Does anyone know about these labels on a N.A.T.O. field post cover

[Chris Weddell]

Hi All.
       I brought some U.N. covers i this came in with it.I dont know much about N.A.T.O. field post items but it seems to fit in with my U.N. Forces covers.Can any one tell me about the postage labels or anything about the cover.
                               Chris  ???

[Per Ronberg]

Try this page: http://www.filateelia.ee/efur/articles/ebayforg.html

Regards
Per

[Chris Weddell]

Hi Per and all,
        Thanks for that.It was what i thought a forged cover.This is the other cover which came with this it's a U.N. cover but could anyone tell me if this one is right or forged as it came from the same seller with the N.A.T.O. cover at a cheap price.
                       Christopher

[Michael Dobbs]

Chris

Quite by coincidence I was looking at the query at the same time as Per and I had also only just viewed the webpage and website that he has shown a link to.  However, I was busy with other matters and I also wanted to look to see if I had any notes on BALTBAT involvement in the former Yugoslavia during either UNPROFOR or NATO involvement in military operations in that area - so I left it for another day !

My notes include a reference to BALTBAT under the NATO-led Implementation Force (IFOR) as follows:

The Baltic Battalion (BALTBAT) was developed as a concept by Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia in 1993-1994, with active support from Denmark, Finland, Norway, the United Kingdom and Sweden.  BALTBAT headquarters started operating in Adazi (near Riga) in Latvia in 1996 with a permanent command structure and its activities were funded equally by the three member states.  BALTBAT was designed for peacekeeping, rescue and humanitarian operations.  Each Baltic state contributed through the deployment and rotation on a six monthly basis of BALTBAT platoons and companies within the Danish Peacekeeping Battalion (part of the Nordic-Polish Brigade) in IFOR.  Known deployments included:

Lithuania

On 20 December 1995 Lithuanian Platoon 3 (LITPLA-3) joined IFOR in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

On 19 February 1996 Lithuanian Platoon 4 (LITPLA-4) which comprised some 34 personnel joined IFOR.  It was stationed about 150 kilometers northwest of Tuzla as part of the Danish battalion.  Their assignment included the reconstruction of a bridge over the Bosna River and monitoring traffic crossing it.  Similar Estonian and Latvian platoons were scheduled to be sent to Bosnia later.  LITPLA-4 remained with IFOR until 27 August 1996.

It then increased this to company size as Lithuanian Company 1 (LITCOY-1) with 141 personnel for its deployment from 2 October to 19 December 1996.

Estonia

Estonian Forces participated as part of IFOR in 1996 with a 40-person Estonian Platoon 3 (ESTPLA-3) within the Danish battalion [Note: ESTPLA-1 and ESTPLA-2 served with UNPROFOR].  Estonia continued contributing to peacekeeping operations in Bosnia & Herzegovina until 1999 as part of SFOR.

Latvia

Latvian Forces participated as part of DANBAT within IFOR with a 33-person Latvian Platoon 2 (LATPLA-2) in April 1996.

Your cover is from 1999 and deals with the NATO involvement in Kosovo (KFOR)

I also have a publication by Armin Blasé (No 7 - IFOR) produced in 1997 in which he illustrates a similar cover - with the warning below "false" !  I am not a German speaker but I have carried out a rough online translation as follows:

Beautiful however wrong !  Disputed military letter of the Baltic contingent to Lithuania (see arrival stamp of 29.04.1996).  It shows a mixed franking of one stamp allegedly from the three countries identified by ,,BALTBAT marks ", together on a letter, stamped with army postal service temple ,,Military Field post office "of 20.04.1996

Whilst the online translator translates "falsch" as "wrongly" I would equate it to false !

I have attached a scan of the front cover and the relevant page.

Regards, Mike  :)

[Michael Dobbs]

Chris

As regards your second cover - it is highly philatelic at least.  I would treat it with extreme caution.
I am not sure of the status of the so-called stamps - again dubious.  I'm sure a good search of the internet will bring results.

Have a look at this discussion forum - seems relevant: http://www.stampboards.net/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=5469
(I haven't had a chance to go through in in any detail - too many other things to do, sorry!)

Regards, Mike

[Chris Weddell]

Mike and All,
      Thankyou with your help and the info about the covers.I am going to wirte them up this weekend as fakes.They do fit well into my now growing collection of U.N. and N.A.T.O. forces covers.
                                                        Chris