Field Post Number
The German field post number was a kind of zip code for field post or air field mail . Each military unit was assigned a specific field post number.
construction
During the Second World War , the field post number was usually five digits. The numbering system started with 00 001 and ended with the allocation of 80,000 numbers. Six-digit numbers can be found before the start of the war as "exercise post numbers" or during the Second World War as "collective field post numbers" for large troop concentrations (e.g. fortress Posen: 123 321).
Attached letters denote subordinate units (command posts, companies). Preceding letters meant:
- L for units of the Luftwaffe (additional information from the Luftgaupostamt; abbreviated LGPA),
- M for units of the Kriegsmarine ,
- SCH for units of coastal protection (together with details of the pick-up post office).
The purpose of the field post number system was to camouflage the whereabouts of corresponding troop units and formations. Relatives of Wehrmacht soldiers received the soldier's field post number through so-called "notification cards" so that they could write to him. If the soldier wrote home while his unit was relocating, field post letters only contain the comment “in march” instead of the field post number, as no mail could be delivered to him during this time. In principle, each unit kept the field post number assigned to it. However, the number was then assigned two or more times if z. B. Units were disbanded or - due to combat operations - were lost.
The number system was used for parts of the Wehrmacht ( army , navy, air force) as well as for Waffen SS associations, units of the Todt Organization , the Reich Labor Service (RAD), technical emergency aid , offices or units of the customs border guard and the Reichsbahn . Field post numbers are also known for the government troops of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia under "Wehrmacht supervision" and - towards the end of the war - for Italian interned troops.
The field post numbers were assigned at random. It was not possible to infer a troop formation from this number. A typical address in disguise was: Rank, name, field post number. Half-open addresses also contained information on control or pick-up post offices.
The routes of transport using field post numbers could be:
- Front home,
- Home front,
- Front-front.
In the local language , opposing soldiers were jokingly referred to as "colleagues from the other field post number". In the feature film “ Fronttheater ” (1942), Heli Finkenzeller is looking for her husband René Deltgen in Greece, using the field post number 88000 as the only clue.
Field post number meaning today
The system mentioned is still important today in the search for missing soldiers from World War II. Knowledge of field post numbers / troop locations enables the search area to be localized in order to be able to recover and identify human remains of soldiers if necessary (see activities of WASt / Deutsche Dienststelle and Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e.V.).
Comparable abroad
The armed forces of the USSR used a system comparable to the German field post number . Here, too, five-digit numbers were used to a large extent for the hidden designation of the troop unit ( Russian Войсковая часть Woiskowaja chast ; all regiments , independent battalions or companies and ships). The numbers were to be found on official seals or on building signs, etc. (“Troop part 48240”, “Staff of the troop part 55301”, etc.).
Successor organizations such as the Russian or Ukrainian armed forces retained this designation system.
literature
- Michel manual catalog. German field post 1937–1945. ZDB ID 2085273-3 .
- Norbert Kannapin: The German field post overview. Complete list of field post numbers in numerical order and their breakdown. Edited according to the documents of the army field postmaster kept in the Federal Archives-Military Archives. 3 volumes. Biblio-Verlag, Osnabrück 1980, ISBN 3-7648-1183-8 ;
- Vol. 1: Nos. 00001 to 20308, 1980;
- Vol. 2: Nos. 20309 to 41991. 1981;
- Vol. 3: Nos. 41992 to 87919. 1982.
- Norbert Kannapin: The field post numbers of the German Navy. 1939-1945. N. Kannapin, Itzehoe 1974.
- Gerhard Oberleitner: History of the German field post. 1937-1945. Steiger, Innsbruck 1993, ISBN 3-85423-111-3 .
- Will Berthold : Field post number unknown. Novel.
Web links
- Feldpost-archiv.de - The work of the field post.