15th August 1942 Iberia barracks ship Feldpost postcard with military illustration by Rudolf G. Werner (PK.) - PK = Propaganda Kompanien. Posted from FPN 31001 (Stab u. 1.-3. Kompanie Landesschutzen-Bataillon 983) to an address in Danzig. The address includes 'U.A.K. (T or I)' and the name 'Iberia'. 'U.A.K.' = Unterseeboots Abnahme Kommando - this being the U-Boat acceptance commission, the department that inspected and took receipt of new submarines from the shipyard. The name 'Iberia' was that of the barracks ship. The addressee appears to be a Oberfähnrich (with some letters missing). This meant he was a senior officer cadet with the assimilated rank of Oberfeldwebel. Ref: 15.08.1942 Organization of the U.A.K. The U.A.K. (Unterseeboots Abnahme Kommando - the U-Boat acceptance commission, the department that inspects and takes receipt of new submarines from the shipyard) is placed under the military E.K.K. (Erprobungskommando für Kreigsshiffbauen - Operational test command for warship construction and new vessel trials). All test run affairs are reported directly to the U.A.K. by Navy High Command orders. The U.A.K. is made up of staff which is based in Kiel, and quartered in a U-boat tender the 'Acheron' and 6 submarine acceptance groups (U.A.G. - Unterseeboots Abwehr Gruppe - U-Boat acceptence section). The U.A.G. 1, 3 and 5 have their base in Danzig, and are housed aboard the 'Messina' and 'Iberia'. U.A.G. 2, 4 and 6 are based in Kiel and are housed aboard the 'Amazone'. Chief of the U.A.K. is a Senior Captain. The staff of the U.A.K. is based together with his staff officers and staff members, the required officers, upper and middle construction officials for the ship and machine construction and the corresponding lower staff. Every U.A.G. is passed by the head, the Military advisor, higher construction office for ship and machine construction and the required lower staff. The U.A.K. is the superior service of the U.A.G.s. All corresponding matters from the U.A.G.s passes through the U.A.K. In Danzig the head of the U.A.G. is the permanent representative of the chiefs of the U.A.K. He is the head of groups 3 and 5 over which all military and important test run issues are reviewed. The U.A.K. has the administrative authority. (Link to documents captured aboard U-505 on 4th June 1944) The 'Iberia' of the Hamburg-America Line used as barracks in Danzig Postcard (unused) depicting the 'Iberia' whist in the service of the Hamburg-Amerika Linie. At this time the liner could accomodate 350 passengers. Ref: 15.08.1942 Contact Brief History to inform us of additional information regarding this page

Mi.155 - 165 (02.03.1942) OFFICIAL Mi.155-165 Official Mi.155-165 Official Party stamps (eagle on pedestal) (Without watermark) Mi.156. Ref: 31.10.1942 Contact Brief History to inform us of additional information regarding this page

20th March 1942 Barlog 8721 Barlog cartoon postcard depicting a barrel-chested soldier addressing a woman. Bestell-Nr.8721 (italic numerals). Ref: 20.03.1942 The caption reads: Translation required Contact Brief History to inform us of additional information regarding this page

1st July 1942 WASGAU Film Theatre Cover sent from the 'WASGAU' Film Theatre in Mülhausen to the Deutsche Filmvertriebes Gesellschaft (German Film Distribution Company) in Frankfurt a.M. Note that the street names of the sender and recipient are the same. A indicator of how revered Hindenburg had been. With cancellation JB:Mülhausen7/541 Ref: 01.07.1942 -10/72

15th May 1942 Johannes Riemann Ross-Verlag postcard depicting actor Johannes Riemann (signed). With a hand-stamped declaration to the message panel stating, 'Autograph requests can only be considered if a self-addressed, stamped envelope and a film postcard are enclosed.' Ref: 15.05.1942 Johannes Riemann (1888-1959) (Staatsschauspieler) Selected filmography: Maid Happy (1933), The Gentleman from Maxim's (1933), Grand Duchess Alexandra (1933), Police Report (1934), All Lies (1938), Yvette (1938), Renate in the Quartet (1939), Her First Experience (1939), Marriage in Small Doses (1939), Bel Ami (1939), Everything for Gloria (1941), Friedemann Bach (1941), The Little Residence (1942), A Man for My Wife (1943), Beloved Darling (1943), The Song of the Nightingale (1944). Notes on Riemann's earlier performance in City without Jews (1924): The City Without Jews was released in 1924 and was a box-office success internationally as well as in Austria. It marks the screen debut of Austrian actor, Hans Moser, who went on to become a popular comedy star in German cinema, as the buffoonish and anti-Semitic Councillor Bernart. In real life, Moser was far from an anti-Semite, and refused to divorce his Jewish wife during the Nazi regime. By contrast, German actor Johannes Riemann , who plays the film’s Jewish hero Leo, became a Nazi party member in the 1930s and Joseph Goebbels honoured him with the rank of Staatsschauspieler or ‘State Actor’ in 1939. He notoriously performed at a cabaret show for the staff of the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1944. Source: Barbican.org Contact Brief History to inform us of additional information regarding this page

