I thought that members may be interested in the attached article - "Mail and Diseases".  A very interesting read.
It has a military connection in that the item illstrated is a letter destined for the Austrian Army stationed in the federal bastion Mainz.

This article first appeared in the monthly journal "Die Briefmarke", Post and Philately in Austria by Gerald Heschl and appears here with approval.  Translated by Gerlinde Southey of Lewisham PS and sent out to members of Lewisham PS by Tony Hickey and to contacts in Kent by Michael R Thompson.

Mike  :)

With my computer difficulties behind me (I hope!) I've been trying to mount up material I have accumulated over the years.  This offering is of two official paid mail items with nice clear unit datestamps impressions from the Wellington School, British Forces Education Service and Station Staff Office Osnabrück - both cancelled with FIELD POST OFFICE 209 datestamp used at the FPO at Osnabrück (BFPO 36).  I do like official mail with nice clear units cachets or datestamps, as well as clear FPO cancels - even if they are on manila envelopes.


Mike  :)

And I believe this situation has been identified before on this Forum.

I also have an example of this closer to home - my late father was V.G. Dobbs (Valentine George) but never used the V word - always referred to as George.  He was, of course, born on Valentine's day!

Mike  :D

I think that there are only two letters there - K and M as identified by Frank. 
It looks like a very crudely made cachet with blotches at each end.
Don't know where Alan gets his T from!

Mike

Kosovo was an autonomous region within Serbia and although referred to as Kosovo the ethnic Albanian population preferred to use their spelling of Kosova.  The Albanians had been a cause of friction with the Serbs for many years and eventually this tension between the Albanian ethnic majority and Serb minority boiled over into violence, not helped with other conflicts taking place with the breakup of the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.  By the end of 1995 some 340,000 Kosovar Albanians had sought political asylum outside of Yugoslavia.  In turn by the spring of 1997 almost the entire Croat population of Kosovo had emigrated to Croatia.  The UN had called upon both sides to end the conflict and seek a political settlement. However, the Serbs refused to listen and ignored the pleas and warnings of the international community.  Instead they carried on their persecution of the Albanian community.

Despite all the pressures and threats by NATO, the promises made by the Serbs were not fulfilled.  Aggression and repression against the Kosovar Albanians continued and intensified.  The civil war in the Serbian province of Kosovo led to a UN sanctioned and NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR) entering the country from neighbouring Macedonia on 12 June 1999, some 48,000 strong.  The Danish battalion formed part of the French-led North Sector with HQ at Mitrovica, later known as Multinational Brigade North (MNB(N)).

The cover below (albeit a highly philatelic item!) shows meter franking machine G7179 inscribed DANBN / KFOR which was brought into use from 25 October 1999 for Danish soldiers involved in KFOR and used the address Feltpost 555. 

Mike  :)

I have received the following enquiry from the website:

[color=maroon]i have a copy of camp postmarks of uk but would like information on a world war one camp at bostal woods at bostal hill kent now se18 london[/color]

I have acknowledged the enquiry and stated:
Have you tried an internet search – I have found this site:
[url=https://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1387913091224491&id=130735923608887&set=a.239478672734611&refid=13&__tn__=%2B%3E]https://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1387913091224491&id=130735923608887&set=a.239478672734611&refid=13&__tn__=%2B%3E[/url]

Does anyone have any further information?

Thanks, Mike

Alan

Suggest you contact the Canadian Military Mail Study Group and maybe get an item in their next Newsletter to see what responses you get.

Mike  :)

Peter

I've been meaning to respond for some days now (and now that I have a new PC!) but I have been otherwise occupied.  A lovely cover, my only example of FPO 80 from Wegberg is a piece from a packet but which bears FORCES POST OFFICE 80 dated 14 OCT 75 and also has the unit datestamp of CENTRAL REGISTRY / R.A.F. HOSPITAL / WEGBERG and is dated 13 OCT 1975.

Mike  :)

Next to 10M is 2-50 which to me implies printed February 1950.

Could this be a post-war reunion invitation made to look like some form of wartime card?

Or else it is a post-war call-up for training - "cruise" not being the holiday cruise we have nowadays, but a period aboard ship at sea?

