Just to please our Treasurer (Alan Baker) a couple of sheets from my Canadian WW2 FPO collection - showing postcards sent from Canadian Forestry Corps units in Scotland.  As they are sheets from my collection they have the items written up on them.

I may well show more in the future!

Mike  :)

Chris

CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN FORCE
The Post Office Circular of 31 December 1947 stated:
Ceased to be used on 31 December 1947 when remaining British Forces in Italy adopted a civil form of postal address.

BRITISH FORCES IN GREECE
Post Office Circular of 8 May 1946
Stated the address was introduced on 23 March 1946

I would suggest that the card is dated October 1945 - if the address British Forces Greece was introduced on 23 March 1946 and censorship or use of censor cachets only went on until July 1945 (certainly the case in 21 Army Group in NW Europe) then I would suggest it is October 1945.

Mike  :)

Chris - an interesting cover.  I do wonder if it is philatelic as there are too many strikes of the various cachets for a genuine commercial usage!

I have not come across any of the markings applied - they are not listed by John Daynes in his article in FPHS Newsletter 145 (July/August 1977) (p,42) or my report of a further cachet in FPHS Newsletter 155 (March/April 1979) (p.54).

I don't know anything about British Forces in Pakistan in the 1950s, but we had Service personnel (Army and/or RAF) in a number of Commonwealth countries as part of liaison or training activities.

Mike  :)

Gents:

DADAWS = Deputy Assistant Director of Army Welfare Services

LF = Land Forces (i.e. HQ Land Forces Greece)

CMF = Central Mediterranean Force

I had initially thought that DADAWS stood for Deputy Assistant Director Army Works Services (but couldn't find any reference to such), but then agreed with Nick's response, especially after I downloaded The Quarterly Army List for April 1945 (all 1,926 pages of it!) and found the Director of Army Welfare Services at the War Office and further down nine Deputy Assistant Directors of Army Welfare Services shown within the War Office.  This appears to be a Major's post as all nine were of the rank of Major.  This came under the Department of the Adjutant-General to the Forces.

I think that this card will be of great interest to Marc Parren, who is compiling an article on British Forces in Greece.

Mike  :)

Hi Ross

It is indeed forces mail - from a serviceman to a serviceman and even more so as it has an RAF redirection form applied together with an RAF station Post Room datestamp.  A very nice item for RAF collectors. 

However, I do see you are ahead of the game here - I know down under you are aheasd of us, but I didn't think by that much!  We are still stuck in June here in the UK  :D :D

Mike  :)

Further to my previous posting on the ending of the Official Paid scheme on 1 April 1982, a new method of paying for postage on official mail had to be introduced for British Forces overseas.  As I understand it they could not use the PPI method and so the Forces Post Office introduced meter franking machines to pay for postage on official mail from units.

The Forces Post History Society (FPHS) Newsletter 172 gave details of the introduction of meter machines at many BFPOs following the phasing out of the 'Official Paid' service for official mail by the Post Office on 1 April 1982.  Details of the two BFPO LONDON meter machines (serial numbers HF 22052 and HF 22057) in use in the Falklands were given in FPHS Newsletter 175 and John Daynes' comprehensive book "The Forces Postal History of the Falkland Islands & The Task Force".

In a letter to the late John Daynes dated 14 May (no year) Lieutenant Colonel Roger Ayres OBE RA explained that units handed over all official mail to Forces Post Offices unstamped.  The mail was then sorted and those bundles which needed franking went through the meter machine.  This meant that within BAOR only mail to civilian addresses received a meter mark - unit mail still received the normal datestamp.  At that time mail to the UK normally received as 12½p meter mark unless:

(a) It was marked 'First Class'
(b) It was for the London area; he commented that this must somehow have been delivered or distributes from Mill Hill.

I show here mail from Germany and Cyprus used on the first day - 1 April 1982.  The first two are Hasler machines: serial HAS 1437 used at Düsseldorf BFPO 34 on 1.IV.82 on a cover from HQ 6 Artillery Support Squadron RCT and serial HAS 1438 used at Rheindahlen BFPO 40 on 2.IV.82 from 4 Armoured Division Transport Regiment RCT at Minden (BFPO 29).  The third cover is an Ascom/Hasler machine serial HGB 1413 used a Nicosia, Cyprus BFPO 53 on 1.IV.82 from HQ UNFICYP Transport Unit (this is the only report I have had from this serial).  It is clear that, certainly in BAOR, official mail from various BFPOs was centralised on certain locations for meter franking (see the item from BFPO 29 franked at BFPO 40).  It could be that the Cyprus item was not actually franked in Nicosia but at another FPO in Cyprus.