5th August 1942 Feldpost 'j' designation Feldpost cover with 'J' designation to the cancel. Ref: 05.08.1942 'FELDPOST ' designation letters: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o , a1etc. , Aa etc. , Misc. Feldpost designation letter 'J' variations Contact Brief History to inform us of additional information regarding this page

14th September 1942 Birth certificate request Bar-le-Duc Feldpost cover sent from FPN 23098 to Willy Schulz in Offenbach. It appears unusual that a civilian (?) is requesting a birth certificate copy 1) from a senior officer, and 2) one that is from 1816. The letters are displayed below. The final paragraph of the French text states, 'The child's father having declared that he had no use for the child', is possibly a mis-translation or refers to the nature of the fathers relationship with the mother? Ref: 14.09.1942 Acknowledgement of Birth Certificate request, 'Please find enclosed the birth certificate for Ferdinand Stolpe requested by the Bar-le-Duc registry office.' Certificate in French language. English translation: 'Extract from the register of birth certificates for the year 1816. In the year one thousand eight hundred and sixteen, on the sixteenth of January, before Us, Claude Xavier Herbillon-Contant, Deputy Mayor of the town of Bar-le-Duc, acting by special delegation as public registrar, appeared Sieur Michel XXX Stolpen, soldier in the 18 battalion, 28 regiment, 48 company, under the orders of Lieutenant-General de Perich, in garrison at the said Bar, aged twenty-seven, native of Neidorff-Chleisin in Prussia, who declared to us that Gertrude Schmitzen, his wife, native of Aix-la-Chapelle, gave birth yesterday, at four o'clock in the evening, at the home of Mr Gaudry, rue du Repos, to a male child to whom the forename FERDINAND was given. In witness of which declaration, he presented to us as witnesses, Sieurs François Gaudry, manufacturer, aged twenty-nine and André feuchel, Prussian soldier, aged twenty-six, XXX the first witness domiciled at the said Bar, the second in garrison at Bar-le-Duc, who signed with Us after reading. The child's father having declared that he had no use for the child.' To the reverse of the French text there is a German translation. Contact Brief History to inform us of additional information regarding this page

1st January 1942 Feldpostprufstelle Reckteckstempel Feldpost cover sent from FPN 08533 (4. Kompanie Armee-Nachrichten-Regiment 558) to FPN 22666 (3. Kompanie Panzerjager-Abteilung 297). Featuring Feldpostprüfstelle closure tape (ref: MFP1/123) and a Feldppostprüfstelle reckteckstempel (for FPN 36819 - Feldpostprüfstelle AOK 11). Ref: 01.01.1942 Link to Feldpostprüfstelle Closures Feldpostprüfstelle Reckteckstempel variations MFP9a/125 - Red - 79 x 25mm. Ref: 01.01.1942 Contact Brief History to inform us of additional information regarding this page

1st August 1942 Postcard depicting an image of 'Zeithain-Hauptlager'. Ref: 09.08.1943 only shown here Research: https://en.stsg.de/cms/node/930

Mi.823 - 825 (19.10.1942) Mi.823-825 Cover featuring Mi.823. Mi.824 and Mi.825. Ref: 23.01.1943 next stamp issue Mi.824. Ref: 23.01.1943 Mi.825. Ref: 23.01.1943

