French field post in Germany during the Cold War
The French field post in Germany during the Cold War gives an overview of the mail supply for the French armed forces, soldiers and their families in Germany. The lemma supplements the Forces françaises en Allemagne (FFA) page ; it also lists the French military post offices (BPM) in Germany for the period from 1945 to 2010. The postal organization mirrors the military organization and thus gives an overview of France's military engagement in Germany.
Legal basis and fees
At the outset, it should be noted that during this period, all states regarded mail transport as a state act of sovereignty - in the Federal Republic of Germany there was a Federal Postal Ministry until 1997 and the post office staff were usually civil servants - and it seemed unthinkable for a foreign state to transport military service mail to entrust. Therefore, the "Supplementary Agreement to the Agreement between the Parties of the North Atlantic Treaty on the Legal Status of their Troops with regard to the Foreign Troops Stationed in the Federal Republic of Germany" ( NATO Troop Statute of 1951) of August 3, 1959 legally regulated the procedure already practiced from the beginning of the stationing.
The basic rule was that the military post of the stationing state had the right to transport mail within and outside the federal territory or to use the military post of another stationing power. The exchange with the Deutsche Bundespost took place via fixed post offices. The relatives, the so-called "military entourage", were free to use the military post. Business mail was free of charge, private mail to France and Germany had to be franked in francs at the applicable domestic rate .
Organization and subordination
The Direction de la Poste aux Armées (Army Post Directorate), based in Offenburg, was responsible for the post supply to the offices in the French zone and to family members . Army post offices (Bureaux Postaux Militaires) existed in the larger garrisons, in particular the locations of the army corps, divisions and - from 1960 to 1978 - brigades. As was the case during the occupation of the Rhineland from 1918 to 1930, border post offices (Bureaux Frontière) were set up in Offenburg and Trier for exchange with the French postal service : Bureau Frontière H in Offenburg was responsible for Zones de Stationnement Sud ( Freiburg im Breisgau ) and Center ( Landau ) as well as the headquarters in Baden-Baden , the Bureau Frontière P in Trier for Zone de Stationnement Nord (Trier). Strasbourg acted as exchange stations with the French post office for the Bureau Frontière H and initially Forbach (for Kaiserslautern 1978-1982 ), then Nancy (for Trier) for the Bureau Frontère P.
In 1977 (dissolution of the brigades established in 1960) and 1991 (beginning of the withdrawal of the French armed forces from Germany after reunification), the postal organization was adapted to the extensive changes in the FFA.
French field post offices in Germany from 1945 to 2010
| garrison | initial setup | BPM | BPM 1977 | BPM 1991 | closure | comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rastatt | 1960 | BPM 121 | BPM 121 | BPM 121 | 1993 | |
| Karlsruhe | 1967 | BPM 121GA1 | BPM 121A | BPM 122 | 1991 | |
| Tübingen | 1947 | BPM 416 | BPM 416 | BPM 416 | 1993 | Brigade 1960–1978, 1992 BPM 416 moved to the Franco-German Brigade in Müllheim. |
