It looks like I Muncey to me, but all I can find is a member of the Rifle Brigade in India to 1898

Any assistance with this would be appreciated:

I have attached copy of a cover (actually a front) sent to London cancelled with the ARMY POST OFFICE TPO EAST NO.1 datestamp used in October 1901.

This is recorded by Proud (British APO's Vol 1) recorded used in the Transvaal between Pretoria and Waterval Order between Aug 01 and May 02.

I  struggle with the senders details and can not make out the location, any help? I can read the following: From Pt J Muncey Guard _____ _____ Station Transvaal South Africa.

Thank you in advance.

I have received the following enquiry a few days ago:

[color=maroon]I wonder if anyone can help me please. I am writing a non-fiction book based around a collection of letters written by a REME soldier to my aunt during WW2. In August 1944 his Unit moved to France, then Belgium, Holland, and finally Germany. The letters were stamped by the censor in different ways. Plain envelopes had the 'Passed by Censor' stamp and the signature of the censor; Army Privilege Envelopes (aka 'Green envelopes') had ''Passed by Censor [number]', without a signature; some plain envelopes just had 'Released by Base Censor' [un-numbered]. I am trying to understand the different levels of those censors - where were they based? Is there any record of which officers were assigned the role of censor?

Your help would be much appreciated and acknowledged.[/color]

Due to the amount of work I'm involved in with other philatelic and non-philatelic societies at the moment I'm struggleing to come up with a suitable worded response and I'm looking for some help in this respect please.

I know that censorship was carried out at unit level (or company, battery, etc for larger units) and so the censoring officer would either sign or initial the envelope and apply the censor cachet.  I also know that from time to time the base censor would nominate mail from specific units to be further censored at base level just to check that local censors are doing the job correctly.  I also know that green envelopes were exempt from unit censorship and were sent to the base censor for censorship before being put in the post for delivery to the addressee.

I don't know that reason why some envelopes are not signed but have the censor cachet applied - unless that it just an oversight by the censoring officer.

Help please.

Thanks, Mike

Thank you very much for your assistance in this matter. Very helpful indeed. I had heard of Quassussin previously but  really didn't take much notice of it. However, after looking up my Prouds "History of the South African Army Postal Service" I note that APO 3 & 7, attached to 1st SA Division were stationed there for a short period prior to there repatriation home in 1942-43. Also the sight of 106 (SA) General Hospital in 1944.

Nick

You could well be right - see attached link "Polish YMCA Building Kassasin (Qassassin)"
https://digitalcommons.buffalostate.edu/ymcaphotos/25/

As a result of searching "Kassasin" I have come across this link:
Camp 379 Qassassin:
Prisoner of War Camp Quassassin was situated 35 kms by rail west of Ismalia on the Suez Canal; 230 kms SE of Alexandria and 74 kms from Geneifa.
https://italianprisonersofwar.com/tag/camp-379-qassassin-el-qassasin-quassassin-kassassin-el-kassasin/

Thanks, Mike

Do you think it might now be known as Kassasin? About 30-40 kms west of Ismailia. See attached Google Maps screen snips. If so, then the country is Egypt.

chrs
N

1936 Besuto Company, AAPC

WO 169/12993 1936 Company (Basuto) African Auxiliary Pioneer Corps (AAPC)
(Jan-Dec 1943)

Yesterday (Tuesday) I visited The National Archives and was able to look at the above file the unit War Diary for 1943.  This showed that the Company was located in Bengasi in January 1943.

A look through the War Diary I came across the following two entries for 22 December 1943:

Seven Sections and HQ arrived at P.C.D. at Qusassin from Tripoli and they were accommodated in Camp 50.  In the War Diary I read the handwriting as Qassassiu which was obviously wrong as various web searches show the Pioneer Corps Depot to be at Qusassin.  However, I could not find in which country Qusassin is situated!

Lt A. Guthrie (71295) reported for duty with the Company ex P.C.D. located at Qusassin.

Lt Guthrie was indeed a Pioneer Corps officer
P.C.D. = Pioneer Corps Depot

see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Auxiliary_Pioneer_Corps
and
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwj9guSf_Pz-AhVIT8AKHUeOBlMQFnoECAwQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fapps.dtic.mil%2Fsti%2Fpdfs%2FADA322682.pdf&usg=AOvVaw0reJgBeAAMjddBJgbdwHW3

Which has the following passage:

Since the many thousands of Colonial Pioneers to be produced from this vast campaign of recruitment were to be despatched as speedily as possible to Egypt, it became obvious that a depot was required to receive, equip and train the men. A new Pioneer Corps depot was opened deep in the desert at Qasassin under the command of Lt Col H.G.L. Prynne. This desolate spot was where the first companies from Bechuanaland were headed in October 1941.

You will see that the author spells it in two different ways the diagram (p.210) as "Qusassin" and the above text as "Qasassin" (p.211) but still no clues as to where this was located other than "deep in the desert"!

However, after carrying out a search using the spelling "Qasassin" I feel the location to be in Egypt:
https://paulbullard.wordpress.com/egypt-1941-unfinished/

Then I came across this entry which confirms the location to be Egypt:
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/14511386.pdf

I hope this answers your queries.

Mike

To all
Very grateful for the threads in response to my query from everyone - once again the Forum shows its worth

Cheers
Tony

Thanks for the input - somewhat of an orphan it seems, only record of the censor and no clear indication of how this unit fitted into the ME/Aden command structure. Being 'Intelligence' that may be deliberate!!

If anybody is going to Kew......!! I'll happily pay your tube fare.....as it's probably 5 hours each way for me.

Neil W

Hi Peter. Here's a similar(ish) newspaper branch postmark listed by Whitney (1993).

Jim