5.1944 letter to Truppenübungsplatz Slavonski Brod

 22.05.1944 letter with contents from Kamenica na Dunavu to a sergeant serving with Fp.43370 B or Truppenübungsplatz Kommandantur Slavonski Brod. Usual German censorship marks are on the front and on the back of the cover, and typical German censorship marks are also on the contents paper.

Truppenübungsplatz Slavonski Brod was formed by the Wehrmacht in April-May 1943 (Military training ground Sl.Brod or Četno vježbalište Brod in Croatian). It was located in Vučjak, 14 km south of Brod na Savi. Its main purpose was to train NCOs (Unteroffizire, Dočasnici) for Jager Brigades (Lovački Zdrugovi) of Domobranstvo. Domobran units included in the Truppen Ubungsplatz formation were Školska bojna Brod (Lehrbatallion Brod) with HQ company, 2 rifle companies, an MG company, and one artillery company with a total of 700 recruits to be trained for NCOs.  One battery of field howitzers was formed from 3.bitnica VIII. topnički sklop(3.battery of VIII artillery battalion). A half-battery of mountain guns was formed from gorski vod of VII.topnički sklop(mountain battery of VII artillery battalion). Pioneer Company was formed from 2.satnija II.opkoparska bojna (2.company of 2.pioneer battalion). A military court was also formed on the Truppenübungsplatz. On April 1st, 1943, Major General Gustav Suschnig was appointed as the first commander of training grounds only to be relieved from this position in August 1943 due to lack of suitability.

2.1943 Oružnička postaja Sl.Brod to Zagreb

 22.02.1943 official letter from Oružnička postaja(Gendarmerie station) Sl.Brod to Redarstvena oblast za grad Zagreb(Police district of Zagreb city) Due to a lack of official stamps a Porto stamp of 0,50 kuna  was used to add to 3,50 kuna which was rate for a letter. Official cancel of Oružnička postaja at the top left is barely visible. Arrival cancel Zagreb 23.02.1943 is on the back of the cover. 

Although official name of the city in NDH was Brod na Savi , postal cancel and Oružnička postaja cancel both have name Slavonski Brod in them.

 Oružništvo was Gendarmerie force in NDH, at its peak in 1943 it had 18 000 members that manned 987 stations located throughout the country.

02.1918 K.u.K Sappeurbataillon No.34 to Osijek

02.02.1918 K.u.K feldpost card sent from 1.kompanie of Sappeurbataillon.34 to Osijek in Slavonija. Mailed via Fp.642 used by 34.Inf. division on eastern front. Sappeurbat.34 was formed in January 1918 from old Sappeurbat.13 that was based in Osijek.

12.1942 - 369.Infantry (Kroat.) divison to Koprivnica

 15.12.1942 christmas card mailed from Fp.31151 D or 6.Batterie Artillerie Regiment 369. , 369.Infantry (Kroat.) divison or Teufels(Devils)division to Koprivnica in Croatia. Nice units cancel is present, at this time division was still in formation and training in Austria. Feldpost cancel (Tarnstempel) has marks ad, this cancel was used in Dollersheim. For some reason card was refused by feldpost and marked Zuruck-unzulassig( return-invalid). 

12.1942. parcel card to XVIII. Ustaška bojna

 19.12.1942 parcel card from Kutina to an Ustaša, a member of 2.sat 18.bojna(2.company of 18.battalion) lacated in Bosanska Gradiška, content of parcel was food and its weight was 5kg. Total postal charge was 21 kuna paid in Kutina with a mix of one regular and one porto stamp. Parcel arrived in Bosanska Gradiška on 21.12 another porto 2kn was  charged the next day. Purple units cancel: 41. sat - Ustaške pukovnije (41.company of Ustasa regiment) probably is an older cancel.

18.Ustaška bojna was stationed in Bosanska Gradiška from March 1942 until February 1943. On August 1942 it had HQ company and 3 rifle comapanies, with manpower of 4 officers, 21 NCO and 355 soldiers.

4.1917 K.u.K Marinefeldpost from S.M.B 14

 4.1917 K.u.K Marinefeldpost mailed from S.M.B 14 in Dubrovnik to Jelsa on island Hvar, Croatia. Photograph of a Dubrovnik was used as a card, mailed from civilian post office Gruž/Gravosa nowdays main sea port of Dubrovnik. Ships cancel: K.u.K Kriegsmarine  S.M.B 14 is in red (S.M.B - Seiner Majestät Boot- His majesty boat). Date in postal cancel is barely visible but text in Croatian has an Easter greeting.  Easter in 1917 was on Sunday 08.04.1917. As SMB 14 was towing an damaged seaplane to Kumbor in Boka Kotorska from 01-03.04.1917 this card is probably from that period.

