Present are cancels : CENSURIERT - censored, Weiterleiten - forward( to be mailed), K.u.k I.R Dankl No.53 / I./XVI.Marsch. komp : a units cancel , and hungarian- german canel: A hadrakelt seregrol / Von der Armee im Feld : from the army in the battlefield ( used to not reveil units location).
13.02.1944 card sent to Retfala (today part of Osijek) from Fp.31185 used by Sanitats-Kompanie 392 (Kroatien) of 392. Croatian (Blue) division. Card has no visible postal manipulation with only green censors markings present.
Its possible that card traveled through postal system without any markings but its more likely that card was part of a letter as german censors always marked every paper sheet in letter with such green censors numbers, hence postal cancels applied on the cover of the letter are not present.
During the second half of 1942 , Command of Railway protection force "LIKA" was formed with 3 Railway protection battalions , I. , II. and III. ŽESTRA bojna (Željezničarska Stražarska Bojna). It was part of Domobranstvo(Regular army).
Commands HQ was in Ogulin.
I.ŽESTRA bojna was in Brušani near Gospić, with 3 rifle companies and one Machinegun company - around 900 men
II.ŽESTRA bojna was in Oštarije near Ogulin with 3 rifle companies and one Machinegun company - around 800 men
III.ŽESTRA bojna had HQ in Lešće near Otočac with 3 rifle companies and one Machinegun company - around 600 men
20.10.1918 card from the 78.Infanterie regiment Gerba mailed via Fp.634 used by 36.Inf.division.Very late mailing date at the end of the Great War.
Regiment was Croatian unit in common K.u.K army. Recruting area was Slavonia. During entire war it was part of 36.Inf.Division, from 2.1918 it fought on the Italian battlefield.
Rare charity feldpostkarte from regiment was mailed to Zagreb, text in Croatian is very interesting: " it is hard to die now after we stayed alive up to now in all this suffering. Here a spanish sickness(flue) is everywhere, oddly im still untouched by it".
10.12.1943 letter in very bad condition sent from Fp.56901 Gendarmerie Bezirksfuhrer Zlatar via Fp.58639 B - Kommandeur der Gendarmerie Agram (Dienststelle cancel) to Biškupec, then a village near Varaždin. SS censorship. Gendarmerie Bezirksfuhrer Zlatar was local, "district gendarmerie station" in small city of Zlatar.
THIS IS A EXTREMELY RARE LETTER!!!
MAIL FROM GERMAN-CROATIAN POLICE SENT FROM "Gendarmerie Bezirksfuhrer" IS ALMOST UNKNOWN, I HAVE NEVER SEEN IT BEFORE.
I thought this was a uniqe cover, but I was told by mr.Pervan that late mr.Dietz had a couple of letters from Bezirksfuhrer in his collection.
On September 10/11 an USA auction house sold "The Alfred F. Kugel Collection". There were some nice Croatian feldpost items in one big lot. In that lot the above pictured cards were sold. They look lovely, really great Feldopost cards. As usual, if it is to good to be true, it's not true.
These cards are fake ! Forgeries made to deceive collectors!
About cards:
1. Green Croatian Feldpostcards are original.
2.the round censor cancels are original, i have seen them applied on cards and letters in blue and purple colour but this is first time in black, probably they are in private hands.
3. Square cancel GSBP with smudged letters, on the left side of cards is fake.
4. Square cancel GSBP with clear letters, on the right side of cards is fake
5. Zagreb 1/60 cancel was seen on fake covers before, it is in private hands.
6. The Military stamps on covers have not been seen on original covers yet.(there is still hope we will see original covers with these stamps, but after 80 years it is really a tiny hope). The stamp with croatian amblem was to be used on parcels and not on cards and letters. The other stamp with Neretva river is a forgery itself.
