British field post in Germany after the First World War 1918–1935
The first beginnings of British field post go back to 1795, when the one-penny postage was introduced for soldiers and sailors. At the time, this was a postage that was well below the usual rates. This tariff was not abolished until August 16, 1920. However, it had already lost its practical use when the postage exemption for soldiers was introduced on August 31, 1914. A first form of field post service was set up in 1799 for the troops and men of the General Post Office , i.e. the public postal administration. This service was also active in the Crimean War (1853-1856) against Russia . Army members, the Post Office Rifle Volunteers , organized a field post service for the troops in Egypt in 1882 . The Army Post Office Corps , as the unit was renamed, was in Sudan (1885) and South Africa (1899-1902) and in maneuvers in use. In 1905 older members of this unit criticized the education and training of this unit. After long deliberations, a complete reorganization was decided.
background
On February 28, 1913, the Special Reserve Postal Section was established within the Royal Engineers. The basis for the service contained the "Manual of Army Postal Service, War, 1913". At the same time, the Signal Section was established for the telegraph service . The main unit of the Postal Section consisted of 10 officers with 290 men, provided for the mail supply of six divisions . They received thorough training, for example with expeditionary troops overseas and / or with maneuvers. Reservists from these units were called up once a year for 15-day exercises.
The Postal Service was managed by the Director of the Army Postal Service (DAPS), supported by the Deputy Director (DDAPS), stationed at the headquarters of the Expeditionary Army. Assistant directors were still active in the staff.
The war began on August 1, 1914. In June 1914, as if by chance, 41 equipment boxes had been ordered for the use of new FPOs (Field Post Offices). They contained all the necessary forms, postal service envelopes, field post stamps, everything that was thought to be necessary for initial equipment. The staff of the REPS (Royal Engineers Postal Service) has been increased. Each unit had one or more stamps with distinguishing letters or numbers.
The occupation of the Rhineland
Until the armistice on November 11, 1918, no British troops had invaded Germany. The 4th Army stayed near Namur in Belgium. Parts of the British 2nd Army have been relocated to Germany since November 17th due to the decisions of the Armistice Commission.
As the first British unit to cross the 1st of December 1918. Cavalry Division crossed the German border and marched into Cologne on December 6, 1918 . The army headquarters were in Düren on December 9 and in Cologne on December 19. Since December 21, the army headquarters were united with the supplies and the transport unit in Cologne. The headquarters of the British contingent has since been in Cologne.
The assignment of the stamp inscription to a unit or a location for the period before March 17, 1919 is still very uncertain.
In February 1919, the British Expeditionary Army (BEF) (Second Army) began reorganizing. By November 1919, the demobilization of the troops had been completed. The divisions had been ordered back to England or disbanded. What remained was the “Independent Division”, mainly made up of units from the 29th Division, and the “Rhine Garrison”. It was dissolved in February 1920 after the Versailles Treaty came into force.
The French, Belgian and British occupation troops had to evacuate the first zone of the Rhineland, the Cologne bridgehead, after five years. This was agreed in the Versailles Treaty. In response to French objections, this was delayed by 1 year.
The Canadians
In November 1918, the Canadian Corps, consisting of Divisions 1, 2, 3 and 4 and the associated corps troops, was deployed in Belgium and France to support the British Army against Germany. On the morning of December 4th at 9 a.m. the 1st and 2nd Canadian Divisions crossed the German border. On the night of December 10th the cavalry reached the western bank of the Rhine. The headquarters of the 1st Canadian Division was set up in Cologne, that of the 2nd Division and the Corps troops in Bonn. The actual occupation area was the southern part of the Cologne bridgehead. The 1st Canadian Division began to withdraw to Belgium on January 14, 1919. The 2nd Division followed ten days later and was completely in Belgium on January 28th
Canadian field post
The Canadian troops were able to use both the British Army Post Office in Cologne (APO p. 40, without distinction) and APO p. 22 in Euskirchen. The other APOs in Germany only opened after the Canadians left. The TPO (Traveling Post Office) between Cologne and Boulogne in France could also stamp it. This rail post was set up on January 8, 1919, one week before the withdrawal of the 1st Canadian Division.
The (ex) stamp that was originally assigned to the unit is also given. The British FPOs / APOs exchanged their stamps for security reasons in 1916, so an exact allocation is questionable here too. This exchange also came about with the Canadian and New Zealand offices. The ancestral stamps were probably no longer used in Germany as the Canadians had already left the Cologne bridgehead or were about to do so when the exchange took place.
The New Zealanders
A New Zealand division also took part in the occupation of Germany. Since November 1918, the NZ Division was under the 2nd Corps of the British 2nd Army . She left Beauvois for Germany on November 28, 1918, crossed the border at Herbestal on December 20, 1818, and continued to advance towards Cologne . While the headquarters was being set up in Leverkusen , the 1st Brigade was in Leichlingen (Rhineland) , the 2nd Brigade in Cologne-Mülheim and the 3rd Brigade in (5060) Bensberg near Bergisch Gladbach . An artillery unit followed on December 26th and moved into quarters on the other side of the Rhine near Deutz and Mülheim.
