1.Osijek steam roller mill produced flour from various grains.
K.u.K navy entered the War with 6 submarines, during the conflict another 21 submarines were added to the fleet, giving a total of 27 units, of which 8 were lost. Average crew was 15-20 men hence mail to and from U-boots is very rare.
THIS IS THE FIRST FELDPOST FROM AN K.u.K U-BOAT WRITTEN IN CROATIAN I HAVE SEEN!!
I know that Croatian sailors served on the KuK submarines as Georg von Trapp writes in his memoires ' To the last salute' that he had Croatian speaking sailors on his Uboot-14. This is a great book, you can find english copies online.
17.10.1942 cover of a letter mailed from Lučelnica via Pisarovina post office(cancel) to a soldier serving with 15.stožerna satnija 11.pukovnija, Sisak (15.Hq company of 11.infantry regiment in Sisak). Arrival cancel Sisak 20.10.1942 is on the backside of cover. 11.infantry regiment(Sisak) in June 1943 became 11.mountain regiment of 3.Gorski Zdrug(mountain brigade)
Really interesting is very rare censor cancel in black on left bottom corner. Cancel reads PREGLEDANO / UNS URED III . (EXAMINED/ UNS OFFICE III). UNS is short for Ustaška Nadzorna Služba or Ustaša Surveillance Service this was state secret police service. This special cancel was used only for mail sent from Pisarovina and Zdenčina. Pisarovina is a small palace around 30 km from Zagreb, in this area a safe zone for prisoner exchange between Germans, Croats and Communists Partisans was formed and used until the end of the War. Hence UNS performed additional censorship of mail from this area.
The best book about Croatian censorship in WW2 is "Poštanska cenzura u NDH"(Postal censorship in Croatia) written by Berislav Pervan and Predrag Zrinjšćak , it is a trilingual book in Croatian,English and German. The above letter was published in this book on page 137 , see scan below. You can order the book from author berislav.pervan@gmail.com
20.02.1917 KuK feldpost card mailed from 72. Infanterie Brigade via Fp.634 to Zagreb. Fp.634 replaced Fp.44 on 06.02.1917 as feldpost of 36.Infantry division. 72.Inf.Brigade was part of 36.Inf.division during the whole war. While division was mostly Croatian, Brigade made up of Croatian 53.Inf.Regiment(Zagreb) and 16.Inf.Regiment (Varaždin) and was almost purely Croatian unit. In 02.1917 division was on the Russian front in Galicia. Card has purple 72. Inf.Brigade cancel and Fp.634 cancel but has no visible censorship. Text is short greeting in Croatian language.
16.06.1916 K.u.K Marinefeldpost card, mailed from Durz(alb.Durres, cro.Drač) in Albania to Bakar in Hrvatsko primorje(Croatian Littoral). Albanian postcard was used, it was mailed from civilian cargo ship S.S Rakoczy via S.M.S Kronprinz Erzherzog Rudolf - ships cancel was applied, then card was transferred to local post office Zelenika in bay of Kotor where postal cancel 20.VI.16 was applied. Text is in Croatian , just a short greetings message.
S.S Rakoczy was Passenger Cargo Ship built in Tyne Iron Shipyard in England. Ship was completed in 11/1892 for Royal Hungarian Sea Navigation Co Adria Ltd, Fiume(Rijeka). Ship was running supplies for KuK army in Durz when postcard was mailed.
S.M.S Kronprinz Erzherzog Rudolf was old battleship that served as local defence ship in bay of Kotor since 1906 and spent the war stationed there.
18.09.1943 letter with contents mailed from Fp.56478 B - 1.company 1st. Battalion Kroatische Ausbildungs Brigade to 1.prva bitnica topničkog sklopa Domobranska Središnja Škola (1.section of artillery battery of Central Army School) in Varaždin, Croatia. School trained reserve army officers. Feldpost cancel 18.09.1943 at was used in Stockerau Austria. German censorship, content was marked by the same green censor cancel bearing numbers as was the cover. Text is in Croatian, sender unusually for the war time describes a day boat trip on Danube on which cadets were sent.
Organisation of Einsatzstaffel der Deutschen Mannschaft (E der DM) is reviewed elsewhere on this blog, but some new findings came to my attention. I have read on the internet that there were independent companies in E der DM but I have never seen official document or mail from those companies until recently.
There were 3 independent companies named after their commanding officers
Kompanie ZIKMUND, commander Leopold Zikmund
Kompanie MAY, commander Josef May
Kompanie BRASCHEL, commander Adam Braschel,
Adam Braschel was commander of 2nd company in Verfugungsbataillon 'Prinz Eugen' (active battalion Pr.Eugen) , it is probable that name 'kompanie BRASCHEL' refers to this company when it was displaced from it's core battalion.
Mail from E Der DM is very rare.
30.01.1943 cut out from parcel card mailed from Gorjani to a member of Verfugungsbataillon 'Prinz Eugen , at the back nice clear units cancel.
1942. cover from Beška to Heinrich Evinger serving with kompanie BRASCHEL in Bosanska Gradiška. This is the first letter I have ever seen mailed to an independent company in Der DM.
1942. another letter mailed from Petrovaradin to Heinrich Ewinger serving with 2.kompanie Einsatzstaffel in Osijek, arrival cancel Osijek 22.05.1942.
Two beautiful hand painted cards mailed by prof. Antonin Kamenik to Esseg(Osijek) in Slavonia, Croatia. Antonin Kamenik(1886-1959) was Czech school teacher, painter, graphic artist and illustrator. First card was mailed in 1914 at the beginning of the war from Telč in Morava. Second card was mailed from Iglau-Jihlava in Morava from K.u.K Reservespital in Iglau(Army reserve hospital in Jihlava) at the time Kamenik was Fähnrich(Fhn.) or ensign in K.u.K army, as he noted in his address.
