1915 Greek Censored Post Card

[Chris Grimshaw]

Afternoon Team

A little puzzled on this one, PPC from Napoli, Endorsed 29th ? Gen Hosp(ital) M. Ex F.(orce)  Dated lined 10 11 15 Franked with a Greek stamp, 27 Oct 15? Cancel incomplete.

Boxed CENSORED in Red,

Message mentions "we came to this place 3 weeks ago not allowed to say where.

I think Mudros but not sure.  29th was at Salonika by December 1915

Chris

[Nick Colley]

Chris, there seems to be more going on here than we might think. Firstly, there's a mismatch in the writer's date and the postmark dates, which is presumably due to the Greeks and the Brits using different calendars: Greece didn't switch from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar until 1923.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_adoption_dates_of_the_Gregorian_calendar_per_country

The writer has dated it 10th November 1915 (ie Gregorian calendar), and the machine cancel on the picture side is (if my reading of the Cyrillic alphabet is correct) Piraeus on the 2nd November 1915 (Julian calendar), which is the 15th November 1915 (Gregorian). I'm puzzled by the cds on the stamp – it appears to be Mudros, but the date seems to be 27th October (Julian) which would be the 9th November (Gregorian), so either the writer has dated the card wrongly, or the postal clerk hasn't changed the date in his datestamp.

As regards the text of the card, presumably the 'lovely time here' to which he refers applies to the location shown on the picture side: Naples. He says it was for one day only, so since it bears a naval censor, presumably the writer was in transit, or is on a hospital ship, perhaps.

He says he met 'only one of our old orderlies who came to this place three weeks ago'. So the orderly arrived 3 weeks previously (at Mudros), not the writer – he presumably arrived on or about the 9th or 10th November!

And finally, I wonder if the '9' in the endorsement of 29th General Hospital might be a 7? Might it make more sense if it was 27th General Hospital?  Which it might: I've just found a reference to it in https://www.throughtheselines.com.au/research/lemnos-island

So, back to you.

chrs
N

[Michael Dobbs]

Chris

I'm by no means an expert in WW1 or the Greek language - but here goes!  As I type this I see that Nick has beaten me to it!

I am a little puzzled - the card appears to have been written on 10-11-15 and yet you say the stamp is postmarked 29 Oct?
There is a machine cancellation on the front on 2 November:

November = Νοεμβριος

ΠEIPAIEYΣ = Piraeus

The dates don't add up - as Nick has stated were there different calendars in use.

I also agree with Nick that it looks like 27th not 29th.

Mike

[Chris Grimshaw]

Hi Nick / Mike

Nick,  Think you've cracked it.  I'm aware of the two different calendars but hadn't mentioned it. Was struggling to understand all the message but makes more sense now.

The Censor is Gould 5 A 5, I have a further example on a Turkish POW cover incoming to Mudros.

I now read it as posted in the civilian post office at Mudros 27 Oct 15, Piraeus 2 Nov 15  Writer arrived about 9/10 November when he wrote this card.  Agree its 27th General Hospital.

The web site you quote on Lemnos is a new one for me and very informative.

Cheers

Chris

[Frank Schofield]

Chris

Surely this is Gould 5A104, it is illustrated in Vol 2

He mentions a Greek association in both volumes

Frank

[Chris Grimshaw]

Hi Frank

Yes, You're correct, Gould 5 A 104 I can confirm the size at 58 x 12.

Chris