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FORCES POSTAL HISTORY SOCIETY

JOURNAL

Whole Number 275

Spring 2008 Vol XXVIII No 5

ISSN 1752-0975

© Forces Postal History Society and Authors

1847 cover from Captain John Pasco Royal Navy, commanding HMS Victory, to his son at Hong Kong. Captain Pasco was Nelson’s Flag Lt at Trafalgar and helped compose

and then send the famous signal. See page 135.

Journal No 275 Spring 2008

Contents Book Review: Forces Postal Service in Borneo 1962-6: 130-1 Book Review: POWs in British Hands in WW1 131 AMDO Inverness cover: Nick Colley 131 HMS Hermes at Dakar 1939-40: Nick Colley 132-4 Pasco Father and Son: Colin Tabeart 129, 135 Barred Circle Postmarks of 1918: Dr Michael Gould 136-140 First Direct Flights UK-Mount Pleasant, Falkland Islands: John Sims 141-3 Unusual RAF Covers: Ken Sandford 144-8 Sunk by Explosion: Keith Tranmer 148-150 The Springbok Shuttle: Jim Findlay 151-3 British Peacekeeping in Bosnia: John Daynes 154-9 Feedback: Messrs Trapnell, Tyler, Mario, Gould, and Proud: 160-1 Members’ Queries: Messrs Caesley, Ashdown, Vevers, Walker, and Swarbrick: 162-4

Editorial

The eagle-eyed will notice that this edition is 12.5% bigger than usual. When I took over as Editor I was told the Journal was to be 32 pages, no more, no less. With a large backlog of items from members (many thanks to all contributors) you have 4 pages more this time, and I have asked the Committee to agree to more flexibility in size for future editions at their forthcoming meeting. I still have a backlog, and apologise to some authors for the delay, which I hope to clear this year.

Editor’s Contact details: Colin Tabeart, 238 Hunts Pond Road, Fareham. PO14 4PG. [email protected]

*************************************************

The Forces Postal Service in Borneo during the Confrontation with Indonesia 1962-1966. By W Batty-Smith MBE, FRPSL.

Reviewed by Michael Dobbs 50 pages A3 stapled & folded, soft back, table of contents. Published by the Sarawak Specialists Society, 2007, ISBN 978-0-905844-07-7, price £6 (includes UK p&p), obtainable through Peter

High (Postal History 2000) - see your Programme Card or website for contact details.

This monograph is based on notes and original research by the late Gillian Hart. I was pleased to see the names of two prominent Society members in the list of acknowledgements (John Daynes and Alistair Kennedy), which in my opinion adds weight to the usefulness of this publication. As the author makes clear, the monograph is not a study of the military operations but a study of the Forces postal markings that can be found on mail from that period as well as the BFPO addresses used; it does this very well. Datestamps are illustrated and each one is dealt with individually, listing covers (where they show a return address) together with periods of use. There is also a useful section dealing with Forces mail posted through the civil mail. Out of 50 pages 18 show colour illustrations of covers from the period. As well as an extract of an article written by Gillian Hart in the Sarawak Journal in 1998 there are useful summaries on the confrontation period, including the Brunei Revolt in 1962. There is a listing of units, but those of us interested in detail (e.g. full unit titles and dates of service in the area) will need to do further research in The National Archives at Kew. There is also in my view some confusion over the relationship between and use of BFPO numbers and FPO numbers. However, this does not in any way detract from the usefulness of this monograph, which is well written and shows

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mailto:[email protected]


detailed research into covers from the period. It will be invaluable to anyone wishing to learn more about the period or to write up their own collection of Confrontation covers.

Prisoners Of War In British Hands During WWI. A Study of their History, the Camps and their Mails. By Graham Mark.

Reviewed By Alistair Kennedy

Published by The Postal History Society, October 2007, 264 A4 pages, hardback, illustrated in black and white. ISBN 978 0 85377 029 9. Price to FPHS members £20 plus postage.

Little has been published on this subject previously beyond camp names and censor

markings. The author wanted additional information, and found he needed to do the research himself. As we have come to expect from Graham, this was very extensive in official records (including reports from visitors representing the neutral protecting powers, and others), local and national newspapers, books and other sources – the bibliography extends to four pages. The first 40 pages give background information on the conditions and camps of POWs in earlier periods, International agreements on treatment of POWs, and British arrangements for POWs and civilian internees. Here also the postal and censorship regulations and arrangements are covered, including an explanation of why postage was paid on some mail. All general postal and censorship markings, labels and stationery known to the author are illustrated here. The bulk of the book takes each of the major camps in turn and gives the precise location (Ordnance Survey grid reference), particulars of previous and subsequent use of the site, and insight into the life of POWs or internees in each camp, with numbers specified at various dates. All postal and censorship markings for each camp are illustrated. Prisoners held on ships early in the war, the crews of the German fleet interned at Scapa Flow in 1918-1919, and labour companies in France are all covered here. The subsidiary camps or working companies (where mail can only be identified from the sender’s address) are covered in a simple alphabetic listing. A supplementary feature is a long list of prisoners who escaped, with relevant details, which could add unexpected interest to some covers. Throughout there are illustrations of postcards or photographs, ephemera and maps, but very few covers. The book should prove useful to anyone interested in prisoners of war (not just collectors of prisoner of war mail) or those interested in an area housing one or more of the camps.

**********************************************

AMDO Inverness.

Gould’s PC51 and PC52 on much re-

directed item. Collection of Nick

Colley

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HMS Hermes at Dakar, Senegal, 1939-1940 Nick Colley

Historical Context

HMS Hermes was an aircraft carrier commissioned in 1923. By 1939 developments in aircraft design and fleet tactical theory meant that she was on the small side for effective participation in Fleet operations. However, the French Navy’s sole carrier, Béarn was engaged in ferrying aircraft from the USA to France, so after one anti-submarine patrol in the South West Approaches between September 14th and 18th Hermes sailed for Dakar in French West Africa on 7 October 1939, with 814 Squadron of Swordfish biplanes on board.

She was based at Dakar to assist the French Navy with convoy escort and searches for German raiders, as part of a task force comprising the battlecruiser Strasbourg and the heavy cruisers Algérie, Foch, and Dupleix. On 22 June 1940 the French signed their armistice with the Germans, and the future of the French fleet was in doubt. A British warship could obviously no longer stay at Dakar, so Hermes sailed from there for the last time on 26 June.

