Oh dear - all I can think of when I see this post is the recent special Doctor Who episode on BBC where the renegade Time Lord the "Master" is involved in trying to kill Doctor Who before she re-generates into a new Doctor !!! 

I must study my covers more !!

Sorry - Mike

I have received the following enquiry:

[color=maroon]I am a set decorator working on a movie - mainly about the postal problem in the WW2 for US troops.
Is there any one i can talk to about reference and historical facts?[/color]

I will suggest that he contacts the Military Postal History Society (MPHS) and I understand that there was an article in the October 2022 edition of Stamp magazine on the 6888th Postal Battalion:

This is from Wikipedia:
[color=black]The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, nicknamed the "Six Triple Eight", was an all-black battalion of the Women's Army Corps (WAC). The 6888th had 855 black women, both enlisted and officers, and was led by Major Charity Adams. It was the only all-black, all-female battalion sent overseas during World War II. The group motto was "No mail, low morale".[/color]

Does anyone have a copy of the magazine that can send me a scan of the article please?
Does anyone have any other suggestions?

Chris

I think what Howard is trying to get at is if soldiers cannot censor mail (and you have agreed with this - as do I, only officers could censor mail) then the censor (Mortimer) of your cover [b]could not[/b] be "Sergt W/344 William Mortimer" as you suggested it was!  Back to the drawing board??

Mike

An excellent result Colin - not my area of interest but I was intrigued as to why you could not find him on the German website as recommended by Reg (nor I - and as a result of your last posting I couldn't find him in the other two U-boats either.

Then it struck me - we were spelling his surname the English way - a 'u' instead of the German 'ü' and on a German website using umlauts makes all the difference!  This is where I found his details:
https://www.historisches-marinearchiv.de/projekte/crewlisten/ww2/ausgabe.php?where_value=64828&lang_cl=2

Mike

The information I sent him (i.e. the two pages below from Virk's book) appears to have satisfied the person who made the enquiry - unless any of you have additional information!

Thanks, Mike

I have received the following enquiry:

[color=maroon]I would like to check if I could get some detailed information regarding British India FPO NO 53
Thank you[/color]

I have assumed that this relates to WW2 - I have asked for confirmation.

I have attached a scan from Virk's book on Indian FPOs in WW2 relating to FPO No 53.

Thanks, Mike

The remaining pages of the article mentioned below are attached.

I have received a reply from the person who made this enquiry (you will know who it is from below) who is extremely grateful for the information that you provided and wishes me to pass on his grateful thanks for the trouble you have taken.

He states that prior to receiving your responses an article had been placed in the latest issue of the GEOSIX Journal (No 285, September 2022) "East Africa Stamps, Postmarks and Censorship of Air Mail from Madagascar 1942-4" – Ronnie Winchester and Brian Livingstone FRPSL, but that your responses have added a lot more and when they have gone through it in detail they will have to put in a follow up though they are beginning to drift away from George VI stamps into rates and routes and censorship.

I will try and upload a copy of the said article, provided its not too large a file size for our forum.
Because if its size I have had to divide it into two - this attachment is the first five pages,  The remaining pages will follow in a new response!

Thanks, Mike

I have received the following enquiry from the British Postmark Society - a bit of a long shot I know, but I may just strike lucky!

[color=maroon]I've attached an image of an envelope with a Postage Paid undated postmark. It was later used with the V Bells slogan and we didn't know where it was used. My V Bells copy was addressed to Bridgwater and other items in the same correspondence were postmarked Halifax in September 1945. The damage on the rim makes me think it could be the same die. The question is would there be any record of where Censor 3825 would have been based?[/color]

Thanks, Mike

Chris

I will make enquiries and seek permission from the person whose display it is.

Mike

Tony

I have attached my notes on the BFPO numbers in Northern Ireland (801 to 825) which you may find useful.

Mike

Tony

Have a look at my 6-page article on Northern Ireland in FPHS Journal 301 (Autumn 2014) to see if that helps.  Otherwise happy to try and answer queries you post on the forum.

Mike

This is not a query - simply posting something which I feel may be of interest to some of you.

Looking through my emails and trying to reduce the number in my 'in' box I came across this from early 2021!  It is a one-pager compiled by a non-member but a member of several Kent clubs and was circulated amonst his wide Kent contacts during our lockdown period.  I thought it worth publishing on our Forum - why I didn't do it back then I don't know!

Mike

Thanks for the query Tony - OK lets break it down:

There is an official cover addressed to HQ Northern Ireland (UDR Applications), Magheralave Road, Lisburn, Co Antrim.  It was sent by 10th (Belfast) Battalion, The Ulster Defence Regiment whose Orderly Room datestamp is dated 25 NOV 1974.

The cover is postmarked FORCES POST OFFICE 177 dated 26 NO 74 (FPHS Type B1).  Between 1974 and 1976 this datestamp has been recorded used at BFPO 801 (Lisburn)

At that time (1974) there were two BFPO addresses for troops in Northern Ireland: BFPO 801 and BFPO 825 - this came about as follows:

On 1 June 1972 HQ Northern Ireland located in Thiepval Barracks, Lisburn adopted the address [b]BFPO 825[/b].  All other units, including those in Thiepval Barracks, retained the [b]BFPO 801[/b] address (source: Defence Council Instruction (General) Temporary T75/72 dated 17 May 1972).