7. Really interesting is Feldpost adress of reciever Fp.58207E - 4. Kompanie Genesenden Abteilung Kroat. Ausbildungs Brigade. On the 04.04.1945 (the date in the cancels!!) Kroat.Ausb.Brigade recieved orders to leave Stockerau , only 540 men sick with typhoid remainded there in Genesenden Abteilung (reconvalescent unit). These information was known to forgerer so he used Fp.58207 and not any other as other units were moving out of Stockerau. The last days of Kroat. Ausbildungs Brigade are described in Franz Schraml book: Kriegsschauplatz Kroatien. I'm sure forgerer had read it. Croatian translation of the book was published in 1993.
The German text of Franz Schraml : Kriegsschauplatz Kroatien is available here
https://znaci.org/00001/180.htm
15.01.1943 Feldpost letter from Fp.05130 D to Osijek Croatia. Fp.05130D was used by 3. Kompanie, I.Bataillon, Grenadier Regiment 239 of 106.Infanterie-Division. 106.Infantry division was withdrawn from the Eastern front in May 1942 and relocated to France for replenishment in the St. Omer, Calais, Boulogne-sur-Mer area, on the La Manche coast . In February 1943, it returned to the Eastern Front in the Kharkov area.
This letter was mailed by Croatian Volksdeutsche soldier to home in Osijek, Croatia, just before transfer from France back to Russian front. Text is in German. Regular german censorship marks are both on the cover and the letter sheet, also on both pieces are present blue marks of chemical censorship. Arrival cancel Osijek 26.01. is on the backside.
17.08.2024 marked 5 years since I started this blog, for this occasion one special text follows.
On the 09.07.1941 Hrvatski pomorski odjel(Croatian naval legion) was formed with Andro Vrkljan as its commander to serve under Kriegsmarine on the Black sea. Note about units name: offical German name was Kroatische marine abteilung, several Croatian names were used officially: Hrvatski pomorski odjel(aministration,cancels) Hrvatska pomorska legija(on the units badge) and Hrvatski Pomorski sklop na Crnom moru(adminstration). In the beginning all the personel were Croats from former Royal Yugoslav Navy. Members were transfered from Croatia to Varna(Bulgarian port on the Black sea)in several goups from several places:
1. group on 17.07.1941 with 120 men(from Zagreb).
2. group in 08.1941 with 88 men(from Zagreb?).
3. group on 27.09.1941 with 52 men(from Sisak).
4. group in 1.1942 with 82 men(from Zemun).
Legion served on Black and Azov sea until in returned to Croatia on 21.05.1944, officially it was disbanded on 23.05.1944. Units total strength was around 340 men, it was assigned Fp.number 23713 . Not a single member of the Croatian Naval Legion ever switched sides and deserted to Soviets.
Due to units small size feldpost from legion is very rare. Below follows a small collection of letters sent from one of its members, Obermachinen maat (Machinist's Mates) Šemsudin Ruždijić to a lady friend in Zagreb. His path from Yugoslav Royal navy to Legion is typical for all members.
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26.11.1915 and 15.1.1918 two feldpost cards from fortress of st.Nicolas(Sv.Nikola) in front of Šibenik to Fiume(Rijeka) in Croatia. Sender and recipient have same Croatian surname Franković(Frankovich) but text is in Italian. Two different fortress purple cancels read K.u.K Kommando des Seeforts S.Nicolo, also 2 different Šibenik cancels are present. Fortress was build in 1540.-1547 to guard sea approach to Šibenik. Last army to actively used the fort until 1918 was Austro-Hungarian. When completed fortress housed 32 guns but has never seen active fighting. Below are some photos of the fort from the summer of 2023 and 2024.
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| 2024. view of the roof of the fortress |
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| 2024. gun emplacement |
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| 2023 back view |
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| 2024 view from fortres over channel of Sv.Ante to Jadrija lighthouse on the other side of the channel |
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| 2023 side view |
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| 2023 back view |
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| 2023 land view of fortress and land approach to it by crossing shallow sea. |
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| 2024 inside of fortress |