After a useful period escorting convoys between Sierra Leone and Cape Town, Hermes was sent to the Indian Ocean in January 1941, and in April 1941 she arrived in the Persian Gulf where her squadron flew off to assist in quelling the Iraqi revolt. After a refit in Simonstown, Hermes arrived in Ceylon in February 1942, just as the Japanese offensive was expanding and approaching the eastern parts of the Indian Ocean. On 9 April 1942 Japanese carrier-borne naval aircraft attacked Trincomalee. Fortunately, early warning had been provided the previous day of the approach of the hostile naval force, and Hermes and other vessels had been sailed to prevent them being caught in harbour. She was unlucky to be sighted by a Japanese reconnaissance plane, so a force of Japanese dive bombers were dispatched to destroy, and this they did, along with her escorting destroyer, HMAS Vampire. The Covers

Figure 1 shows an airmail cover from the chaplain, the Reverend Leeke, on board Hermes, franked at the 6d rate with KG VI definitives, and dispatched via the cruiser Algérie where the stamps were cancelled with that vessel’s postmark on 16 November 1939. The cover bears the conventional straight-line naval censor, N604. The writer was killed when Hermes was sunk in April 1942.

Figure 2 shows a similar airmail cover postmarked on board Dupleix on December 24th, 1939. Later in 1940, it seems that this courtesy from the French was no longer available – perhaps the breach of security created by a ship’s name being part of the postmark had been recognised?

Figure 3 shows the alternative arrangement to show that postage had been paid: the P.P. mark (presumably an abbreviation of ‘Port Paye’). This item is also from the Rev Leeke.

Figure 4 shows the last variation the author can show – the use of local postage stamps on mail sent through the local civilian post office. Presumably this facility was available to shore based RN personnel – those on board Hermes could not have used local stamps, as these would have revealed the location of the ship.

Figure 5 from the Editor’s collection shows perhaps one of the last letters from the Revd Leeke, censored by the writer on 25 Feb 1942 and posted at Cape Town, with the very distinctive “anonymous” Paquebot marking of the Cape.

Bibliography:

Roskill, Captain SW, DSC, RN: The War at Sea, 1939-1945, Vol 1, HMSO, London, 1954. Anonymous: HMS Hermes, orphaned magazine article in author’s files, ca. 1980s.

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Fig 1

Fig 2 (right, reduced)

Below:

French cruiser Algérie and the aircraft carrier

Hermes

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Fig 3

All figures on this page

reduced

Fig 4

Fig 5

134


Pasco Father and Son Colin Tabeart

John Pasco entered the Royal Navy on 4 June 1784 as a Captain’s Servant, aged 9½

years, the normal way for youngsters to start the long learning process to commissioned rank. Between 1790 and 1795 he was a Midshipman and Master’s Mate aboard the Syren, 32, Orion, 74, London, 90, Caesar, 80, Minotaur, 74, Aimable, 32, and Beaulieu, 38. With all that experience he passed for Lieutenant, the coveted commissioned rank, not achieved without considerable experience and the passing of a very stiff board of examination. As a Lt John Pasco served in several ships before being appointed to HMS Victory in April 1803. As senior Lt Pasco was appointed by Lord Nelson to be his Flag Lt, this being the position favoured by Nelson for the officer he intended to promote first. Unfortunately the death of Nelson at Trafalgar lost Pasco the coveted Post rank, and he was promoted only to Commander. Severely wounded at Trafalgar he was unable to go to sea again until 1808, when he commanded HMS Mediator, 32, a fine command for a Commander. Posted Captain in 1811, Pasco continued at sea in command of various ships until 1818. In 1842 he was awarded a Captain’s Good Service pension; and on 1 April 1846 was given command of his old ship Victory, then stationed at Portsmouth. On 22 Sep 1847 he was promoted to Rear Admiral when, presumably, he relinquished command of Victory.1

Crawford Aithcheson Denham Pasco was the second son of John Pasco. He entered the Royal Navy in 1830, passed for Lt in Feb 1837, and was then employed as Mate in the Beagle, survey vessel, surveying the north and west coasts of Australia, filling in the gaps of Flinders’ charts, subsequently in Vansittart, surveying Bass Strait. Promoted Lt in 18432 he served in Caledonia, 120, and then in Vestal and Vulture in the East Indies.3 On sick leave from the Navy he took passage to Australia on the first serious steam ship to that country, the P&O ss Chusan in 1852. Such were his navigational skills that he was roused from his sick bed to take the ship through the treacherous Port Philip Heads, the entrance to Melbourne harbour. He retired from the RN and settled in Victoria, where he became a Police Magistrate and organised a greatly expanded police water force at Williamstown. He was a founder member of the Victorian branch of the Geographical Society and Chairman of the Antarctic Exploration Committee. Pasco Street in Williamstown is named after him. He died in 1898.4

The cover shown on the front of this Journal was sent by John Pasco whilst Captain of HMS Victory to his son in HMS Vulture. Prepaid 1/- for the packet rate to Hong Kong it travelled by P&O steamers Ripon from Southampton 20 July; Haddington from Suez 10 Aug; and Braganza from Galle, arriving Hong Kong on 15 Sep 1847. Figure 2 was sent by father to son in 1853, by which time Crawford was settled in Williams Town, Victoria. Carried by the pioneering P&O line to Australia via Singapore, arriving at Melbourne on 20 July 1853 per ss Chusan. Prepaid 1/- UK rate, charged 5d on arrival for incoming Victoria maritime fee, plus 2d inland from Melbourne to Williams Town.

Fig 2

A third cover, seen by me but sadly not in my collection, was received by Crawford in January 1854 and endorsed by him: “The last from my beloved Father”. The writing of the address panel matches that of the two covers shown here, so authenticating the sender. 1 O’Byrne, William: A Naval Biographical Dictionary, John Murray, London 1849 2 Although passed for Lt in 1837 he had to await a Lt’s appointment before assuming the rank. As can be seen this could be a protracted process. 3 O’Byrne, op. cit 4 Australian Dictionary of Biography

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Barred Circle Postmarks of 1918 Dr Michael Gould

When free postage was granted to the Royal Navy in 1918 acceptance was conditional on

the items being marked with a Received From HM Ships, Fleet Post Office, or barred circle postmark, otherwise the items would be treated as posted unpaid and postage due raised. Some of the lesser ports did not have any of these and this apparently resulted in a second issue of barred circle marks distinguishable from the earlier ones by the bars not being joined to the rim. There is a little more variability in these, and this article looks at those known to me. These vary from 25 to 25½ mm in diameter, but the dimensions quoted below are the distance from the centre of the rim to the centre of the outer bars, measured using a transparent rule. The smaller distance is given first, but it must be remembered that these marks have no top or bottom and may appear in any orientation. Most of the identifiable ones are known to me only as singleton examples; indeed, any examples are not easy to come by.

Figure 1. Lerwick(?). 2½/3 mm. Diameter only 25 mm. This is given in my second edition of British Naval Post & Censor Marks of the First World War as Inverness and it certainly is from a northern Scottish port with these censor marks. However, Kirkwall had a first-issue barred circle (assuming they had not lost it!) while there are RFHMS marks with small seriffed

letters from

Scotland and

without doubt

Inverness would

have had at least one of these, so I now suspect this mark is

from Lerwick.

Note the clean gaps.

Fig 1

Figure 2. Galway. 2½/3 mm. Card headed “Galway”, a supplementary auxiliary patrol base. Gaps are less well defined and some bars appear bent, giving in particular an inclined look to the third bar up. (Fig 2 at end of article).