There was no Forces Post Office at HQ Northern Ireland; there was, however, a Forces Post Office at Thiepval Barracks.

Major Doug Swanson wrote on the "Postal & Courier Services Branch, Royal Engineers Association" website (retrieved 6/9/2013):
[url="http://www.pcsbranch.org.uk/Posties%20in%20UK%20%20v2.pdf"]http://www.pcsbranch.org.uk/Posties%20in%20UK%20%20v2.pdf[/url]

"I introduced BFPO 825 for HQ NI.  Before this all mail was addressed to BFPO 801 and was sorted in our CDO in Lisburn.  When I calculated that almost 50% was for the HQ I saw a quick solution and much earlier mail delivery to the HQ.  All we had to do was open the 825 final bags and list the Registered mail for delivery as well as the Courier mail - of which there was a lot. We also stopped sending some outbound mails through the GPO - after the IRA robbed the GPO sorting office in Londonderry and took the military mail and registered mails."

It is clear that official forces mail DID NOT circulate through the General Post Office - instead it was sent to the nearest FPO for processing - in this case to the FPO at Thiepval Barracks, Lisburn (BFPO 801) for delivery to HQ Northern Ireland also at Thiepval Barracks (BFPO 825).  It was here that it received the FPO 177 postmark. 

As a result of digging around on the internet I have found little bits of information here and there which has helped me understand the situation and reach this response.

HQ Northern Ireland:

Magheralave House was built about 1893 to replace the original mansion destroyed by fire. The whole estate was purchased by the War Office with the exception of Magheralave Park of 12 acres.  A website states that "Fifty years ago this month the War Office bought Magheralave House and estate just outside the Lisburn town boundary as the site for the new headquarters of the Northern Ireland Army District."  However, there is no date on that statement. But a further statement may give a clue "It was anticipated that the new barracks would be completed in three or four years' time, but it was not likely that any building operations would be started before the end of that year, 1938." 

This massive site is the headquarters of the British Army in Northern Ireland - occupying quite a substantial chunk of North Lisburn. It also cuts the Magheralave Road in two. It is home to the 38th (Irish) Brigade and the 19th Light Brigade.

On 1 August 2007 38th (Irish) Brigade was formed; this acted as a non-deployable regional brigade with its headquarters in Thiepval Barracks, Lisburn and with regional brigade functions and responsibilities.

On 6 August 2007 HQ Northern Ireland and HQ 38 (Irish) Brigade combined to create a single transitional headquarters with a two star General Officer Commanding (GOC) (Major General Chris Brown CBE) as HQ Northern Ireland and 38 (Irish) Brigade, BFPO 825.

On 1 January 2009, HQ 38th (Irish) Brigade emerged as a single headquarters when residual regional functions were migrated to HQ 2nd Division in Edinburgh, due to the disbandment of HQ Northern Ireland.

The Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) was an infantry regiment of the British Army established in 1970, with a comparatively short existence ending in 1992.  The 10th (City of Belfast) Battalion, Ulster Defence Regiment was formed in 1972 from elements of the 7th Battalion, Ulster Defence Regiment creating a second battalion in Belfast.  It was again amalgamated with 7 UDR in 1984 to form the 7th/10th Battalion, Ulster Defence Regiment.  In 1977 at least 10 UDR was based at Girdwood Barracks, Belfast.  There was no FPO at Girdwood Barracks, Belfast.

I can only assume that the Forces Post Office collected mail from Girdwood Barracks, Belfast and took it to Thiepval Barracks, Lisburn for processing.

I hope this answers your query.

Mike

Nothing to do with the actual query concerning the censor mark, but quite by coincidence there is a letter in the latest "The London Philatelist" (Vol 131, No 1497, July/August 2022) which provides a bit more information on HMS Asbury:

"For a number of years, several members of the Sevenoaks Stamp Club [USA, not Kent!] have been meeting fortnightly to bring some philately to discuss informally among friends.  In 2017 I brought along the cover shown here, address to Durban, Natal, South Africa, which brought delight to the late John Crowe FRPSL, who informed us he was stationed at Asbury Park, NJ, in July 1943.

The station consisted of two large sea-fronted hotels, the Berkeley and Monterey with a fenced perimeter.  It was a holding station for several hundred British seamen awaiting ships.  John was assigned to and joined in NY the Tank Landing Ship, HM LST 180.  He was aboard when they landed Canadian troops at Berniers sur Mer, on the Normandy coast of France."

The cover referred to above bore a tombstone censor mark, initialled 'CRM' dated 1 December 1943.  Due to the number of stamps on the front (ten in number) the New York post office, Foreign Branch, took a look inside.  Finding that it contained stamps it was returned to sender as they did not havbe a permit issued by the Office of Censorship.

Mike