Redirected 1943 cover to Diego Suarez, Mozambique

[Jim Mackay]

I wonder if anyone can help to interpret this Air Mail cover which was posted in the UK (Carlisle?) on 12 Jan 1943 with the address of Draft RCKGG at Army PO 4270. There are two East African backstamps, EA APO 91 dated 2 April 1943 and EA APO 88 the following day. The arrival (?) EA APO handstamp number is unfortunately illegible and the redirected address is HQ, CD  P(or R?) A, Diego Suarez. There are also the letters S.M.O. in red at the bottom of the cover.

I've Googled Capt Zeitlin and the London Gazette records that he relinquished his commission on account of disability on 28 April 1946 and was granted the honorary  rank of captain. Google also points to an obituary in the BMJ dated 6 October 1973 but I've been unable to get past the first page of the PDF file.

Any help or suggestions will be most welcome.

Jim

[Alan Baker]

Not a common name but difficult to find any info on him. However, I have found a Dr Joshua Zeitlin on Ancestry who died in August 1973. According to the Family Tree on Ancestry, he was married in 1936 in Cardiff. I think on closer inspection that the postmark is from that town

Forces War Records show him as a Lieutenant in the RAMC in 1941.

I hope this may be the same chap....

[Jim Mackay]

Many thanks for that, Alan.
Looks like the right chap, and Cardiff is certainly a better fit than Carlisle.
Cheers
Jim

[Michael Dobbs]

Hi all

This very same cover appeared for sale on the Stampboards.com website in 2015 !  I don't know of the write-up adds anything.
http://www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=61812

Mike

[Jim Mackay]

Well spotted, Mike!
Its been languishing in my "must research" heap ever since arriving from Oz.
Cheers
Jim (aka Cullen)

[Michael Dobbs]

I spent quite a considerable time last evening trying to figure out what HQ CD RA (or PA) could stand for - can only assume the CD has something to do with Coast (or Coastal) Defence if the other initials are RA (Royal Artillery) as there were Coast Defence Batteries involved in East Africa.

I also tried the National Archives, but would prefer to view the paper file indices rather than online search.  I didn't come up with any answers. 

This is a mystery!

Mike

[Nick Colley]

Correct me if I'm wrong, folks, but I see the highest numbered E APO in Rossiter/Proud is no.89.

The obvious question is: is this really no.91, and hence a new discovery, or a badly inked, or damaged (?) no.81? I see the aforementioned publication places APO 81 at Port Reitz near Mombasa, which would seem to be a plausible transit point for mails coming into theatre.

Perhaps we can pass this on to an interested member of the EASC?

Does anyone have any views/comments?

rgds
N

[Ross Debenham]

I agree Nick, of interest is the fact that the "91" post marker was applied one day previous to the application of the "88" post marker that was used in Nairobi. However it definately looks like 91 which raises the question if there was a EAAPO 91 whether there was in fact also an EAAPO 90 that has not been recorded as well. All that aside it is most probably the post marker for Port Reitz.

[Nick Colley]

Thanks for that, Ross. As it happens, I finally tracked down the e-mail address of a contact in the EASC, so those scans have been brought to their attention for comment. Will report back as and when.

chrs
N

[Michael Dobbs]

Ross

The only information I have on the address APO 4270 is:

APO 4270 EFM telegraph service authorised [POC 16 Sep 1942]
(EFM = Expeditionary Force Message - this was a concessional telegram service based on pre-determined phrases, service personnel and their familities could select up to three phrases per telegram)
(POC = Post Office Circular)

Regards, Mike

[Nick Guy]

This query reached me as editor of the Bulletin of the EASC and known WWII collector and I am replying in that role - I hadn't had a chance to check the forum lately as I was dealing with the Bulletin, so thanks to Nick Colley for calling it to my  attention.  I have had a word with a couple of members (which did not affect my comments) but what follows are purely my own thoughts.

I am strongly inclined to the view that the postmark in question is APO 81.  If you blow it up you can see it is slightly mis-struck, with the lettering "A.P.O.  n1" particularly affected so that there is clear doubling throughout the lower sector - which would account for the infill in the right hand indentation between the two loops.  This is quite shallow anyway as you can see in the two scans of APO 81 postmarks attached - which I would argue are quite similar - there is variation in the lettering between the different EA APO marks, though not enough to absolutely identify them if the number isn't visible.  Going back to the possible "9" I think there are traces of the line closing the gap in the lower loop as well.

More generally, as has been mentioned before in the forum, the circumstances in which Rossiter's sadly uncompleted work was published do mean that caution is required in using the book and, in any case, new discoveries do turn up surprisingly often.  Nonetheless, in the 35 years since the book came out I have not heard of any APO numbers from the definitive series turning up - so, for myself, I would want to see a "cleaner" example of 91 before I'd be convinced it wasn't 81.  I also think that in the case of a stable location such as this it's reasonable to accept the Rossiter location.  I can add that my February APO 81 postmark is from the front of an AMLC with the sender's address "R.A.F. Diego Suarez."

I wonder if the addressing also supports the first APO postmarking the cover in East Africa being in the Mombasa Harbour area - I seem to recall reading or hearing that reinforcements being sent out were given a temporary postal address while they were in transit.  If that is what "Draft RCKGG" represents, Mombasa, as well as being a major port, was the Eastern Fleet Base so it seems a likely point for mail to a draft to be sent either to catch up with them or to be forwarded to their final deployment.  Might it have been sent to Army HQ at Nairobi to identify his deployment?  I suspect the "arrival" mark is not the final port of call.  The lettering that is legible is rather distinctive and to my eye does not resemble any of the postmarks ascribed to Madagascar.  This is awfully speculative, but I suggest that one possibility is that the APO 88 and incomplete postmark represent arrival at and departure from Nairobi for Zeitlin's location to be determined.

I hope this justifies the wait!

Best wishes
Nick Guy, Editor, BEA

[Jim Mackay]

Nick and all other contributors to this thread, many thanks indeed for all your input. I think we can accept Nick's post as the most likely and definitive conclusion.
Kind regards,
Jim