Figure 3. London. 2½/3 mm. Thick bars. I have been told of several on mail missing the machine cancellation and this example suggests it was used at ECDO. It is not clear if this is the Galway mark somewhat worn but the first issue of marks do occur in different thicknesses so I am of the view that this was a spare one pressed into use. (Fig 3 at end of article).

Figure 4. Glasgow. 3/3 mm. Shown on WW2 RAF cover. Censor 563 is not identified, but 562 was Grangemouth, and I am confident that this is the same mark seen, usually incomplete, struck on QE2 cards missed by the Glasgow machine. It may have been issued but not used in the Great War. (Fig 4 at end of article). Goldup’s Naval Mails 1939-49 shows a Glasgow marking of this type (his B173) and says it was in use in WW1.

136

Figure 5. Portsmouth. 3/3¼ mm. I am confident that the marks shown in Fig 5 are all of this port. The upper example is on a letter headed “Fearless, Portsmouth 21 Aug 1919”.


Struck over the edge of the letter this is not quite complete. The next is on a card of Malaya with the message “this photo will do for one of the girls’ albums” so may not be from this ship. The fourth is from Hibernia II, a trawler of the auxiliary patrol, but I have no location for these units.

Fig 5

Figure 6. Yarmouth. 3/3½ mm. Card headed “Yarmouth”. I have seen stamped naval mail with the Lowestoft Krag but neither port can have handled much naval mail. Some of these smaller ports were used by minesweepers and trawlers of the auxiliary patrol, but the message on the card makes it clear that the ship, Resolution, was on a goodwill visit when it was posted. (Fig 6 at end of article).

Figure 7. Troon. 3/3½ mm. Postcard of Troon pier in a storm. Message talks of arriving and travelling on to arrive Friday or Saturday, suggesting a coastal steamer. Troon also served the convoy assembly point in the Clyde but the way the message is worded seems to rule out any voyage lasting more than 5 or 6 days at the most. I see no reason to suspect this was not used at Troon. It is very like Fig 6, but if the transparent ruler is set using a magnifying glass on the first bar (when both are the same way up) it will be found that the bar spacing is very slightly different in places. (Fig 7 at end of article).

Figure 8. London. 3½/4½ mm. I referred in the Second Edition to an example on a cover back-stamped Port Talbot but I am now confident this is another spare mark used in London, possibly in EDO, else also in ECDO, in the early 1920s. (Fig 8 at end of article).

Figure 9. Unknown. Bit of a puzzle, this one, on an army card sent 25 Oct (obviously 1918), the card being an old Valentine so not much help. The Army censor is numbered
Fig 5 6533, which may help someone identify the port. The spacing is
137


apparently the same as Portsmouth but, as struck, the diameter is smaller. I have suggested this may be Avonmouth, used I believe for Army convoys, but I have seen a suggestion that Liverpool had one of these marks.

Fig 9

Figure 10. Unknown. Difficult to measure this one as it is double struck, but the gaps

seem to be just under 3 and 3. This is apparently a civilian card sent at Christmas from Shoebury, suggesting that it may be a Christmas relief mark, the obvious contender being Southend-on-Sea. Any other suggestions anyone?

Fig 10

Details of any other examples would be welcome – please send photocopies or good

scans to the Editor for onward transmission to the Author and for use in Feedback.

138


Fig 2

Fig 3

Fig 4 - slightly reduced

139


Fig 6

Fig 7

140

Fig 8


The First Direct Flights between the UK and Mount Pleasant Airfield, Falkland Islands, 1985

John Sims

The 25th Anniversary of the Falklands War in 1982 may be an appropriate time to record events which took place 3 years after the war; the opening of the new airfield at Mount Pleasant (MPA), and the first direct air mails between the UK and the Falkland Islands in 1985.

After the war it was accepted that the existing and only airport at Port Stanley was too small, and unsuitable for modern jet aircraft. The British Government decided to build a new runway and associated airfield facilities at MPA, 30 miles west of Port Stanley. I avoid the word airport as the new base was designed purely as a military facility for the future defence of the Islands. This project took nearly 3 years to complete, and the first flight landed there on 1 May 1985. Before I recall this event, I should set the scene.

The first air mail to be carried to Port Stanley after the Islands were re-occupied by British forces was carried in an RAF C-130 Hercules aircraft which departed Wideawake airfield, Ascension Island (ASI), on 24 June 1982. To cover the 3377 nautical miles between ASI and Port Stanley, the C-130 received two in-flight fuel transfers from RAF Victor K2 tanker aircraft based on ASI. This service, known as the Air Bridge, and used to transport military personnel and cargo, was costly and tiring for passengers and crews alike. The Hercules’ flying time from ASI to the Falklands was 13 hours. This C-130 service was eventually replaced by a wide-bodied jet aircraft, the Tristar, as soon as the new airfield at MPA was ready.

The RAF bought 6 British Airways (BA) Tristar-500 aircraft in 1983 to be converted and used as tankers for air-to-air refuelling. However, an air transport shortfall was also identified, and two of these aircraft were retained in their existing BA passenger configuration. BA was awarded a contract to provide maintenance, support, and operating crews, and a training programme for RAF flight crews and other personnel. These two aircraft were committed at the end of 1985 to support the Falkland Islands Garrison and provide a thrice-weekly schedule to and from the UK. This service was to offer a much faster and more comfortable journey, not to mention a quicker airmail service. One oddity - the Tristar flew with a 4-degree nose up attitude, which made it rather uncomfortable for passengers to face the rear. Consequently it was the RAF’s first large transport aircraft to have forward facing seats.

Now back to April 1985, when the new runway at MPA was declared ready to receive its first aircraft. This decision was not to be taken lightly. The aircraft would be departing from ASI, some 3400 miles away, there was no other suitable runway in the Falklands, and the nearest acceptable diversion airfield was in Uruguay! One of the Tristars, No ZD 952 was prepared for the proving flight, which was scheduled to depart the UK as Flight 3758 on 30 April 1985. The flight schedule was as follows, all times local5:

Place ETA ETD RAF Brize Norton Apr 30 2140 Ascension Is May 01 0550 May 01 0720 Falkland Is. MPA May 01 1100 May 02 1400 Ascension Is May 03 0125 May 03 0255 RAF Brize Norton May 03 1250

Scheduled flight times: Brize Norton to Ascension Is. 9 hours 10 mins Ascension Is. to MPA FIs. 7 hours 40 mins MPA to ASI 7 hours 25 mins ASI to Brize Norton 8 hours 55 mins

141 5 UK was on BST, ASI on GMT, and MPA on GMT -4hrs


The flight was successful, departing from the UK on time with 200 military passengers on board. I was fortunate enough to travel on the round flight back to Brize Norton, and can confirm that the flight operated to schedule throughout, except for arriving some 40 mins early at ASI outbound. On arrival at MPA tarmac was still being laid on the shoulders of the link taxiway to the apron just 10 mins before the Tristar’s arrival. We received a most enthusiastic welcome on arrival at MPA, mainly from the airfield construction workers who surrounded the aircraft and who had worked so hard to meet their targets to allow our arrival on that day.

