APO L4 in Italy

[Michael Dobbs]

I have received the following enquiry:

[color=maroon]I have an Army Post Office stamp on a card addressed to c/o RTO APOL4 BOX M.Is it possible to know where this Base was? I believe it was somewhere in Italy where my grandfather was during 1918.
I would be very grateful for any clarification[/color]

I have responded as follows:

[color=blue]I have consulted "The Postal History of the British Army in World War I: Before and After – 1903 to 1929" by Alistair Kennedy and George Crabb (published by the latter in February 1977).

ARMY POST OFFICE L4 is indeed in Italy and is listed as being at Milan.  It has been recorded used between May 1918 and April 1919.

RTO stands for Railway Transport Officer, but I don't known the meaning of BOX M.[/color]

Has anyone anything further they can add please ?

Thanks, Mike  :)

[Frank Schofield]

Mike

I have APO L4, Milan, recorded in use from 24th February 1918 until September 25th 1919
I have never come across Box M, possibly a method of sorting letters arriving at the station c/o RTO

Frank Schofield

[Michael Dobbs]

Frank

Many thanks for the confirmation and also extended periods of use.

Mike  ;)