South Africa APO 4

[Jim Etherington]

Can any one shed any light on this cover?

1. I am assuming the date-stamp should read 'VI', not 'V', Proud recording that APO 4 opened on 26 June 1940.  (The cover is back-stamped with a Pretoria receiving office cancel either dated 2 or 12 JUL 40 suggesting this is a correct assumption.)Where was APO 4 located at this date?

2.Clearly the cover was posted at sea given the manuscript 'First day on board'. Given the date of posting the only reference to a SA to Mombasa convoy I can find is 'CMA' consisting of six merchants escorted by HMS Kent (https://codenames.info/operation/cm /). The http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/ website makes no reference to this convoy, noting there are no details for convoy CM 1.
Is it reasonable to assume the cover was posted on one of these merchant ships?

3. I cannot find the PASSED BY CENSOR mark in Nick's book. The closest is N632 on page 117 attributed to the Polish ship ORP Gdynia. However a Google search suggests this was either an accommodation and training ship based at Devonport, while a second source states the ship was sunk on 2 September 1939. Neither supports the possibility of a ship sailing between SA and Kenya.
Is this a new censor mark?

Jim Etherington

[Nick Colley]

Hi, Jim,

Yes, it looks similar to N632, doesn't it? However, the P and the R are a little different to those in N632 (and N632 has a stop after the R), so I don't think it's N632. I'm inclined to consider it's a new discovery.

South African APO4: well, I have a faint memory that I read somewhere it was, in fact, in East Africa, but I'm blowed if I can recall where I picked up that notion. I'm probably wrong, but hopefully this contribution will provoke someone to look it up and correct (or even confirm!) that suggestion. (Nick Guy, for example!?)

And now the last remark: the blue manuscript endorsements look odd, don't they? They are not in the hand of the writer of the address, so I wonder who added them, and why.

Anyway, that's all I can come up with.

chrs
Nick

[Nick Colley]

I asked my uncle, Bill Colley; he consulted a third party and he reported back that SA APO4 was in South Africa, NOT East Africa. He doesn't know precisely where, though. Depending on exact location, and local logistics, perhaps, then maybe a 6 day transit to Pretoria (26th June - 2nd July) is plausible.

chrs
N

[Alan Baker]

One possibility for the manuscript marks is that the sender put them on and someone else addressed the envelope, which they handed to him to post

[Alan Baker]

Also, not sure that the ship was sailing to Mombasa if the receiving stamp was Pretoria as was the address. Suggests it was headed in the opposite direction and that the APO4 stamp was applied on arrival

[Jim Etherington]

Hi Nick and Alan,

Many thanks for your feed back.

I can answer one of my questions.

According to Harvey Perie J H (1953), World War II Philately of Southern and Eastern Africa APO 4 was used in East Africa from 26 June 40 to 11 August 41. If my assumption is correct that the 'I' of 'VI' has been omitted from the date stamp then the cancel coincides with Perie's first day of known use.

If this is the case is it possible the cover was cancelled when the ship arrived in Mombasa on the arrival of postal personnel on board and then returned to SA on a returning ship (or by air), hence the Pretoria receiving office cancel?

To muddy the water a little, Proud E B (1990), The Postal History of the South African Army Postal Service, states APO 4 was used from 6 July 40 to 31 July 1941 at the Sub Base PO, Mombasa. Although the dates are at variance with Perie's, both confirm its use in East Africa. Neither record it being used in SA prior to these dates.

I note Nick's comment about the different handwriting of 'First day on board'. I hadn't noticed this. Given the censor mark is likely to be one used on board a ship and not by the SA military I am inclined to think this is a genuine addition.

I have a feeling we are not going to come up with a definitive answer!

Best wishes

Jim

[Ross Debenham]

I totally agree that APO4 was only ever used in Mombasa, Kenya. Now, with regards to the censor marker, from the two scans from a later voyage in December, 1940, I believe that official censor markers were not issued to troops on board ships going to Mombasa, thus the censorship arrangements in the attached scans, substantiated by scan 2. I wonder if that censor marker could be a unofficial ships censor marker. hope this helps.
Ross D

[Jim Etherington]

Thanks Ross
I think you are probably correct in thinking the censor mark is probably that of a ship transporting the troops. It is very similar to the range on single line naval censor marks illustrated in Nick's book.
Jim

[Nick Colley]

Ah, so my uncle's informant is mistaken is he (she?)? I will advise the venerable unc accordingly....
:-\

Nick

[Nick Guy]

Hello

I may be Bill Colley's third party; I discussed APO 4 with him and came to the conclusion that in MAY APO 4 can only have been in SA - my view being based on the fact that while an South African advance party arrived in EA in late May this was only a small group and the first formations did not arrive until about the 15th of June (corresponding to the Harvey Pirie and Proud ERDs).  I only have notes from the EA campaign period from Proud's SA but had the impression from them that it did not cover APO locations within the homeland - if I'm wrong my suggestion that APO 4 opened in SA before/on embarkation is weakened though I don't think completely excluded.  But I think "wrong month" is a reasonable explanation - an easy oversight when it must have been very soon after the office opened in Mombasa!

Nick Guy