This flight set several new records. It was the first aircraft from outside the Islands to land and take off from MPA, the first through flight between the UK and the Falkland Islands, the first through flight from the Falklands to the UK, and the first to carry direct airmails between the two destinations. Surprisingly the latter event appeared to have gone unrecognised by all the postal authorities. No special cachets were used on any mail, and I am unaware of the existence of any commemorative covers, other than my own. In 1985 I had the beginnings of an interest in aerophilately, and posted a handful of covers through the official mail to and from the various destinations, some of which I had signed by the captains of the two RAF crews that flew the round flight. I also carried a few unofficial covers that I posted on arrival. Forces aerogrammes were carried postage free when endorsed British Forces South Atlantic. The penguin cachets on some of the covers have no special significance; they were commonly used on Forces mail from the Falklands at the time. Flt Lt David Birch flew the aircraft from Brize Norton to ASI, and Flt Lt A F Marshall from ASI to MPA.

Although the proving flight was successful, the two Tristars the RAF had in the air transport role were insufficient at the time to undertake a regular service to the Falkland Islands. Accordingly, BA was contracted by the Ministry of Defence to operate a passenger/cargo/mail scheduled service using its own B747 aircraft and crews. The contract operated from 20 May 1985, the date of the first flight from RAF Brize Norton, to 28 Nov 85. There was a twice weekly schedule, again staging through ASI in each direction, resulting in a total of 52 return flights. The last B747 flight departed MPA on 1 Dec 85, delayed from 29 Nov. I travelled on that flight too, and we arrived back at Brize Norton at 1545 local time on 2 Dec 85. Again, I am unaware of the existence of any special covers to commemorate the carriage of airmails on these first and last contract flights. From then on sufficient RAF Tristars and aircrews had become available to undertake the re-supply task and changeover of military personnel. So ended a relatively short but pioneering period of modern military and civil aviation, and postal history, in the Falkland Islands. The carriage of airmails on all these various first and last flights seemed to pass largely unrecognised at the time. If that is indeed the case it is, perhaps, not before time that my personal notes and recollections of those events should be placed on record.

Above Left: Crowds greet the arrival of RAF Tristar ZD 952 at Mount Pleasant Airfield on 1 May 1985. Photograph taken from top of aircraft steps. Right – the aircraft.

142


The first stage of the Proving Flight, RAF Brize Norton to Ascension Island, flown on 30 Apr - 1 May 1985. Pilot signed.

First through flight from the UK to the Falkland Islands, the proving flight, 30 Apr - 1 May 1985. Pilot signed.

Left: Return of RAF Proving Flight, final stage from Ascension Island to RAF Brize Norton. Postmarked FPO 777 2 May 85 (reduced).

Right: Back of OHMS cover from Falkland Islands to the UK, the first return flight. Cachet of the Joint Services Movements Staff HQ British Forces FI. Note, 4, 5, 6 May was a Bank Holiday

weekend (reduced).

143


Unusual RAF Covers Ken Sandford

Censor Type R26

One of the

more elusive types (only 2 recorded in 1993), R26 is recorded by Colley & Garrard6 as used at Perpignan, southern France, in Feb/Mar 1940 for flying training by No 150 Squadron. This is true, but not exclusively so as implied by the literature.

No1 Armament Training Station (France) was

formed on 16 Jan 1940 at Perpignan-La-Salanque7 until April 1940, for detached units of the Allied Air Striking Force to undertake bomb aiming and gunnery practice on nearby ranges, and for night flying training. This I believe is the reason for the specific issue of unit censor handstamp R26. The censoring officer is Flying Officer DA Cameron of 226 Squadron. He was later shot down whilst bombing German troops in Luxembourg on the day of the German offensive, 10 May 1940, piloting a Fairey Battle, serial no K9183. Initially taken POW, regrettably he died of injuries 3 days later and is buried at Diekirch, Luxembourg.8

RAF Censor Type R7 from the British Liberation Army Shown below is a Dec 1944 Airgraph with Type R7/41 censor, headlined “No 83 Group

Communications Sqd”, located at this time at Airfield B78, Eindhoven, Holland.9 FPO 763 was located at Z119 (airfield) British Liberation Army.10

An unusual usage, originating in Holland for transmission to CMF Italy. There was no direct Airgraph service between the two, so probably processed in the UK.

The writer was Pilot Officer Brian Hawkins, shot down near Cherbourg in Hawker Hurricane No Z3470 of 245 Squadron in Oct 1941. He later escaped from Vichy France to continue his service, as shown by his airgraph above.11 I also have covers from his POW Camps at Fort St Hippolyte – Detachment “W”, and Fort Revere, and a copy of his escape report.

6 Colley, Dr N and Garrard W: Censorship in the Royal Air Force 1918-1956: Chavril Press 1993, ISBN 1-872744-09-05 7 Sturtivant R, Hamlin J, Halley JJ: RAF Flying Training and Support Units; Air Britain 1997, ISBN 0-85130-252-1 8 Chorley, WR: RAF Bomber Command Losses of WW2 1939-40; 2nd impression 1995, Midland Counties Publications, ISBN 0-904597-85-7 9 Sturtivant R, Hamlin J, Halley JJ: RAF Flying Training and Support Units; Air Britain 1997, ISBN 0-85130-252-1 10 Gould RW, MBE, and Proud EB: History of British Army Postal Service, Vol III, 1927-1963; Proud Bailey Co Ltd 1982

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11 Franks, NLR: RAF Fighter Command Losses of WW2, Vol 1, Operational Losses: Aircraft and Crews 1939-41; Midland Publishing Ltd, 1997, ISBN 1-85780-055-9


RAF Internee in Eire (reduced)

Endorsed by the writer “British Internment Camp/Curragh Camp/Co Kildare – PO Shaw”. He was Pilot Officer JW Shaw, an air gunner of 233 Squadron based at RAF Aldergrove, Northern Ireland, equipped with Lockheed Hudson coastal patrol aircraft.

Returning from escorting Convoy HG50 on 24 Jan 1941, the aircraft, P5123, coded ZS-W, ran short of fuel and landed near Skreen, Co Sligo, with minor damage. It was repaired and later served with the Irish Air Corps. As Eire was neutral the crew were interned for a short period, then released to continue their service.12

145

12 McNeill, R: RAF Coastal Command Losses of WW2, Vol 1, Aircraft and Crew losses 1939-41; Midland Publishing Ltd 1997, ISBN 1-85780-128-9


RAF in Russia – Benedict Force

Probably the most prized location for all RAF collectors is Russia. The item below is the closest I have reached after searching for many a year. The background was first discussed in Newsletter No 4 in Nov 1953, with correct historical facts but some doubt concerning the erroneous usage of FPO 493 there, subsequently substantiated in later editions.