3.1943 - 7.SS division Prinz Eugen to Berlin

 12.03.1943 feldpost card mailed from Fp.44516 A used by  Stab, Pionier Bataillon SS-Freiwilligen Gebirgs Division 'Prinz Eugen' to Berlin. Division at the time was fighting in the late stages of operation(fall) Weiss 2, advancing from western Bosnia to Mostar area in Herzegovina.

7.1943 Domobranska središnja škola to Bitterfeld, Reich

 05.07.1943 registered expres letter from a member of 5.sat Dom(obranska) sred(išnja) škola in Varaždin to Lager Maria in Bitterfield in the Reich. Domobranska središnja škola(Army central school) trained reserve officers. Lager Maria held foreign workers recipient of this letter was probably one of them.

Letter has nice postal manipulation cancels: Varaždin postal cancels, Lager Maria arrival cancel and German censorship label with cancels. 

Total 23kuna postage was paid: letter to Germany 4 kuna, Registration 9 kuna and Express delivery 10 kuna.

02.1918 - K.u.K Marinefeldpost mail from SMS Prinz Eugen

 21.02.1918 official registered K.u.K Marinefeldpost mail sent from SMS Prinz Eugen to k.u.k Machinenschule in Pola. Ships cancel and Marinefelpost Pola cancels are easily visible, under Registration label are purple cancels Rekommandiert/Portofreie Dienstache meaning Registered/Free of charge official mail.

There were 2 versions of K.u.k Marinefeldpost Pola - Registered labels, this is a first version with thin letter R that looks similar to Austrian civilian post labels, the latter version has a thick R letter.

This is an Gegen-Verpflegszettel (Counter-Ration Slip/Form) it is a document used to manage or account for food rations (Verpflegung) when soldiers were separated from their main unit, receiving food from another unit.

05.1944 Luftwaffe official mail to Dubrovnik

 25.05.1944 official letter from Fp. L 12159 or Fliegerhorst-Kommandantur 212/XVII to Erste Kroatische Sparkasse in Dubrovnik. Fliegerhorst-Kommandantur 212/XVII was stationed in Mostar and it operated Mostar military airfields.

8.1943 letter from Dubrovnik to 2.Lovačka brigada(Jager brigade)

 18.08.1943 letter from Dubrovnik to an Pharmacist a member of Medical company of 2. Jager brigade(2.Lovačka brigada) in Bosanska Krupa. In early 1943,  2. and 4. Jager brigades(Lovačka Brigada) were formed,  in August 1943 they were reformed and renamed to 2. and 4. Lovački Zdrug, meaning stayed the same - Jager brigade. In February 1943,  2.Jager brigade(2.Lovačka brigada) was formed under German 714. Infantry division, stationed in Bosanska Krupa and used for anti-partisan warfare .

 Letter was franked with a stamp valued 3,5+1,5 kn from Croatian Legion Charity issue, this issue had mandatory use from 16.07 to 31.08.1943. This stamp pictures soldiers of 369.Croatian Infantry Regiment fighting at the Stalingrad front.

1915 - K.u.K Christmas War poster in Croatian

 1915 - Christmas war poster, size 33x25cm ,printed in Croatian. "BOŽIĆ NA RATIŠTU" means "Christmas at the battlefield". Poster states than in any shop you can buy 1, 2  or 10 filir Christmas revenue stamps and for the same amount Cigars or Cigarettes will be sent to "our heros at the front for Christmas". Revenue stamp is reproduced on the left side of the poster. An rare item, although not a feldpost card.

Merry Christmas 2025 to the readers of my blog. 

4.1915 KuK feldpost from Prague to Čakovec

 05.04.1915 K.U.K feldpost card mailed from Bubna Railway station in Prague  to Csaktoryna (Čakovec) in Međimurje, Croatia. Posted via civilian mail free of charge as feldpost. Sender and recipient have same German surname but cards text is written in Hungarian. As Međimurje and Čakovec were at the time in Hungarian kingdom it's Croatian population served in Hungarian regiments  I found  feldpost written to Međimurje to be very rare.