A New Zealand infantry brigade reached Cologne on December 23, 1918 and set up their headquarters in Cologne-Holweide . On January 4, 1919, the 1st and 2nd battalions were relocated to the castle in Bensberg. Before the war there was a cadet institute in this castle. The 3rd and 4th battalions took up quarters in Cologne-Dellbrück and Cologne-Dünnwald, respectively. From the beginning of January 1919, the New Zealand Division in Germany was relieved and promoted home. The 3rd Brigade in Bensberg was disbanded in mid-January. The 2nd Brigade followed in Mülheim at the beginning of February. The 1st Brigade was transferred from Leichlingen to Bensberg in mid-February. On March 9, 1919, all remaining units in Mülheim were brought together. About 700 men left Germany on March 25, 1919.
New Zealand Field Post
Like all British units, the New Zealand Division also brought the field postmarks used in France with them. These were the stamps with the numbers FPO 96, 98 & 99. Later, probably in mid-February 1919, they returned to using the stamps of the "Z" series that had been redistributed in October 1916. Measured against the small number of New Zealanders and the short length of stay in the Rhineland, this evidence is rare.
British field post
The Army Postal Service was also affected by reducing the army to peacetime. It has been brought back to the state of 1914. Special conditions applied to the mail supply of the "British Army of the Rhine". Mail was now supplied via fixed field post offices in the garrisons; they were no longer assigned to the units.
At the beginning of 1919, the troop headquarters for the British zone was set up in Cologne. The Royal Engineers Postal Service was hired to regulate and direct the postal service for these troops. Another task was the dispatch of field posts to operations in the voting areas. These services were operated in collaboration with the local post office. The Royal Engineers Postal Service was authorized to issue regulations for the implementation of censorship measures and to give instructions for stopping the mail.
The British Army of the Rhine initially consisted of 11 infantry and one cavalry division. Towards the end of the war, 700 officers and men were deployed for the postal service. Neither the Army nor the British Postal Service wanted the postal workers to remain in the Army Postal Service. The British Post wanted its officials to return to the civil service, while the Army did not want to keep the members who were neither volunteers nor regular soldiers. The Postal Section was created. The management consisted of officers and non-commissioned officers, while the lower ranks were gradually replaced by infantrymen.
By 1923 the number of occupation troops had been further reduced. The Postal Section worked in the first stationary post office, which had already been set up in December 1918 as "ARMY POST OFFICE p. 40" at the German main post office in Stolkgasse in Cologne, in the Ober-Post-Direktion building near the train station. Here was the headquarters of the Army Postal Service for the troops in Germany and the British Army of the Rhine. All other stationary field post offices in the various locations were subordinate to her.
In January 1926 the British Rhine Army therefore left Cologne and moved to the area south of Wiesbaden (today's Europaviertel ). She stayed there until her complete withdrawal from Germany in December 1929.
Although Wiesbaden, with the bridge head (belonged Mainz-Kastel ) of Mainz , the French zone. The British government did not want to leave the field alone to the French troops, after the Americans had already given up their zone of occupation in favor of France in 1923 and the Belgians only had a few units in the Rhineland.
The stationary British field post mark APO
Very early on after the British troops marched into Germany, in addition to the units' field postmarks (FPOs), stationary field post offices (APOs) were set up to supply a garrison with mail. The field posts of the units lost some of their tasks and were gradually disbanded. The stationary field post offices used two-circle stamps with the inscription: "ARMY POST OFFICE" instead of "FIELD POST OFFICE", below was the letter "S" (= Stationary Office), followed by a number
Cologne period (December 1918 to January 1926)
One of the first stamp forms were machine stamps, which were only used in Cologne for a short time. Only discounts from May 1919 to March 1920 are known. There are three different stamps. Between the designation “APOS 40” and the date (e.g. “14 MAR 20”) there is either no distinguishing letter or the letter “A” or “B”.
At the counters of the field post office “S. 40 “the English two-circle stamp with the dimensions 26 mm outside and 16 mm inside was in use. This stamp shape is known with or without a four - (+) or six - (*) star above the date. Both forms were used in APO p. 40. Instead of the star, numbers or letters are also known. The same stamp form with letters "A", "B" and "C" above the date (instead of the star) was used in the secondary post offices.
Wiesbaden period (January 1926 to December 1929)
The British troops were moved to the Wiesbaden area in January 1926 (see, inter alia, today's Europaviertel in Wiesbaden ). At this point in time, all FPOs at the units had long been closed. The stationary APOs had been branch post offices of the main post office p. 40 in Cologne since 1922 and also used p. 40 stamps with differentiating letters. All single-circle and two-circle stamps came with me, of course.
