1940 Div HQ became HQ Western Desert Force and Division effectively ceased to exist; on 17 Feb 1941 Division reformed in Egypt as 6th Infantry Division then on 10 Oct 1941 became 70th Infantry Division (all this information taken from Wikipedia).

It is clear that Proud had access to one or other of these listings, but clearly was confused by some of the entries as I am! 

The overriding aspect is that all three FPOs were listed as being in MELF 23 Dec 1941 to 14 Mar 1944 and that D.70 and D6 are related to "6th Infantry Division" in the Middle East.

As regards Ross' comments - FPOs 32, 33, 35 and 36 were issued to 8th Armoured Division on 26 Nov 1940.  The Division was broken up and was finally disbanded in Egypt on 1 January 1943 (again from Wikipedia).  Hence datestamps would have been "scattered" to other FPO/APOs from around this period.

To try and resolve issues it will be necessary to research war diaries at The National Archives to see what information is contained in any Postal Directorate and Postal Unit war diaries which may exist.  Also where was 6th Infantry Division/70th Infantry Division located in the Middle East during this period - again looking through the HQ war diaries for this period may provide some clues.

Mike  :)

Chris & Frank

Thank you for your responses so far.

I have now received copies of the postcard - unfortunately he sent them inserted into the email rather than as attachments and they are small.
I have copied them to a word file and tried to enlarge them before they became blurred.

Censor is Type CM6/7002 - does anyone have any info on this please?

Based on what you both say in your replies, I don't think that this card was posted in Albania due to the APO cancel and the censor type - you both mention Type CM8 censors in your responses.  Also there is no indication as to the unit the writer is from so we cannot even presume it is from someone who is returning from Albania and simply posted the card in France on his way home.

Mike  :)

Chris - get in quick otherwise our Russian expert Howard might be tempted!!  ;) ;D

Mike

I have received the following enquiry:

[color=maroon]I am an Albanian collector, specialising in the postal history of Shkodër (Scutari), not a military mail collector as such.
At the end of WWI, an International Force comprising French, Italian and British troops was set up in Shkodër, after the Serbs were forced to leave the town.
Initially, between end November/December 1918 and 15/16 March 1919, the British force was represented by members of the 1st Garrison Battalion of the Essex Regiment.
They were subsequently replaced in mid March 1919 by the 1st-6th Battalions of the Gloucestershire Regiment.
I recently found an old Albanian picture postcard which was sent at the time of the Second International Occupation of Shodër and although dated 1919 was sent On Active Service and censored.
The postcard has been cancelled ARMY POST OFFICE — R.38 — on B 26 FE 19.
I would be grateful if you could identify where this British Field Post Office was situated and which units it served at that date. So far no item of mail has been identified as having being sent by a member of the Essex Regiment. I am hoping that this could possibly be one.[/color]

According to Kennedy & Crabb APO R.38 was the Divisional Railhead for 38th (Welsh) Infantry Division in France as part of the BEF; recorded used DE 15 to MR 19.

I have asked for a scan of the postcard and also details of the censor cachet which I will post here once received.  However, can anyone add any other information please ?

Thanks, Mike

Government of Canada - Library and Archives Canada - Military Abbreviations used in Service Files
lists CACTR as Canadian Armoured Corps Training Regiment

[url=https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/Pages/military-abbreviations.aspx#c]https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/Pages/military-abbreviations.aspx#c[/url]

Mike

Michael

The article you refer to is FPHS Newsletter 251 (Spring 2002)  - "Indian Ocean and East African Pioneers" - available for viewing on our Journal archive section of our website.

It refers to two Pioneer Groups - Nos 84 and 214.  A quick check of The National Archives has found these files on quarterly historical reports which may or may not be of use in determining formation of relevant pioneer companies:

WO261/423 - 84 Group - 1946
to
WO261/426 - 84 Group - 1949

WO261/430 - 214 Group - 1949-50

Mike  :)