Juozas Urbonas

Feld post office No 209. 1915-1918

Five Frame Exhibit

Description:

Objective

The exhibition, using published and used philatelic materials – postcards, photographs, envelopes, etc. with field postmark No. 209, will present the history of this field post station in 1915–1918.

History

When at the end of August 1915, during the First World War, military units in Lithuania occupied Kaunas, a permanent field post station No. 209 was established in the city. It remained in Kaunas throughout the war.Date Stamps of Field Post Station No. 209.The collection presents four types of date stamps used by this Field Post Station — without an index and with index letters “a,” “b,” and “c” — as follows:

Postmark – Type I and their usage. Original inscription: “Kais. Deutsche Feldpoststation Nr.209” and date, English: “Imperial German Field Post office No. 209”. The collection – Field Post Office No. 209.

Postmark – Type II and their usage.  Original inscription: “K.D.Feldpoststation Nr.209a”and date, English:“Imperial German Field Post Station No.209a. The collection – Field Post Office No. 209a

Postmark  – Type III and their usage. Original inscription: “K. D. feldpoststation Nr.209b” and date, English: “Imperial German Field Post Station No. 209b”. The collection – Field Post Office No. 209b

 Postmark – Type IV and their usage. Original inscription: “Deutsche Feldpost C” and date, English: “German Field Post C”. The collection – German Field Post “C” Office  in Kaunas. 

From 15 February 1917, when the German army tightened censorship and confidentiality regulations for correspondence, information identifying the military unit or field post office number was removed from postmarks. According to this rule, the stamps used in Kaunas by this field post station were also altered.

New inscriptions appeared: “Feldpost” and later “Deutsche Feldpost”, which are represented in the collection as follows.

Postmark – Type V and their usage. Original inscription: “Feldpost a” and date. English: “Field Post a”.

The collection – German Field Post “a” Office in Kaunas

Postmark – Type VI and their usage. Original inscription: “Deutsche Feldpost” and date, English: “German Field Post. The collection – German Field Post Office in Kaunas.