Following the German invasion of Russia in July 1941 Stalin requested assistance from Britain; Churchill agreed to send 2 Squadrons of Hawker Hurricanes to defend the Murmansk area and to train the Russian Air Force in their use. 81 and 134 Squadrons were re-formed at RAF Leconfield, Yorkshire, and joined 151 Wing in August 1941. Later that month a convoy left Glasgow for Russia with the aircraft aboard HMS Argus, and ground crews in HMS Sheffield, Active, Electra, and ss Llanstephen Castle. The aircraft were flown from the carrier to Vayenga airfield on 7 Sep, the ground crews arriving 2 days later. After a period of training and operations the Wing left Russia on 28 Nov 1941 for the UK and disbandment.13

I do not know what the postal arrangements were due to the rarity of surviving material, and can only presume that the cover below was postally run. Further research confirms the addressee was with 134 Squadron and accompanied it to Russia.

First RAF Prisoner of War – WW2

On 4 Sep 1939 15 Bristol Blenheim light bombers from RAF Wattisham and Wyton were detailed to attack German naval vessels at Brunsbuttel and Wilhelmshaven. Blenheim No N6240 of 107 Squadron, from Wattisham, piloted by Sgt AS Price, with Sgt Observer GF Booth and Air Gunner AC1 LJ Slattery, was one of the aircraft lost in this raid, shot down by heavy flak.14 The pilot was killed but the other 2 crew were taken prisoner, the only survivors of 27 airmen lost in the operation, so becoming the first RAF prisoners of WW2.

13 Jacobs, P: Hawker Hurricane; the Crowood Press Ltd 1998, ISBN 1-86126-126-8

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14 Chorley, WR: RAF Bomber Command Losses of WW2 1939-40; 2nd impression 1995, Midland Counties Publications, ISBN 0-904597-85-7


1943 POW Card from Stalag Luft 3 written by Sgt (later WO) Booth to his mother.

No 12 RAF Postal Headquarters – West Africa

As far as I am aware this is the first example of this elusive

handstamp to be illustrated in the Journal, and the only, albeit brief, reference regarding it is by JA Smith way back in 1957 in his booklet15 under “West

Africa” stating: “A postal HQ was set up here, probably around June 1943. It was

possibly at Accra in the Gold Coast.” However, no style or

number was given.

Cover from Accra 16 Aug 1944 to “No 6 and 11 RAF Postal HQ” To No 6 RAF Postal Unit Cairo16 endorsed “No Trace” and re-directed to RAF W Africa

Command, where the “No 12 RAF Postal Headquarters West Africa” cachet was applied. Here an RAF re-direction label was affixed and “No Trace West Africa” cachet was applied and the letter sent to Air Ministry, London. London sent it back to HQ ME in Cairo, but the addressee had moved on again, so “No 6 RAF Postal HQ” label attached with FPO 554 date stamp of 6 RAF PU. Sent to “11 RAF Postal HQ Aden” and there endorsed by the recipient “Received at

Aden 4.1.45”. Unfortunately the front is too badly stained to reproduce properly.

147

15 Smith, JA: History of RAF Postal Services Overseas 1942-1957 16 Gould RW, MBE, and Proud EB: History of British Army Postal Service, Vol III, 1927-1963; Proud Bailey Co Ltd 1982


RAF D-Day Period Censorship – Banwell Castle

The first Luftwaffe raid on the West Country hit Bristol on 19 Jun 1940, causing a balloon barrage to be sited at Weston-super-Mare. On the approaches to Bristol, it also helped to protect the Bristol Aeroplane Company’s shadow factory at nearby Oldmixon, where vital aircraft production on Beaufighters etc was undertaken.

No 3 Flight of 955 (Balloon) Squadron17 went operational in May 1941, with HQ in Banwell Castle near Weston-super-Mare, and was disbanded on 21 Jun 1944, the Luftwaffe no longer posing a threat. The D Day period of censorship was only in force from April-August 1944 and, as this Unit disbanded in June, the item above, with Type R11/491 censor in May must be considered elusive.

************************************** [By Ed: this concludes all the material sent to me by Ken before he died. A remarkable selection of the rare and unusual from a keen and knowledgeable collector.]

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Sunk by Explosion Keith Tranmer

On 29 Dec 1990 The Daily Telegraph published a memoriam notice to those who lost their

lives on HMS Natal, sunk in the Cromarty Firth following an explosion on 30 Dec 1915. A few years ago I acquired some correspondence of Lt Cdr (E) John Lindsay Quine, amongst which were some scribbled notes, one of which referred to his visit to the Natal, and which may explain the cause of the explosion that sank her. I leave readers to interpret his Notes, but as a highly qualified engineer he clearly knew what excessive heat and vibration was, so we can take it for granted that such was the case.

17 Hence the “B” after “RAF” in the writer’s address

148


149


I have in my collection of the pre 1914 Navy of Imperial Austria covers from the frigate Radetzky that was converted from sail to steam (and sail) in 1864. She saw action against the fleet of Denmark (assisting Prussia which lacked naval vessels) under the command of Commodore Wilhelm Tegetthoff. In the war of 1866 against Italy and Prussia, the Radetzky saw action again in the defeat of the Italian fleet at the Battle of Lissa, under the command of the now Admiral Tegetthoff.

In 1869, off Lissa, a passing English vessel, the Wellington, witnessed the explosion that destroyed the Radetzky with the loss of all hands. The telegram reporting the incident was sent from Lissa to the naval HQ in Ragusa, now Dubrovnik. Perhaps the change from sail to steam produced similar conditions aboard to those that Quine discovered on Natal.

Right The telegram reporting the loss

Below

The ship under steam power

The telegram reads: “To Commander at Ragusa, from Commander at Lissa. Wellington signals the sinking of a frigate, blown up 10 miles from Lissa in a direction NW. Fortress HQ has sent out rescue boats and barges.”

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The Springbok Shuttle Jim Findlay

[By Ed: Jim originally submitted this item as Feedback for Ken Sandford’s item in Autumn 07 –

RAF Tabora - page 77, but it clearly merits a full article.]

The air route from Zwartkop Air Station to Nairobi and later Cairo and Rome was well established during the war years as the "Springbok Shuttle" flying Junkers and then Dakotas, Lodestars and Venturas. This was for the transport of personnel and mail with equipment and large numbers of men going by sea to Mombasa, Kenya, or Suez or Port Tewfik, Egypt, or by rail from Pretoria to Broken Hill, Northern Rhodesia, and then overland by truck to Nairobi.