Mike  :)

Not everyone's cup-of-tea or to everyone's taste - my covers of the day today are two UK official items from Ministry of Defence organisations using a Postage Paid Impression licence number PHQ 334.

Following the cessation of Official Paid mail from 1 April 1982 previous users of this service (Government departments and organisations) had to turn to other methods for payment of postage for official mail.  This included use of postage stamps, franking meters or postage paid impressions (PPI).  The Post Office HQ serial (PHQ) allowed mail to be posted at any Post Office District/Delivery Office.  The Ministry of Defence was allocated the licence number PHQ 334 (later HQ 334) for use on official mail from MOD establishments and units throughout the UK.

The first cover (1982) is from the Sailors & Families Advice Bureau whilst the second cover (2002) is from the Ministry of Defence Guard Service (unit datestamp on the reverse).  On 1 April 2004 the Ministry of Defence Guard Service merged with the Ministry of Defence Police to form the Ministry of Defence Police and Guarding Agency.  The design of PPI marks has changed over the years, the Post Office largely dictated the design standards to be use,  and in later years had to have ROYAL MAIL incorporated into the design to show who was actually delivering the mail.

As I say, not for everyone but it is still Forces mail.

Mike  :)

Trying to clear my 'in' box!  I received this scan a couple of years ago after I had responded to an enquiry concerning FPO 515 dated 8 MY 43 - I answered thus:

[b]FIELD POST OFFICE 515[/b]:
30 Sep 1941 – issued to 9 Lines of Communication Postal Unit RE
4 Dec 1942 to 18 Nov 1945 – recorded used by APO S.246 at Derna, Libya (Middle East Forces)
4 May 1946 – Held by 4 Base Army Post Office

The information has been obtained from "History of British Army Postal Service – Volume III – 1927-1963" Edited by Edward B Proud; published Proud Bailey Co Ltd, July 1982

He then sent me a scan of the cover with the comment:

[color=maroon]I have taken the liberty of attaching an enlarged scan of the cover my friend is researching.  The lady to which it is addressed is quite famous in Czech Field Post collecting circles in that she seems to be one of the very few people who kept their covers and features in several monographs about Czech Forces sending mail during WWII.[/color]

I was just wondering if anyone had any further information on this cover?

Thanks, Mike  :)

Continuing with the theme, here is my 'something different' not a cover, but a form used by the Armed Forces Courier Service - Form FF61, a multi-item Delivery List.  The Courier Service (used for highly classified or other sensitive material) was run by the Forces Postal Service (hence the unit titles "Postal & Courier Communications") and such mail was accompanied by a RE(PS) NCO as the "courier".  This service was also operated in conjunction with the Foreign & Commonwealth Office "Queen's Messenger" service so that they did not duplicate routes.

In this case the Delivery List was used for one item only - this form was used at Dusseldorf, BFPO 34 (FPO S.134) and has ARMED FORCES COURIER SERVICE / 2163 datestamp for 12 FE 70 showing this datestamp was in use at FPO S.134.

Mike  :)

A very nice item - if you look in the box at the top right it states "Date Stamp" and has in manuscript S 130 with the date 3.10.73

This confirms Hohne as the office designation for the FPO at Hohne was FPO S.130.

I think that you are right with your assumption - from Hohne to the Postal Depot at Dusseldorf and then on a flight to the UK.

Mike

It would appear that Proud got his information from an unattributed and undated typewritten listing headed "LEGEND - FIELD POST OFFICES" on foolscap paper.  I have a (not very good) foolscap photocopy of this listing with plenty of unreadable manuscript notes which look like the abbreviated form that Crouch & Hill used.

I also have a second copy reduced and photocopied onto A4 size paper where various manuscript amendments are more readable, but obviously smaller in size as it has been reduced to fit onto A4 paper!  It also includes a page which I did not get in the above listing (BAPOs and RAF POs).

I also have an unattributed and undated carbon copy typewritten list headed "F.P.O. Locations WW2" which appears to be a similar but simplified listing, as it only lists dates of issue and not dates of return and does not contain other notes as in the first listing.

