Great Britain and British Commonwealth Postal History - Military - World War I
Sale No: 237
Lot No: 1490
Symbol: C
1918 YMCA cover with header '...WITH THE/BRITISH PRISONERS OF WAR INTERNED IN HOLLAND' & a plain cover similarly inscribed, both with the Australian sender's details at lower-left & different "free mail" cachets, to NSW, minor defects; and 1918 stampless Swiss PPC to an Australian POW at Friedrichsfeld Camp with German camp censor's cachet & boxed 'F.a.' h/s (= time expired) h/s indicatin he had been repatriated. A very scarce trio.
(3)
1916 Liverpool Camp Souvenir of Australia's Fighting Sons fold-out wallet with eight views of camp life & training activities, sent to "Young Station via Bathurst" with lengthy personal message, KGV 1d red tied 'LIVERPOOL MILITARY CAMP/NSW' cds, couple of edge faults. Liverpool Military Camp PO 25.2.1915; closed 14.12.1918.
Sale No: 237
Lot No: 1493
Symbol: PS
Cat No: Collection
PRISONERS OF WAR MAIL: Quality group of POW Envelopes x7 (one registered with 'HOLDSWORTHY CAMP' cds), Letter Sheets x7 & a rare Postal Card, various 'FREE' indicia, includes usages to China, Holland, India, Switzerland & USA, various NSW & foreign censor cachets etc, generally fine to very fine. A very appealing lot,
(16)
Sale No: 237
Lot No: 1494
Symbol: CPS
Cat No: Collection
PRISONERS OF WAR MAIL: Group with handstamped 'FREE' cachet x4 (one with rare 'BERRIMA DETENTION BARRACKS/BERRIMA NSW' h/s in violet), envelopes from Trial Bay with printed 'FREE' & seriffed or sans-serif x2 Trial Bay censor cachets, condition variable.
(7)
PRISONERS OF WAR MAIL: c.1915 undated plain cover from Liverpool Camp with very fine strikes of straight-line h/s & the rare boxed 'PRISONER/OF/WAR/LETTER.' cachet (Emery #CA221) both in red, to Germany with superlative boxed 'PASSED BY/CENSOR SD/...' cachet in violet applied at Sydney. Superb!
PRISONERS OF WAR MAIL: 1915 plain cover from Liverpool Camp with superb strikes of straight-line h/s & the rare boxed 'PRISONER/ OF/WAR/LETTER.' cachet (Emery #CA221) both in violet, to Germany with light 'PASSED BY CENSOR/11AU15/ =CS=' cds in red at lower-left applied at Sydney & British POW cachet.
PRISONERS OF WAR MAIL: c.1916 POW Envelope to Amsterdam with light strike of the British oval 'PRISONER OF WAR/REPATRIATION BUREAU' cachet at lower-left, on arrival redirected to "Utrecht", minor soiling. Scarce destination for POW mail.
PRISONERS OF WAR MAIL:VICTORIA: 1915 (Apr 15) plain POW cover to Switzerland with very fine strike of the rare 'PRISONERS OF WAR DEPOT/LANGWARRIN' cachet in green & superb Melbourne cds, Geneva arrival b/s of 12.V.15, minor blemishes. With the complete 'OPENED BY/CENSOR' label removed to expose the cachet.
1942 (Feb 14) airmail cover from Melbourne to a member of 2/21 Battalion with 'ARMY POSTAL SERVICE/ DELIVERY IMPRACTICABLE/...' handstamp, minor blemishes. [LCpl William James Chung was a member of "Gull" Force comprising 1131 men who were transported from Darwin by sea to defend Ambon. The Japanese landed 20,000 troops on the island & "Gull" Force was forced to surrender. 779 members died either on Ambon - including 229 who were massacred at Laha after surrendering - or after being moved to the Chinese island of Hainan]
Sale No: 237
Lot No: 1502
Symbol: L/?
Cat No: Collection
EPHEMERA: Group of WW2 soldier's pamphlets including 'Infantry Section Leading', 'Concealment & Camouflage', guides to Cairo & Aden, RAAF 'No3 Squadron Leave Pass', OHMS 'Identity Card' x2, also bundle of small photographs mostly of British troops in Italy including crashed P51 Mustang, Spitfire strafing Cervia, Tripoli harbour with sunken ships, etc, condition mixed but mostly fine.
(100+)
PRISONER OF WAR MAIL: 1944 Osaka POW Camp Nippon envelope to Australia from Gunner PM Tully with Japanese censor chop on face and brown tape at top but no postal markings, the enclosed letter in pencil on Japanese notepaper headed "OSAKA POW CAMP/6-11-44" refers to the allowed topics of mail received, weather, etc but must have transgressed as one line has been erased and another scored out & also includes the scarcely credible line "... I am in fair health.", envelope with some blemishes but letter fine. It is very unusual to find the actual letters along with POW covers, especially one written on 'official' stationery. The illustration is above lot 1494(2)