The air route was developed from Zwartkop with stops at Bulawayo - Ndola - Kasama - Tabora - Nairobi. This was later extended from Tabora - Kisumu - Juba - Malakal - Khartoum - Wadi Halfa - Luxor - Cairo. It would appear that each of these locations was numbered as a 'Detachment' as I have examples of mail items from No. 6 Detachment (Malakal) and No. 10 Detachment (Cairo). Other mail items from my collection on this route are No. 9 Detachment, 4 Group, ZAS (probably Wadi Halfa or Luxor); Kasama Northern Rhodesia posted at Rand

Airport, Germiston (an alternate air station to Zwartkop); Royal Air Force Tabora (as illustrated by Ken Sandford) dated 13 November 1945 and 28 January 1946 posted at Valhalla. In May 1945 the SAAF formed 4 Group [5 Wing Dakotas and 10 Wing Venturas] to accelerate the return of South African forces from Europe and the Middle East. 4 Group Headquarters was at Zwartkop Air Station, Valhalla (about 4km from Pretoria). Initially mail from 4 Group received the APO-U-MPK 51 datestamp (July/August 1945) and then the Valhalla datestamp. Mail also received a 4 Group SAAF dated unit cachet when received and then posted at Valhalla Post Office.

Although the operational aspects of this route were carried out by the SAAF it appears that there were elements of the RAF in a support function at some of the stopover air bases such as Tabora. This was a very busy air route in 1945-46 with approximately up to 500 troops a day being flown to SA and with a total target of over 20 000 being flown between May and August 1945.

Fig 1 - The Springbok Shuttle Route from Pretoria (Zwartkop Air Station, Valhalla) to Cairo. This is the cover of a brochure issued to each passenger explaining the route and procedures on the flight.

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Fig 2 (left). SAAF 4 Group HQ cachet.

Fig 3 (centre). A cover from RAF Tabora posted at Valhalla.

Fig 4 (bottom). RAF censored V-Mail from No. 10 Detachment in Cairo. (ex

John Daynes's collection).

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Fig 5. Covers from Malakal, Sudan, posted at Valhalla. A page from my collection showing 2 covers

with the rare APO - U - MPK 51 used in 1945 at Valhalla.

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British Peacekeeping in Bosnia John Daynes

Historical background to UK military involvement in Bosnia

The Yugoslav federation was set up in 1945 by the late communist leader Tito. It was made up of six federal republics enjoying relative autonomy: Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia and Montenegro - and two autonomous provinces within Serbia: Kosovo and Vojvodina. Tito held the country together by means of hard repressive measures and the force of his personality. He died in May 1980 and was succeeded by a weak collective presidency. By the end of the 1980s labour unrest and a general dissatisfaction with the quality of life were intensifying. In addition the Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic who advocated socialism, continued to press the cause of Serbian nationalism. The Slovenes and Croats, who were moving towards social democracy and were horrified at the prospect of reconstructed socialism and possible Serbian attempts to achieve hegemony, declared independence on 25 June 1991. However the substantial Serbian minority in Croatia opposed secession and fighting broke out throughout large areas of Croatia.

Bosnia-Herzegovina was forced to choose between staying within rump Yugoslavia, widely seen as a Greater Serbia, or taking a risky path towards independence. Its mixed population of Muslims (43%), Serbs (32%) and Croats (17%), meant that it had little chance of avoiding the effects of ethnic tension in Croatia, and its geographic position also made it almost inevitable that it would become embroiled in the Serb-Croat conflict. In a referendum in March 1992 more than 60% of Bosnians, mainly Muslims and Croats, voted for independence. However the Bosnian Serbs, who wished to remain in the Serb-dominated Yugoslav federation, had held their own vote in late 1991 and in January 1992 had declared the Republic of Serb people in Bosnia as a part of Yugoslavia. The country's multi-ethnic population was inter-mixed, in a pattern that prevented any peaceful division along ethnic lines and thus war broke out on 5 April 1992, when Bosnian Serbs besieged Sarajevo. International Forces in Bosnia-Herzegovina

NATO originally became involved in the Bosnian war in 1992 in support of the United Nations in their efforts to deliver humanitarian relief throughout Bosnia-Herzegovina. Together with the Western European Union, the Alliance monitored and enforced UN sanctions in the Adriatic. The Alliance also monitored and enforced the UN no-fly zone over Bosnia; provided close air support to the UN Protection Force (UNPROFOR) on the ground; and carried out air strikes to lift the siege of Sarajevo.

The first British contribution, given the codename “Operation Grapple” commenced in October 1992, the unit being 1 Cheshire. For the period October 1992 to April 1994 the British contribution was a Warrior Battalion. In April 1994 The United Kingdom took command of HQ Sector South West and in addition to the Warrior Battalion the British contribution now included a Saxon Battalion and a Cavalry Battalion. Operation Grapple continued until December 1995.

By mid 1995 the factions had almost fought themselves to exhaustion and rough equilibrium. NATO launched air strikes against Bosnian Serb positions from late August to mid-September to force them to the negotiating table, and a US brokered cease-fire came into effect on 5 October 1995. The Bosnian death toll after the war was originally estimated at around 200,000 by the Bosnian government. The Western media still often quotes this figure, however, the most recent research places the number of victims at around 100,000 to 110,000 killed (both civilians and military), and 1.8 million forcibly displaced.

Peace talks at Dayton Ohio in November 1995 were followed by the signing in Paris on 14 December 1995 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace (GFAP) more commonly known as the Dayton Peace Agreement which aimed to provide a safe and secure environment, to establish a unified, democratic Bosnia and Herzegovina, to rebuild the economy and to allow the return of displaced persons and refugees to their pre-war homes.

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Following Dayton NATO was given the mandate to implement the military aspects of the Peace Agreement. A NATO-led multinational force, called the Implementation Force (IFOR), started its mission on 20 December 1995 and was very successful during its one-year mandate. NATO Foreign and Defence Ministers concluded that a reduced military presence was needed to provide the stability necessary for consolidating the peace.

With the establishment of IFOR the British contribution was expanded to include a UK Defence Company and by April 1996 an Artillery Regiment and was renamed Operation Resolute. One important philatelic aspect of IFOR was that the BFPO issued a high quality commemorative cover, which was sold by all BFPOs in the area.

NATO Foreign & Defence Ministers agreed that NATO should organise a Stabilisation Force (SFOR), which was subsequently activated on 20 December 1996, replacing IFOR. IFOR was replaced after one year by SFOR with the British codename Operation Loadstar [Dec 96 to Jun 98]. For SFOR the Saxon Battlegroup was withdrawn. This change resulted in a massive reduction of international forces from around 60,000 for IFOR to around 12,000 for SFOR by 2003. The BFPO IFOR cover was replaced with a SFOR version.

There were significant casualties on the part of International Troops in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Prior to the Dayton Peace agreement (between 1992 and 1995), 11 UK personnel were killed in action and 13 died on active service. From December 1995 until 2000, six UK servicemen were killed in action and 25 died on active service. NATO concluded its SFOR mission on 2 December 2004.

The EU (EUFOR) launched a military operation in Bosnia-Herzegovina called Operation ALTHEA commencing on 2 December 2004. This force comprised 6,300 troops from 34 EU and non-EU nations working in three multi-national task forces across the country. The mission was to ensure continued compliance with the Dayton/Paris Agreement and to contribute to a safe and secure environment in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Recent UK Commitment in Bosnia-Herzegovina – which became Operation Oculus on 25 November 2004.

