what language?

[Tony Walker]

Hi

Fresh from the resounding success of my last post, thanks to Alan, I have another request for help.

I have just acquired this PPC which has yet to arrive, and my scan is incomplete on the message, but hopefully there is enough for you to work on.

The PPC has been cancelled at the civil post office at Vladikavkas in 1916 Russia with two double ring date stamps of 12 June 16 (Julian calendar), 24 June Gregorian).  Also two purple marks dated a day earlier which I reckon to be censor marks, although they are not the same as the boxed military censor marks I have on naval mail sent to the UK at this time, from Vladikavkas

Can anyone decipher the language on the card, and the address?  The latter could be Pura, but nothing comes up on Google.  It could be Puna in Hawaii?  My linguistic partner is also stumped, and that's a first!

Cheers
Tony

[Sozont Singh]

Tony, hello!
very unusual and interesting card. On the right it is written in Russian, and on the left, probably in Latvian. I'm not sure, but I assume that this is Latvian, because Riga is indicated.

Another curious moment. I assume that the person who wrote this letter is Russian-speaking.
In any case, he studied at a Russian school. The way he writes on the left - the connection of letters, the slope, the roundness looks very Russian. I was taught in school the same way.
I will now write the translation from Russian on the photo.

[Sozont Singh]

Tony, this is what came out in terms of translation.
There is one word that I don't understand.
It is very similar to "барышня", which means young lady in English. But firstly, this is not an official word, I very much doubt that it was written on the card. And secondly, the author writes the letter "b" differently. So I don't even know what it might be ... But 90% is a Russian word.

[Sozont Singh]

Btw, besides the street, there are also letters "kv", which is an abbreviation of the word apartment. But the scan is cut off, so I could not see the apartment number and house number, which apparently also was, but did not fit into the scan.
Although I think that the exact number of the house and apartment is not very important for the research, if it is not a genealogical study.

[Howard Weinert]

This card is very unusual. In general when an item was handed in to the post office, it was first postmarked and then sent to the censor. The opposite occurred here. The upper censor mark reads "Vladikavkaz. Sent to the censor." The lower mark reads "Vladikavkaz. Received (I think) from the censor." In a half century of collecting, I have never seen either mark. Both are dated 11 June so pretty fast turnaround. Note that there was a 13 day difference in the two calendars, not 12. Besides the two Vladikavkaz postmarks, there is a Riga postmark. And the language is Latvian.

[Tony Walker]

Thanks Sozont and Howard for your remarkable information which is much appreciated.

Howard - I noticed the odd date sequence between the censor mark dates and the civilian cancels but thought it was a Russian style, or at least one of them!  Have you any idea why there were two censor marks, and different?  Is Riga then the translation of what looks like Pura?

Sozont - the actual card arrived in the post today, and I attach scans of both sides, complete this time!  The message may be very pertinent because of the following :

On 13 June (Gregorian) a British Armoured Car Division arrived in Vladikavkas en route to the Turkish/Persian front lines, beyond the Caucasus mountains.  The card is censored 23 June (Gregorian) when they were still there, waiting for their cars and stores to arrive, which they did on 12 July (Gregorian).  Wherever the Division stopped on their long train journey south from Archangel, they were feted and welcomed by the inhabitants.  I'm sure their month long sojourn in Vladikavkas would have been a major event for the city, worth sending a postcard maybe?

Of great relevance is the picture side, showing the military road south from Vladikavkas into the Caucasus over which the Division travelled, and the men marched, some 120 miles in searing heat in the plain.  There is a vivid description from Commander Locker Lampson of the road and journey in the Armoured Car Commanders Admiralty reports, plus a dramatic artists impression which appeared in the Lloyd's Magazine back in the UK.

Amazing how one PPC can generate such a wide context.

Again thanks to you both

Tony

[Howard Weinert]

Tony,

I have never before seen a case of "before and after" censor marks. The card was addressed to Riga. I can't help you with the Latvian, but I suspect that if there was a mention of the armored cars it would have been deleted by the censor. Also 11 June old style = 24 June new style.

[Sozont Singh]

"I'm sure their month long sojourn in Vladikavkas would have been a major event for the city"
Of course, it was a very bright event for the citizen!

All the same, this whole card looks very unusual. For example, I have not seen someone so ornate house number for a long time.  :D
House number 43, apartment 22.

It would be interesting to know the content of the message.

[Tony Walker]

Whilst it is not strictly military, I have had a fair degree of success in getting information about this postcard from Russia, and thought it may be of interest to Howard and Sozont who kindly replied to my post.

The message is in Latvian, but contains family news and thanks for a letter and photo.

However the postal markings are very interesting.  The two circular purple censor marks are different, and were applied at Vladikavkas.  They are both classified as RARE in a book by Tony Speeckaert on I presume Russian censor marks.  You probably have a copy Howard.  They are Types 5 and 6.

Interestingly mail from the RNAS Armoured Car Division in Russia is seldom referred to in Russian philately - much of the preceding information came from members of the Russian Philatelic Society of GB, via Philip Robinson - Thanks Philip., who also noted there was a Riga receiving mark on the front.

So the card itself is something of a gem, but I only bought it for the picture side!

Cheers
Tony

[Sozont Singh]

Tony, this is really interesting, thanks!
It's great that you have such unique material in your collection! :)