I note with interest that there was a seaplane base established at East Point on Diego Garcia from 1942 to 1946 in WW2. I also have heard that there were Mauritian coastal gunners as well. Can members tell me if military postal facilities were on the island and has any member ever seen any military mail from there.

Hi all

During my visit to The National Archives in May this year I was able to look at two War Diaries associated with British Guiana:

WO 176/20 - War Diary: Caribbean - Headquarters British Guiana (Sep 1939 - Dec 1941)
WO 176/21 - War Diary: Caribbean - British Guiana Militia (Jan-Sep 1942)

File WO 176/20:
1 Jan 1939 Active Militia mobilised
4 Sep 1940 USA obtained a lease for an airbase
9 Sep 1940 Volunteer Defence Corps formed
14 Oct 1940 US Mission arrived; Admiral Greenslade in charge
3 Feb 1941 Militia Coast Artillery formed
18 Dec 1941 Command of troops and responsibility for defence of Colony taken over by OC US Base Command

No mention of British units

File WO 176/21:
There is mention of a small detachment (2 Officers, 32 NCOs) of the Veteran Guard of Canada who reported for duty with the Ships' Guard Unit towards the end of June 1942.  This was responsible for guards on vessels anchored in the Port of Georgetown; also sent a detachment to Mackenzie.

No mention of British units

There was no mention of any British troops in either file (September 1939 to September 1942) - I do wonder if the censor stamps were issued to British Guiana units?

I have now responded to the person making the enquiry and asked if he can identify where the various covers were addressed to - British Guiana or the UK?

I hope to visit The National Archives again soon and look at further War Diaries to see if there was any mention of British soldiers seconded to British Guiana later in the war.  If anyone else has anything to add please do respond.

Thanks, Mike

Royal Navy in Vladivostok

HMS Suffolk (per deck log)
14 Jan. 1918 – 7 Jan. 1919

HMS Kent (per deck log)
4 Jan.-23 June 1919 (at America Bay 15-19 Apr., St. Olga Bay and Tetyukhe 13-16 May)

HMS Carlisle
1 July 1919-1 Nov. 1919
23 Feb.-1 Apr. and 11 Apr.-4 May 1920 (per deck log)

HMS Cairo
11-24 Feb. 1920 (per deck log)

Many thanks Peter for your help
Andrew

Neil

Once again many thanks for your response.  Having taken a close look at the cover I have now responded as follows:

[color=maroon]I have not had many responses but the one I have had and would agree with suggests that the cover is a fake for the following reasons:

1. The naval cachets he has for 1960s covers are more professionally created than this; the text is off-centre and the gap at the top and bottom is not equal and appears too large.  Also the date appears to be a fixed date and not a moveable one as one would expect on a unit (ship) datestamp.

2. The covers he has from 1967 going to a military collector in Austria are franked at 9d, which would have been the FPO and UK rate. No way is 1d a valid rate.

3. The 'cancellation' looks homemade. Even if the machine cancellation die head was accidently missed, the wavy lines are not identical to British machine cancellation wavy lines of the period - they are too thick and the wavyness too great compared with genuine British machine cancellations.  It is also suspicious that there is no die head shown.

4. Last but not least this ship was no longer in the Royal Navy.

For these reasons we do feel that the cover is a fake.[/color]

Regards, Mike

[b]6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion[/b]

The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion was a unique U.S. Army unit and it had the distinction of being the only all-African American, all-female unit sent overseas during World War II. The women kept mail flowing to nearly seven million soldiers in the European Theatre of Operations (ETO).

For those of you interested in US military postal history during WW2 you may be interested in hearing the BBC Radio 4 programme aired yesterday (7th June 2023) - a 29 minute programme about Major Charity Adams and her unit, the first African American woman to be commissioned in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, who arrived in Birmingham, England, to sort out an enormous problem with US mail for troops in the UK and Europe - up to two years build up of mail, including Christmas parcels, stored in six rat-infested aircraft-hangers.  This is a most fascinating story on US postal history as well as the leadership role of a young junior female officer - well worth a listen (download the programme and you won't have to sign on or register with the BBC):
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001mljz

For more historical information, including their time in France, click on these links:
https://armyhistory.org/6888th-central-postal-directory-battalion/
and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/6888th_Central_Postal_Directory_Battalion
and
https://www.womenofthe6888th.org/

Neil

Many thanks for your comments - I have had another look at the illustration and I am beginning to agree with you on all aspects.  Having a closer look, the Ships' cachet does not look as though the date is moveable, in other words a 'one-off' datestamp for that date only and as you say off-centre.

Thanks again, Mike

Mike

I'm not a 'naval expert' - but this looks very fishy to me!

1. The naval cachets I have for the 1960s are more professionally done than this which is obviously off-centre

2. The covers I have from 1967 going to a military collector in Austria are franked at 9d, which would have been the FPO and UK rate. No way is 1d a valid rate.

3. The 'cancellation' looks homemade. Even if the datestamp was accidently missed, the lines are too thick and not in sections in the way I would expect machine cancels of this period to be.

and the fact this ship was no longer in the Royal Navy.......

Neil W

I have received the following query:

[color=maroon]I've been chasing information on a cover I have with a cachet on it -
"Commanding Officer, 11th August 1969 H.M.S. Stratton "
This is a bit of a mystery as I've been in contact with Peter Down ( TCA 2000) and he has confirmed HMS Stratton was on the reserve list before being sold to the South African Navy in 1959, some years before the cachet. I've also had a look at the list of Shore Stations ( https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_ship_names_of_the_Royal_Navy_(R–T)#S ) and there is no mention of HMS Stratton. Darrel Drury suggested I contact a Michael Dobson who has pointed me in the direction of this Web site. I'll send on a copy if required.[/color]

Are any of our Naval specialists out there able to help please?

Thanks, Mike

A correspondent has asked me if I can provide scans of cover(s) to or from SS Great Britain during the Crimean War (1855) and the Indian Mutiny (1857-8). I imagine she was being employed as a troopship for these operations. If anyone has such a cover could they please e-mail scans to me at colintabeart@btinetrnet.com and I will forward to the party concerned. Many thnks, Colin