Covers of the Day - 10th June - Battle of the Lys

[Alan Baker]

Time for more Portuguese

Here are two items from the Portuguese 2nd Division, which suffered greatly in the Battle of the Lys in April 1918. The first is from an officer writing home to his wife and is dated 8th April 1918, the day before the German assault. It bears the franking CEP - SPC15 which was used by the Portuguese 5th Brigade. From the receiving stamp, it took almost a month to arrive at its destination, compared to his usual cards which took about nine days.

The 2nd Division was due to be withdrawn from the front line, commencing on 9th April, but on that day, the Germans launched Operation Georgette against the Allied forces on the River Lys. Eight German divisions attacked, with the Portuguese bearing the brunt of the assault. Almost 8000 soldiers were killed, wounded or missing and another 7000 taken prisoner. The 2nd Division virtually ceased to exist

[Alan Baker]

Here is the second item, a card written by a Portuguese POW to the Red Cross in Switzerland. He was a member of the 20th Regiment, part of the 4th Brigade. From the message on the reverse and my limited knowledge of Portuguese, he was taken prisoner on 9th April

[Chris Grimshaw]

Hi Alan

Very Nice,  a possible for the Journal here,  what is the significance of the large circular cancel on the second card. / German POW marking perhaps? 

With the relatively small numbers of regular users or the Forum will continue to publisise it, highlighting interesting subjects. Hopefully we can encourage other users. 

Chris

PS any further posts from now which I think worthy of the Journal will appear in the Winter edition.  Autumn Edition of 60 pages almost complete with material I will have to hold over for Winter edition.  Oh for  60 to 72 pages per edition.  Currently material flowing in.  Long may it continue.

Chris

[Alan Baker]

I believe it is a camp stamp for Muenster III. According to Wiki, there were for camps at Muenster. Camp III was in a former army barracks