This is what they show for FPO 217 and 520 (I have omitted full stops after each abbreviated letter) (I have attached a Word document which shows the alignment under the different columns better):

[b]FPO 217[/b]:
Date issued Date returned Formation  Unit  Location
3 May 40                 52 Division PU UK
      ?               HPC RE
1 July 40               10 Corps MEF 2 June 41 - 1 Oct 43 MEF)
          1 Oct 43 - 9 June 45 CMF)
5 Oct 43                 in use outside ME Command
14 Apr 44         FPO S.575 (20 L of C BNAF/CMF)
28 June 46         20 L of C CMF
      19 Apr 47         HPC RE

[b]FPO 520[/b]
Date issued Date returned Formation  Unit  Location
24 Oct 41       10 L of C PU
      19 Apr 43       HPC RE
7 May 43               1st Airborne Div UK (26 May 43 - 16 Oct 43  B...
              (remaining letters not captured in the photocopy)
14 Apr 44       6 BAPO
6 Aug 44               S.575 20 L of C CMF
      1 Apr 46       HPC RE

The third listing (i.e. the carbon copy) only shows those entries under "Date issued" and under FPO 520 it has listed "5.8.44" for date issued to "S.575 20 LofC" and not "6 Aug 44".

I am not sure where these lists originated from or when they were created or by whom - I have assumed that someone at some stage had access to some official records or datestamp returns? .  I'm sure I got the first listing from the late Alan Brown and I think I came across the carbon copy in the mass of paper from Alistair Kennedy's flat.

I keep thinking that, certainly the first listing, needs to be re-typed "as is" to preserve the information - but that it a very big job - but it will enable me to get rid of a large chunk of paper!

I have attached a scan of the reduced A4 photocopy of the page showing FPO 217 (you will see that it has wide borders and so had to be reduced considerably to get onto an A4 sheet) - does anyone have any further background information on these lists or suggest what we do about them to preserve the "original" information?

Mike  :)

Good morning Peter

As soon as I saw your original post I went online and found the same link - its something I need to go back to, to cross-check against my NP listings.  I have Lt Cdr Warlow's book on "Shore Establishments of the Royal Navy" (pub 1992) which I have found to be a valuable resource for shore establishments and static ships.

Thanks for sharing.

Mike  :)

Peter

I have a very similar cover to yours - only mine is not the whole cover, it appears to be a long envelope that has been cut at either end just to retain the postmark, registration label and unit datestamp on piece!

Piece from a registered O.H.M.S ADMIRALTY SERVICE envelope from HMS Princess J(osephine) Charlotte to the Director of Electrical Engineering at the Admiralty at Bath, Somerset.  Sent on 7 September 1945 and authorised by the Commanding Officer's datestamp.  It received a large POST OFFICE / MARITIME MAIL rubber handstamp in red and a Maritime Mail (M.M.) 1904 registration label.

The vessel was launched on 28 June 1930 as the ss Prinses Josephine Charlotte, a cross-Channel steamer that worked the Ostend to Dover route.  After the start of WW2 the steamer helped to evacuate refugees from Belgium during May 1940 and in company with the rest of the Belgian fleet assisted in evacuations from Cherbourg, St Malo and Brest during the same month.  As the Germans advanced into Belgium the five cross Channel ships from Belgium came to England - they were the Prins Albert, Prins Charles, Prins Leopold, Prinses Josephine Charlotte) and the Prinses Astrid. 

Between June and September 1940 the Charlotte was taken over by the Ministry of War, but on 29 September 1940 she was taken over by the Admiralty, commissioned as HMS Prinses Josephine Charlotte (although referred to as "Princess") on 16 May 1941 and by January 1941 had been converted into a Landing Ship Infantry (Small) (LSI(S)) as LSI(S) 232 (although the designation LSI 4238 has also been used).

The ship served as a parent ship for landing craft which were carried on davits, port and starboard sides; the vessel carried eight such craft.  She took part in the Norway campaign, Sicily landings and also in the Normandy landings on D-Day.  In May 1945 she was one of the ships assigned to the relief of Jersey.

The Princess Josephine Charlotte was returned to the Belgian authorities on 25 October 1945 and was eventually sold for scrap on 26 November 1950.

Peter

Many thanks for this information on Naval Party 1646 - I have not got that number recorded in my Naval Party listings for North West Europe.  I jump from NP 1645Z to NP 1658!

The majority of my information on NPs come from the Red Lists and I see that the earliest I have seen is RED LIST as at 5pm 11 Oct 1944 [The National Archives document ADM208/28].  I shall have to see if they have earlier issues - which I'm sure they do have.

Mike  :)

Chris - I do indeed have two more FPO 61 covers!

The first of these is dated 20 DE 73 from the Directorate of Army Legal Services in Cyprus and the second one is dated 18 NO 74 - it is interesting in that the sender is with 275 Postal & Courier Communications Unit RE which were responsible for the provision of postal and courier services in Cyprus.

Enjoy!

Mike  :)