10.1943 official letter from Roman-Catholic parish of Nova Gradiška to Ministry of Armed forces (Ministarstvo oružanih snaga-MINORS) Army chaplains department( dušobrižnički odjel). Correct postage 3,5 kn was paid , arrival cancel Zagreb at the back . Prof.Ercegović certificate pictured.
MINORS-Army chaplains department was formed in 1941 as the army was formed, it changed its name several times as army (domobranstvo) was reformed.
14.2.1918 Felpost card mailed from replacement company of 28.Domobranska pješačka pukovnija(28. Croatian Landwehr infantry regiment) to Osijek. Mailed by member of 1/36 h.s. meaning this was 36 replacement to pukovnija up to that time of th war . Cancel of 42.Honved .Inf Division repalcement formations (Marschformationen) - 42.Honved.inf. divison was Croatian Landwehr division made of 4 regiments. Mailed via Fp.144 that served 3rd.Army .
11.01.1943 card from Osijek to member of 3.streljačka sat VII.bojna 3.novačka pukovnija stationed in Zagrebački zbor(Zagreb fair) in Zagreb. (3.rifle company , VII.battalion, 3.conscript regiment).
3.novačka pukovnija was made of 4 battalions: VI, VII and VIII battalion were stationed in Bjelovar and IX.battalion was based in Križevci.
1. 2. 3. and 4.novačka pukovnija were formed on 01.05.1942 and were dissolved on 23.02.1943. Then 2 new novačka pukovnija were formed and those units were dissolved in 03.1944.
Antun Scholz(Šolc) war memoirs from the Great War were published in 2020 in Croatia. This great book is a rare WW1 war diary writen by a Croatian soldier. Antun Šolc was born in Zagreb but his father was from Vienna and Antun was therefore sent to serve with 4.Inf.Rgt from Vienna. He was quickly transfered to 100.Inf.Rgt from Teschen. He writes that he was the only Croat in the Regiment. In the early 1915 100.IR was in Syrmia in the rear of the Serbian front, later it was transfered to Italian front when Italy declered war on 23.05.1915. With 100.IR Antun spent part of the war figthing on Italian front, participating in 1, 2 , 10, 11 and 12 Isonso battle and in fighting on the Piave front. In the diary he regularly writes about sending and recieving feldpost from family in Zagreb and from his brother Stanko serving with K.u.K 84.Inf.Rgt. By pure chance i acquired some of his feldpost cards...
Front cover of the book which I highly recommend to all readers.
20.03.1915 card from Antun to his sister Draga Šolc in Tkalčićeva street no.68 in Zagreb , his home adress. Posted via Fp.69. 2nd.battalion of 100.IR was part of 12.Gebirgs brigade and used its Feldpost no.69. Stationed in Syrmia.
18.04.1915 card from Antun to his sister Draga Šolc in Tkalčićeva street no.68 in Zagreb , his home adress. Mailed via Fp.69. Stationed in Syrmia.
24.05.1915 card from Antun to his sister Draga Šolc in Tkalčićeva street no.68 in Zagreb , his home adress. Mailed via Fp.69. This card was mailed a day after Italian declaration of war on Austro-Hungary. Antun writes that they are moving to "you know where and we are glad to go there" and "we are all in high spirits. I already know the thunder of the guns, nothing new". The next day Regiment moved from Syrmia to Italian front.
27.07.1917 card from Antun sister Vlasta in Zagreb to his brother Stanko in 84.IR, Fp.297 added by postman, censor cancel Zagreb in green . Fp.297 served 25.Inf.Division in Galicia on the Russian front. Text has handwritten date 17.07.1917, this is probably an writting error. Vlasta writes that she has mailed some photos to him and to Antun(nick Tonana), his war diary confirms this few days earlier.
29.01.1944 official registerer letter from 1. Flughafen-Betriebs-Kompanie L.G.1 which used Fp.L14713 to 1.Flieger Ersatz Bataillon XI in Neumünster in Germany. Mailed via Feldpostamt 530 based in Zagreb , Kenn-176 , used by Army group E.
1. Flughafen-Betriebs-Kompanie L.G.1 operated on Pleso airport near Zagreb from 11.1943 until the retreat of German and Croatian army from Zagreb on 06.05.1945.
Pleso airport serves today as Zagreb and Croatia main airport , it was build by German forces in 1943 and from early 1944 was used by Luftwaffe as main transport and resupply airport .
15.05.1942 packet card from Andrijevci to Stožer 2.zračnog područja(2 Air command) or correcly 2.Zračna luka.Arrival cancel Sarajevo at the
back 21.05.2021.
8.1914 K.u.K feldpost to Osijek . Mailed from 3.battalion 28. Infantry regiment of Croatian Landsturm ( 28.Pučko-ustaška pukovnija). Regiment was part of 104.Landsturm brigade that fought in Serbian campaign. Brigade was exclusively Croatian made of 4 Croatian Landsturm Regiments.
Card was canceled with Tarnstempel : 9132 in Square box. Tarnstempels or "Dumb" (tarn=hidden) cancel were originally used to cancel Postal money orders , at the beginning of war they were used instead of usual postal cancels to conceal location of mailing.
They were mostly used in Galicia in 8-11.1914 and in Tirol 6-10.1915 , usage in other areas is very rare.
This card was posted from Serbian front and this is the first usage of Tarnstempel i have seen on the feldpost card mailed to Croatia. Sender notes that his Feldpost number is Fp.9 (bojna pošta 9) that served 104.Landsturm brigade at that time.
23.01.1944 Official registered letter to Dresden from Fp.30420C - 2.komp. Wehrmacht Wirtschafts Sicherungs Bataillon Kroatien. Mailed via Feldpostamt 530 , its head office was in Zagreb. It uses Kenn number -176, which is present in Felpost cancel and register label . Arrival cancel Dresden is on the back of the cover, as well as straight cancel Dienststelle Fp.30420C.
29.04.1944 card from 1.sat 3.doknadna lovačka bojna in Hrvatska Mitrovica to Zemun. Postage was prepaid with card and Ratni doprinos(war tax) was charged with 1.kuna stamp. Writer ask how are things in Zemun after heavy (allied) air bombing.
30.06.1943 official registered cover to Wien from Fp.42860 - Reserve-Pionier-Bataillon 86 of 187.Reserve division. Division didn't have its own Feldpost and used Felpostamt No.530 of Army group E , that used Kenn number 176, its head office was in Zagreb and it had branches in Slavonski Brod(Brod N/S) and Banja Luka. On 22. December 1943 187.Division was renamed 42.Jager Division and Reserve-Pionier-Bataillon 86 was renamed Pionier-Bataillon 142.
22.11.1944 card from Zagreb to Banja Luka. Sender notes his Croatian feldpost number as H1241/23. Writer is a Croatian Muslim, sending greetings for Bajram festival (end of Ramadan fasting). Stamp 3,5 kn was correct postage, but War tax stamp wasnt attached. Therefore card is marked with big letter T hence postage due was to be paid, but was not charged.
This is the earliest usage of Croatian feldpost number i have seen yet.
