US army in Britain.

[Chris Weddell]

Hi,

    I am having a problem finding out about  a U.S. army in Britain APO cancel for a certain date. The APO is APO 655 and the date is for the 14th of may 1944.

From late 1943 i have found a number of sites saying this is APO at that date is for the 1st Army Group Headquarters Clifton Collage, Bristol  was was the place where the US Army was planing up until D-Day. I then found some references saying this was the APO for London.

Any help on this would be good.

                                                        Thanks

                                                        Chris S-W.

[abump]

Hi, Chris.

APO 655 began operation in London on 1 MAR 1944, as the APO for First Army Group and subordinate commands and units.  Also known as FUSAG, it was created in London in 1943, and was the ficticious Army Group that Patton commanded, just before the invasion, in order to deceive the Germans on the location of the invasion.  It's OOB contained (mostly) ficticious units, and served primarily as a planning command for Omar Bradley and his staff.  Once the invasion took place, Bradley and his staff transferred to the 12th Army Group, which was formed from, and replaced, First Army Group, and controlled most of the Allied forces in 1944-45.  

As of July 1944, APO 655 belonged to the 12th Army Group,.  1st Army, 3rd Army, 9th Army and 15th Army were  subordinate commands.  I've seen covers from multiple units, to include the 5th Ranger Regiment and the Czech Legion, as well as small signal detachments, which used this number.  In July 1944, the APO for 1st Army (a different entity than First Army Group) was 630.

I hope this helps.

Al Bump

[Chris Weddell]

Almyr,

        Thanks for your help. I have put up a scan of the cover which might help more. As it say's Headquarters First U.S. Army Group. From a number of sources it puts the A.P.O. at Bristol. But having looked at a book on the net which is from US archives it says the address was used in London. Also i have not had any luck looking up the sender, which i would have thought i would have found on Ancestry.Com the US site.

                                                    Thanks,

                                                    Chris.

[Chris Weddell]

Hi,

                      The scan might help!!!


                              Chris. :-\

[abump]

I can't find a record of COL White anywhere.  In looking at the APO listing published by the Army Postal Service in 1949, 655 is only shown as London beginning on 1 MAR 44 and moving to Periers, France as the APO for 12th Army Group, on 1 AUG 44. 

What I think might be a point of confusion is that First U.S. Army, a field army and a completely different entity than First Army Group, was activated in Bristol in JAN 44.  The APO listing I just refered to puts APO 230, First Army, (not 630 as I previously wrote in my first post) in Bristol, beginning 25 OCT 43, and moving to France on 15 JUL 44.

I strongly believe that your cover, based on the APO mark and the way he listed his unit in the corner, is from a staff officer in FUSAG, the phantom command, and not First Army, the field army, which was activated in Bristol.

Al

[Chris Weddell]

Al,
   
    Thank you so much for your help with this. It makes this cover very much more interesting for me for being from FUSAG. It has given me a lot to think about on how to wirte this cover up.

                                            Cheers

                                            Chris.

[Michael Dobbs]

Chris

I have attached a scan of the entry on US APO 655 from the publication: "Geographic Locations of U.S. APOs 1941-1984" compiled and edited by James Slater (5th Edition) pub. War Cover Club, 1985.

Please note that American dates are given as month, day, year - this can be confusing at first !

There is no doubt a more up-to-date edition of this publication.

Regards, Mike  ;)

[abump]

Chris,

I found the following from COL White.  See scans.

[Chris Weddell]

Mike and Al,

                Thanks for both of your helps with this. I am about to buy from the US some up to date books on the APOS and Naval marks. I find sometimes on the net you get conflicting information.

Al thanks for putting up scans of your covers. I note the hand writing is the same. It is nice to see some more covers.

                                                            Thanks

                                                              Chris  ;D

[akennedy]

I can't add anything except to say this seems an interesting story.
Alistair