Mike  :)

I have received the following enquiry:

[color=maroon]I am wondering about the location British FPO 259 after war from 1945 to 1946. It was said to be in Singapore. Is it true?[/color]

I have responded as follows:

[color=blue]Unfortunately we do not have very much information on that FPO number.  The following information has been taken from:
History of British Army Postal Service, Volume III 1927-63, undated, Edited by Edward B Proud and published by Proud Bailey Co Ltd c.1982
It shows  FPO 259:

Singapore      May 46?
Seremban ?  July 46[/color]

Does anyone have any further information please?

Thanks, Mike  :)

To me its clear that it was censored somewhere in the UK - posted in UK and addressed to the Air Ministry and redirected initially to Addis Ababa then to London, but there is no evidence that it actually went to Addis Ababa.

The other datestamp has (I believe) LON(DON?) on the top left hand corner, then RECEIVED / WITH .... ENCL, then NO(?) with the date 6 AUG 1943

The other boxed initials are A.M. (for Air Ministry?).

The PASSED BY CENSOR / AT HEAD OFFICE is in a different colour to the above datestamp.  I would suggest that it was applied at a different office or location.

I would suggest that the cover stayed in the UK and was censored at a "Head Office" in the UK - could this be the 'Special Duties' Branch?

Mike

Peter

A very nice cover with some interesting history.

The Air Ministry department as w ritten on the cover is A.I.1.C (you have the I and 1 the wrong way round).

I have carried out some researches on The National Archives website and I believe that A.I = Air Intelligence (i.e. Air Ministry, Directorate of Intelligence).  I'm not sure what the 1.C is but I have seen refences to A.I.1(k) and A.I.1(e) as well as references to A.I.2.

These are all part of the AIR40 class under which it is stated:
Air Ministry, Directorate of Intelligence and related bodies: Intelligence Reports and Papers
This series consists of various intelligence reports, narratives, photographs and surveys of enemy capabilities and reports of operations carried out against the enemy and of interrogation of prisoners of war.

Whether any of these files will give you the full answer, I don't know.

Mike

I am almost certain that it was ASCENSION - having looked through a magnifying glass and a strong light close up and looking at it both through the front and back of the label!

Yes, I also think it strange that Ascension is called Islands rather than singlular.

I tried to do this under 8 June but was diverted with other tasks and now its gone midnight!

I've been trying to find the time to mount up some covers, which is slow progress.  I came acorss these bag labels in a folder which I must have had for at least a year - they are next on my "to do" list as they form part of my Home Depot collection which I am currently working on.  They are all connected with the Falklands.  I have plenty of other bag labels as well - some from/to BAOR and other places.

Mike  :)

Hi Chris

Not seen the cachet before and I'm struggeling to find out what UNCF stand for?
Three that I have cone across are clearly not applicable:
- United Nations Cooperation Framework
- United Negro College Fund
- United Nepali Christian Fellowship established in 2000 for Nepalese in Korea

I have now come across another two which could be appropriate:
- United Nations Combined Forces
on this website (it is only mentioned once):
[url=https://news.wttw.com/2016/01/19/examining-north-korea-s-alleged-success-first-h-bomb-test]https://news.wttw.com/2016/01/19/examining-north-korea-s-alleged-success-first-h-bomb-test[/url]

- United Nations Coalition Forces
[url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=313YB9VXIVAC&pg=PT474&lpg=PT474&dq=UNCF+Korean+war&source=bl&ots=egX-4eGV3s&sig=ACfU3U0jnR_dJ5ofQouLBGUQclxOIgddBA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjSjLWqrPPpAhWPTxUIHbDrAvYQ6AEwAXoECBIQAQ#v=onepage&q=UNCF%20Korean%20war&f=false]https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=313YB9VXIVAC&pg=PT474&lpg=PT474&dq=UNCF+Korean+war&source=bl&ots=egX-4eGV3s&sig=ACfU3U0jnR_dJ5ofQouLBGUQclxOIgddBA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjSjLWqrPPpAhWPTxUIHbDrAvYQ6AEwAXoECBIQAQ#v=onepage&q=UNCF%20Korean%20war&f=false[/url]

Both the above are modern references - I haven't seen anything yet from the Korean War era.

Having a re-think it could be United Negro College Fund as that was founded in 1944 and there are plenty of references to it and American servicemen in the Korean War.  They could have produced their own cachet for their members use on mail to be sent home?

What do others think?

Mike  :)