1944 British censorship of Mail from Germany to Liberated France

[jonsmith]

Hi,

I've just come across a POW cover from Stalag 6F in Westfalia to Bayeux, Calvados in France. It's from October 1944, so after the Liberation of that area of France. It has a manuscript marking of "C/O GPO via Great Britain" and a British Crown P.126 Censor handstamp.

Can anybody shed any light on how, or where, censorship was carried out on mail like this and what it's likely journey might have been.

Many thanks
Jonathan

[Peter Harvey]

Hi Jonathan,

As no one else has replied I will give you my thoughts.

The letter has been completely rather differently that intended, with the rear and front having the senders address. On the front To: would normally be the delivery name and An; the delivery address.

If the writer had addressed this directly to France it would not have arrived, with the war in Northern France blocking much of the IRC handled mail at this time. I would suggest this was sent to the International Red Cross by the Germans, forwarded to Britain as the only route into France, where the PASSED cachet is applied by the UK Censor and then handed to the French Postal Authorities for delivery.

Peter