| Münsingen | 1988 | BPM 416A | BPM 412 | 1992 | ||
| Horb | 1964 | BPM 416GA1 | 1977 | |||
| Baden-Baden | 1945 | BPM 507 | BPM 507 | BPM 507 | 1999 | HQ 1re Armée 1945–1993, HQ 2e Corps d'Armée 1969–1999. |
| Buhl | 1949 | BPM 507A | BPM 507A | BPM 501 | 1994 | 1992–1994 Bureau Frontière H in Bühl. |
| Buhl | 1994 | Center de tri militaire 507 | 2002 | Before Bureau Frontière H. | ||
| Pforzheim | 1991 | BPM 508 | BPM 508 | 1996 | 1991 BPM 508 initially in Kehl. | |
| Offenburg | 1945 | BPM 510 | BPM 510 | BPM 510 | 1992 | Direction de la Poste aux Armées, Brigade 1960–1978. |
| Offenburg | 1945 | Bureau Frontière H | Bureau Frontière H | Bureau Frontière H | 1994 | Set up in 1945 in Schiltigheim , 1945 → Offenburg, 1992 → Bühl, closed in 1994. Responsible for Zones de Stationnement Sud and Center. |
| Throat | 1960 | BPM 510A | BPM 510A | BPM 508 | 1991 | BPM 508 relocated to Pforzheim. |
| Achern | 1977 | BPM 510B | BPM 512 | BPM 512 | 1999 | Elements Air français en Allemagne et Détachement Air d'adaptation auprès de la 1re Armée. |
| Freiburg | 1956 | BPM 511 | BPM 511 | BPM 511 | 1992 | HQ 1er Corps d'Armée 1945–1960, 3e DB 1956–1992. |
| Muellheim | 1956 | BPM 511GA1 | BPM 511A | BPM 513, 1992 BPM 416 | 2002 | Franco-German brigade since 1991, use of the Deutsche Post from 2002. |
| Breisach | 1967 | BPM 511B | BPM 511B | BPM 518 | 1997 | |
| Koblenz | 1945 | BPM 515 | 1969 | HQ 2nd Corps d'Armée 1945–1969, 1945 BPM 515 initially in Bühl. | ||
| Villingen | 1945 | BPM 519 | BPM 519, 1983 BPM 519B | BPM 522 | 1994 | |
| Stetten am kalten Markt | 1957 | BPM 519A | BPM 519A | BPM 521 | 1997 | |
| Donaueschingen | 1964 | BPM 519B | BPM 519B, 1983 BPM 519 | BPM 519 | 2010 | |
| Landau | 1956 | BPM 520 | BPM 520 | BPM 520 | 1999 | 5e DB 1947-1999 |
| Speyer | 1972 | BPM 520GA1 | BPM 520A | BPM 524 | 1994 | |
| Neustadt an der Weinstrasse | 1956 | BPM 520B | BPM 520B | BPM 528 | 1992 | |
| Constancy | 1945 | BPM 523 | BPM 523 | 1978 | Brigade 1960–1978. | |
| Lindau | 1945 | BPM 523A | 1968 | HQ 1re Armée Rhin et Danube , 1945 relocation to Baden-Baden. BPM 523A moved to Friedrichshafen in 1952. | ||
| Ravensburg | 1945 | BPM 523B | 1977 | |||
| Zweibrücken | 1968 | BPM 525 | 1977 | |||
| Saarburg | 1962 | BPM 525A, 1971 BPM 526B | BPM 526B | BPM 532 | 2010 | |
| St. Wendel | 1973 | BPM 525GA1 | BPM 525B | BPM 529 | 1999 | |
| trier | 1950 | BPM 526 | BPM 526 | BPM 526 | 1999 | 1st DB 1950–1999. |
| trier | 1982 | Bureau Frontière P | Bureau Frontière P | Bureau Frontière P | 1999 | Set up in Oran ( Algeria ) in 1943 , → Bagnoli (Italy) 1943, → Dijon 1944, → Mulhouse 1945, → Mengen 1945, → Lindau 1945, merged with Bureau Frontière H in 1949, reactivated in Kaiserslautern in 1978 , → Trier in 1982. Responsible for Zone de Stationnement Nord. |
| Wittlich | 1959 | BPM 526A | BPM 526A | BPM 530 | 1999 | |
| Trier-Feyen | 1964 | BPM 526GA | BPM 526C | 1991 | ||
| Berlin | 1945 | BPM 600 | BPM 600 | BPM 600 | 1994 | |
| Friedrichshafen | 1963 | BPM 605 | BPM 605 | BPM 605 | 1992 | |
| Vineyard | 1967 | BPM 605GA1 | 1976 |
Abbreviations
| abbreviation | text |
|---|---|
| BPM | Bureau Postal Militaire (Field Post Office) |
| DB | Blindée Division (Armored Division) |
| FFA | Forces françaises en Allemagne (French armed forces in Germany) |
| HQ | headquarters |