1 Royal Ghurkha Regiment 28 September to 28 March 2006 1 Green Howards Regiment [Yorkshire Regiment] 28 March to September 2006 1 Welsh Guards 28 September to 24 March 2007

As part of EUFOR the UK assisted in creating the conditions to deliver the long-term political objective of a stable, viable, peaceful and multi-ethnic Bosnia-Herzegovina, co-operating peacefully with its neighbours and irreversibly on track towards EU membership.

The UK was the lead nation in Multi-National Task Force (North West) working with ten partner nations. Based in Banja Luka, the UK contributed around 600 troops who provide the core of the Task Force HQ, two companies of the multinational manoeuvre battalion and a large proportion of the administrative and logistic support. The final manoeuvre element was drawn from the 1st Battalion, The Welsh Guards.

In December 2006 EU ministers agreed that the situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina was sufficiently stable to begin restructuring EUFOR. A final decision was made in February 2007 and the Welsh Guards were the last British Peacekeepers in Bosnia, leaving by 24 March 2007. The UK continues to earmark troops for the pan-Balkans Operational Reserve Force that will fly out to the Balkans if required by the situation. BFPO Location Steel

FPO Stamp

Type Packet Type Parcel Type Named SID Number SID

538 SIPOVO 76 445 1 3 166 229 P3 SIPOVO Not Issued 540 PLOCE 375 Not Issued Not Issued

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Journal No 275 Spring 2008 BFPO Location Steel

FPO Stamp

Type Packet Type Parcel Type Named SID Number SID

541 LIPPA 572 1 Issued Not Recorded

Not Issued

542 KISELJAK 482 108 Not Issued Not Issued

543 SARAJEVO 482 555 1029

1 4 32 44 69 230 P3 SARAJEVO 3074A 3074B

544 SPLIT 576 776 791 1052

1057

27 40 95 132

62 119 SPLIT Not Issued

545 ZAGREB 776 1 44 153 173

B5 B2

44 153 173

P3 ZAGREB Not Issued

546 JAJCE 222 48 11 Issued Not Used

Not Issued

547 VITEZ 1012 95 60 Not Issued Not Issued 548 GORNI

VAKUF 576 170 B2 171 P1 GORNI

VAKUF Not Issued

550 KUPRES 222 KUPRES Not Issued 551 MRKONJIC

GRAD 909 6b 62 106 B2 233 P3 MRKONJIC

GRAD Not Issued

552 SANSKI MOST

665 NOT ISSUED Not Issued

553 BANJA LUKA

997 1027 4 25 246 B2C 78 234 P3 BANJA LUKA 3058A 3058B

Bosnia-Herzegovina – an official meter was used by the British Forces Post Office

when General Smith was Commander of the United Nations Forces in 1995. Meter: BRITISH FORCES POST OFFICE – GREAT BRITAIN POSTAGE PAID –

2 NE 20849 – 14. 7. 95 – =019 By the summer of 2007 the only BFPO still open was BFPO 543 at Sarajevo.

All figures reduced.

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Royal Armoured Corps, Royal Artillery, Infantry and Formation HQ involvement in Bosnia Jul 99 to Sep 05. Op Palentine until 25 November 2004 then Op Oculus to 2007

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158


Top Late cover from peacekeepers in

Bosnia.

Centre Royal Visit to the Welsh Guards

Bottom

Special Bluey from 9th/12th Royal Lancers

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Feedback Re Query 298. From David Trapnell

The card shown is a German parcel card. The purpose of the card was to travel with the parcel, recording all the information about it. It consists of two parts, here shown undetached. The narrow left part, headed "Abschnitt" (literally "off-cut" = sender's receipt), was to be retained by the sender but, in this case, was (unusually) left attached to the remainder of the card. Both parts of the parcel card have the cds of the sending office, Charlottenburg, which was in south west Berlin.

A small numbered label was attached to the parcel and the other part to the card (in this case no. 536b from office 4 at Charlottenburg). This label was usually printed in red while the main card was printed in black on various shades of dull, yellow-orange. Here the numbered label partly obscures the printed heading of the card - "Postpaketaddresse".

The sender's receipt recorded his name & address, while the main part recorded the name & address of the intended recipient. The lowest, left third of the main part records the weight (Postgewicht / Poids) of the parcel in Kg. The top right corner recorded the postal charge - in this case "portofrei" (post free) because the parcel was being sent to a PoW as shown by the manuscript "Kriegsgefangensendung" (Prisoner of war mail) across the top. If any postal charge had to be paid, postage stamps would have been applied to the correct value in the top right part of the card (rather than on the parcel itself).

The (empty) central third of the main card at the foot "Zollgebuehren" = Customs duty. The right-hand third shows that the parcel passed through the German town of Emmerich (manuscript), important postally because it was on the border with Holland, on its way via Rotterdam (right) to England. The reverse side of the card, usually not completed, as here, was for the recipient office use with registered or high-value parcels.

I hope this gives a sense of the purpose of the card without a tedious translation of every word.

Member Maurice Tyler also responded with a complete translation, which was forwarded to the author for information.

Re Query 280 – Guard Mail. From Dean Mario

Here is a bit more information re John Daynes’ query and John Leathes’ subsequent comments in Journal 266. Russ W Carter’s US Navy Armed Guard Mail - Revisited18 compared US “Armed Guard Mail” with “Guard Mail”, as follows:

““Guard Mail” is an entirely different matter. The term dates to at least the 1920s, and refers to official mail that contained documents that are so highly classified (usually Top Secret) that they cannot be trusted even to registered mail, and have to be hand-carried by a courier from place to place. Although penalty envelopes were sometimes used for this type of mail in the past, it does not actually go through the normal postal system. The Navy seems to be the only service that uses this term. The Army and the Air Force merely use the term “Hand Carry” Mail”

John’s HMS Cayuga cover may have contained some sensitive information that required this special courier service.

Re Shipwreck on Fair Isle 1915. From Dr Michael Gould Nick Colley’s piece in Journal 273 answers two questions that have puzzled me: who was on Fair Isle and why? And where was the dumb circle applied? The newspaper clipping makes it clear that the line of communication was to Kirkwall, so the barred circle would have been applied there.

160 18 Military Postal History Society Bulletin Vol45, No 2, Spring 2006, p13


Re SP501 – the Fall of Singapore, by Robin Startup. From Edward Proud Regarding the Autumn Journal, No 273, which had an interesting article by Robin

Startup, I would like to point out that SP501 was never an Army Post Office. Originally I had made the same assumption as Robin but later evidence, etc., made me realise I had made a mistake. To clarify the position, this is an extract from my book on the Postal History of Malaya, vol. I: “These datestamps were part of the mobilisation stores for FPOs under the Far East HQ which had been allocated numbers 500-520 using code SP (Singapore). In the event a local Army postal service was not started and the datestamps were used at the GPO on military mail (also on civilian ship mail by June 1941) as a security measure, although this was often negated by the use of Malayan stamps.”

