Zone Postal Depot 9

[Ingo Egerlandt]

Dear members, I have got a envelope from London to Berlin. In Reverse is the ZPD 9 handstamp. It was this Depot in Berlin? Ingo

[Michael Dobbs]

Ingo

The text in the item you showed is correct - 101 Zone Postal Depot was located at Herford, it was [i][u]never[/u][/i] in Berlin. 

All mail for Army and RAF personnel overseas was initially sorted at the Home Postal Centre (HPC) in Nottingham.  However, with effect from 2 April 1946 mail previously sorted to APO No 6 Division at the Army Post Office Nottingham (i.e. all mail for closed address British Army of the Rhine (BAOR)) was forwarded direct to 101 Zone Postal Depot RE at Herford, Germany.  Such mails were then sorted and distributed to BAOR units - and this would have included Berlin.  The change came about due to the close proximity of the theatre to the United Kingdom.

Organisational changes took place in 1951 when 101 Zone Postal Depot became 8 Command Postal Depot - thus reviving the number used for the original base army post office which had served the theatre since the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944.  It also introduced current terminology into the title by the use of "Command" for the BAOR theatre instead of the outmoded "Zone", which smacked of the occupation.

Regards, Mike  :)

[Ingo Egerlandt]

Thank you Mike, the envelope adressed Berlin. Than I think about it! Ingo