Army Courier Service
If the establishment of a separate postal service for the British Army of the Rhine required a new concept, the Army Courier Service had to be completely redeveloped. The stamp “ARMY POST OFFICE S.5.” Is known from this time. A stamp (type 1) with the inscription "ARMY COURIER OFFICE" is known from April 1920, which, according to its appearance, could have come from German production and, until the arrival of the new steel stamp (type 2) from England, served as an auxiliary stamp.
In May 1922 the ARMY COURIER OFFICE became a branch post office of the main field post office in Cologne and used the single-circle stamp (23 mm) "ARMY POST OFFICE S.40" with the letter "B" above the date. The courier shipments now ran through this field post office at the British Control Commission in Berlin. The Army Postal Service was responsible for the transport to Berlin. The office in Berlin was known only as the Army Courier Office from start to finish.
The Admiralty and the War Ministry joined the courier service. The service was expanded for mail bags to Silesia , East Prussia and Danzig .
The popularity of the courier service rose steadily, the Berlin office became the transhipment point for the intelligence service of the Foreign Office and other courier services to and from the legations and embassies in all parts of Eastern Europe , as far as Riga , Moscow and Budapest . By 1922, this “Royal Intelligence Service” had transported more than 50,000 sealed bags containing several thousand letter packages from London and Paris to all parts of Central and Eastern Europe. There is no evidence that a shipment was ever lost in the Army Postal Service area.
Experience from this courier service led to the British Field Post's current postal and courier service system.
Rail Mail (TPO)
When the occupation troops marched into Cologne, the rapid delivery of mail was a very serious problem. The railways in Northern France and Belgium were largely destroyed and transport space was difficult to find for road transport. From January 1919 rail mail from Boulogne-sur-Mer to Cologne was possible. The cars were borrowed from the British Midland Railway company. At the end of 1919, the roads were in good order again so that mail could be delivered via the street again.
In the period between March 21 and April 4, 1919, two-circle postmarks were introduced at the Bahnpost. The text “BEF” (British Expeditionary Force) was at the top, separated by two dark areas of “MAIN LINE TPO DOWN” or “MAIN LINE TPO UP” at the bottom between the circles. In the middle were the date and the distinguishing letter. There were a total of 10 stamps for "UP" and "DOWN", one for each TPO team. The railway post office (Railhead) in Cologne used different stamps (GR), with which obviously only registered letters were canceled.
Airmail
The Royal Flying Corps , founded on February 27, 1912 in Eastchurch, Essex, flew between England and France from March to November 1917. During this time the "RFC" became the "RAF", the " Royal Air Force ". During the war, first attempts to transport mail with airplanes were flown between Boulogne and, after the war, to Cologne. From March 1919 onwards one flew from England directly from Hawking near Folkestone to Cologne. The planes usually landed in France, at Saint-Omer , an important post office during the war. Of course, it is not yet possible to speak of regulated airmail traffic.
See also
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Edward A. Richardson: The Canadian Corps in Occupied Germany, 1918-1919 . In: Canadian Military Postal History (= BNA TOPICS Series . Volume 40 , no. 3 [May-June]). George S. Wegg Ltd., 1983, ISSN 0045-3129 , p. 16-23 ( bnatopics.org [PDF]).
- ^ WJ Bailey, E. R Toop: Between the wars and World War two: 1920-1946 . In: Edward Wilfrid Baxby Proud (Ed.): The Canadian Military Postes . tape 2 , 1985, OCLC 256442727 .
- ^ WJ Bailey, E.R Toop: Canadian military post offices to 1986 . The Unitrade Press, Toronto 1987, ISBN 0-919801-47-1 .
- ↑ Richard H. Imus, James N. Boyden: Occupation of the Rhineland, 1918-1923 . In: Theo Van Dam, War Cover Club, World War I AEF Study Group (ed.): The Postal history of the AEF, 1917–1923 (= APS handbook series ). American Philatelic Society, State College, PA 1980, ISBN 0-933580-03-7 , pp. 151-154 .
- ^ The AEF in Western Europe, North Russia and the United States . In: Theo Van Dam, Richard W. Sackett (eds.): A valuation guide for AEF covers (1917–1923) . Postal Covers, Brewster, NY 1983, OCLC 10026158 (first published 1980 in: The Postal history of the AEF, 1917-1923 ).
- ^ Richard H. Imus: New Zealand Forces in The Rhineland 1918-1919 . In: Forces Postal History Society Newsletter . No. 163 , August 1980.
- ^ Reichszentrale für Heimatdienst (Ed.): The Cologne zone cleared . Berlin February 1, 1926.
- ^ Cancellation used in the Post Offices of the British Army of the Rhine until early 1919 . In: Gibbons' Stamp Monthly . Stanley Gibbons, London June 1930.