Member WH Legg also responded to this item with an RAF Censor No 93 on airmail letter per Pan Am clipper to Edinburgh at the $2 rate, sent from 2 Coy, Malaya Command Signals, adhesives cancelled SP501. An earlier item by the first Pan Am flight to leave Singapore is shown here, (reduced) franked at the $1.95 rate, only available on the first flight. This has a naval censor, and again the adhesives are cancelled SP501. Re Query 297 – Aultbea. From Dr Michael Gould

The Official History makes it clear that the use of Aultbea as a Grand Fleet base was abandoned after a submarine scare at Scapa, as Loch Ewe was considered all but indefensible against such attack. What is not clear is whether coaling facilities were retained there – Assistance was sent to Aultbea but Dittmar & Colledge (British Warships 1914-19) record her service as Scapa and Cromarty. It would appear then that Assistance went to Cromarty when it was decided early in 1915 that one battle squadron and one cruiser squadron should go to Cromarty on a rotational basis. Mail, apparently from Assistance at Aultbea, is known with a small circle or an X postmark – Andrew’s cover has an early example of a barred circle. This raises the interesting speculation that the so-far unidentified barred circle from Scapa may have been sent to Aultbea, and that Assistance took it round to Cromarty, explaining why there are at least two barred circle marks for that port whereas post office records indicate only one.

I would not expect much to have been left at Aultbea – certainly not a Rear Admiral. There is only one reference to it in Dittmar & Colledge – the stationing there of a dummy battleship in late 191419. The trawlers mentioned would have been part of the Stornoway Auxiliary Patrol, which covered Aultbea. Nick Colley has a much re-directed cover that went from Inverness to Aultbea (to the motor launches, also part of the Stornoway Patrol) and back to Inverness in 2 days. This suggests a lorry-operated supply route from Inverness to Aultbea, and on to Stornoway perhaps by launch or trawler. It seems likely then that later Aultbea mail was postmarked at Inverness, so making recognition difficult, and the question of scarceness somewhat academic.

161

19 By Ed: Probably the dummy built in an attempt to hide the loss of the dreadnought battleship Audacious, mined and sunk 27 Oct 1914. At this time the British superiority in dreadnoughts was slim, and Jellicoe wanted to hide the loss as long as possible.


Members’ Queries Query 301. From Edward Caesley

Card from

Melbourne 9 Sep 1918 to Hill Cove,

W Falklands. Censor marking

appears to be PASSED

BY/CENSOR/41 H.M.S.

Can an

Query 302. From Richard Ashdown

The form shown at right (reduce

ard asks if anyone can confirm

yone say anything about the censor marking please?

d) was described in 1956 by Francis J Field as follows: “An unused Army Letter Form for use of messages from Military Officers of Units to individual native NCOs of Askari units of the King’s African Rifles, and other regiments. There is space for the message below the address, and instructions in four different native languages, probably idioms of Swahili. This is the only example I have ever seen, and I think it was issued for use in 1941/42 during the Ethiopia campaign.”

Rich usage, the postulated dates,

where used, was it free of postage, was it put in an envelope for transmission, in fact anything that any member can add.

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Query 303. From Wilf Vevers. Plymouth Cornwall & W Devon Maritime Mail

This PLYMOUTH CORNWALL & W DEVON marking dated 7 July 1982 was applied to a letter sent by a member of the crew of HMS Rhyl en route to Ascension Island on her way to the Falkland Islands. The letter mentions that it will be put onto a Royal Fleet Auxiliary heading back for UK, but I do not know which one. The Editor did not record this marking in his book20, nor has he seen it since, and I wondered if any member has come across examples? It also raises the question that, if Plymouth had such a marking, what about the other major naval ports such as Portsmouth and Rosyth (Edinburgh)?

Query 304. From Tony Walker. Duchess of Sutherland

Millicent, 4th Duchess of Sutherland, established a privately financed ambulance service in Belgium in WW1 from August 1914 and also later in France. Covers can be found with a circular cachet MILLICENT SUTHERLAND/+/AMBULANCE in purple, and I have a couple with naval references. On my two covers the signatures Millicent Sutherland are obviously different, and in a different hand to the addresses, suggesting they are not in fact those of the Duchess herself. I acquired the illustrated cover on the statement it was a 'signed cover'. The smaller of the two signatures is on a cover dated 12 January 1915 and has no Ambulance cachet, but has the RFHMS/NCTBR handstamp, which measures out to Gould RA 15, possibly from Southampton. The larger signature on the cover illustrated is dated 22 August 1915, and has the purple Ambulance cachet and a CHIEF CENSOR/ADMIRALTY in blue.

My main request is for members with Millicent Sutherland’s “signature” to compare their examples with mine, and perhaps come up with the genuine article? However it would also be interesting to hear of any suggestions as to how these covers may have acquired their naval markings. I presume most of her mail would have been posted through Army channels?21

20 Tabeart, Colin: Robertson Revisited. A study of the Maritime Postal Markings of the British Isles; James Bendon, Limassol, 1997, ISBN 9963-579-77-9

163

21 By Ed: many wounded soldiers were landed in the Solent for the major Army hospital at Netley, hence probably the Southampton RFHMS/NCTBR


Query 305. From Tony Walker. Royal Naval Division. Can any member please answer these queries concerning the Royal Naval Division

(RND)? They used a cabled anchor within a square PASSED BY/anchor/No1/CENSOR mark for a short period in 1916 when they were withdrawn from Gallipoli to France. There seems to be some disagreement as to how long this mark was used for. I have read 2 weeks, and 4 months (May to September '16). Any idea which it is? I have a cabled anchor cover, undated, but with London receiving cachet on the reverse dated 18 May 1916.

When the army imposed their censor mark on the RND, in Sept '16 say, was it the hexagonal one? How might one recognise such a censor mark as coming from the RND, and are they scarce/expensive? Where might I get one?

I have another cover that purports to be from the RND. It has a dr FPO cds dated 14 NOV 15 with N.L.I. at the base. It also has a square PASSED BY/crown/No2635/CENSOR mark in purple. Is this an RND item?

Query 306. From Bob Swarbrick. Royal Marine Labour Corps

I recently purchased a “silk” postcard of the Royal Marine Labour Corps, a unit about which I knew very little. It seems it was formed late in WW1 to provide manpower to organise working parties, often from ethnic groups, to work the French Channel ports, a role previously the province of the army, but which was proving unsatisfactory. From my research to date, detachments were stationed at the various ports. Some, like Calais, were quite large, others only very small where there was little traffic. Their uniform was as a Royal Marine, but with their own cap badge, and their trousers lacked the traditional red stripe. Dr. Gould makes no mention of this unit, so possibly it came under Army control for censorship. I have looked through the few books I have on the subject, without success. Could I, please, ask the membership’s help to identify anything from this formation, to further my research?

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