Mi.2 (10.07.1942/1943) Feldpost Permission stamp Mi.2 Permission stamp Parcel label (detached) sent from Chemnitz to a soldier at FPN 17468 (Heavy Artillery Division 816: the feldpost number appears to date the label in early/mid 1942. In the winter of 41/42 the detachment was deployed around Rzhev - possibly Khoroshevo, Kowalevo, Zaytsevo). Featuring a permission stamp for feldpost packages (Mi.1 A - perforated). Ref: 16/6 The chronology for the Division (with three batteries of 21 cm mortars): 24th Jul 1940, 12th Army, Army Group C 1st Army; 6th Nov 1940, assigned to XXXXIX Corps/1st Army, Army Group D; 23rd Mar 1941, transferred from 1st Army, Army Group D to Army Group B; 22nd Jun - 10th Jul 1941 LVII Corps (Mot.), 3rd Panzer Group, Army Group Center; 30th Jul 1941 LVII Corps (Mot.), 3rd Panzer Group, Army Group Center (planned); 13th - 28th Jul 1941 LVII Corps (Mot.), 3rd Panzer Group, Army Group Center; 16th Aug 1941, Demyansk, Corps, 16th Army, Army Group North?; 21st Aug 1941 near 19th Panzer Division, LVII Corps (Mot.), 3rd Panzer Group, Army Group Centre]; 29th Sep 1941 9th Army and 3rd Panzer Group, Army Group Centre; 24th Dec 41 9th Army, Army Group Centre / near Rzhev; 3rd Jan 42 XXIII Corps, 9th Army, Army Group Centre; 11th Jan - 9th Feb 1942 VI Corps, 9th Army, Army Group Centre; 8th Mar 1942 VI Corps, 9th Army, Army Group Centre w/o 3rd Bat./; 7th Apr 1942, XXIII Corps, 9th Army XXXXVI Corps (Mot.), 9th Army, Army Group Centre w/o 2nd Bat./ XXVII Corps, 9th Army; 10th May 1942 XXVII Corps, 9th Army, Army Group Centre; Jul 1942, 9th ArmyArmy Group Centre; 8th Aug 42 VI Corps, Army Group Centre w/o 2nd Bat./ assigned to XXXIX Panzer Corps, 9th Army; 19th Oct 1942 XXVIII Corps, 9th Army, Army Group Centre; 12th Sep 1943 3rd Bat./ XXVII Corps, 4th Army, Army Group Centre; June 1944 Vitebsk; 16th July 1944, 1. Bat./, LV-Corps, 2. Army, /// 2. Bat./ and 3. Bat./, XXVI Corps, 3. Panzer Army Army Group Center]; 22nd Sep 1944 XXXIX Panzer Corps, 3. Panzer Army, Army Group Center with 4 x 21 cm mortars and 4 sFH; 1944 / 45 3. Panzer Army in East Prussia. (Source for all military information: Forum.Der.Wehrmacht.De) Mi.2 Concession/permission stamp for field post packages Notes : Design: Gerhard Marggraff . Typographic printing. Sheets 4 x 100. Without watermark. Perf. 13¾:14 (1942); Serrated roulette (1943). Quantity issued: unknown ( Mi.2 was also available for 50 Pf at the collector's counter of the Reichspost, but only cancelled with a field post cancel.) . Valid until ? Only parcels bearing these concession labels were accepted by the post office for feldpost. The first 250 gms. were free, 250 - 1000 gms. required 20 Pf postage [see image above]. From 1st September 1942 the weight limit was raised to 2000 gms. The fee for 1000 - 2000 gms. was 40 Pf postage and two concession labels. After 23rd June 1944 the maximum weight for parcels was reduced to 100 gms (western front 20 gms). One concession stamp was required for packages from 20 - 100 gms. From 10th June 1942 to 31st August 1942, one label per month was issued to each soldier, from 1st September 1942 to autumn of 1944 two labels per month. The soldier had to send these labels home for them to be use on their parcels. By temporarily abandoning the distribution or handing out of additional stamps the number of packages could be adjusted to available transport capacity Parcels from the front did not require a label, and up to 250 gms. was free of charge, after which postage had to be paid. Source: Michel Specialised; Harper & Scheck Gerhard Marggraff Gerhard Marggraff (1892 - after 1956) was a German commercial artist, type designer and painter. Little is known about Gerhard Marggraff. He lived as a painter and commercial artist in Berlin until 1945 and then in Kochel am See. Marggraff worked as a commercial artist for various companies. He designed advertisements for film, theater, carnival, athletics, shipping, men's and women's clothing, leather goods, milk, and coffee. He also created several typefaces (Marggraff-Deutsch 1939, and the script typeface Marggraff Kursiv,1928, followed by Marggraff Kursiv Zarte and Marggraff Light Italic in 1929). During the Nazi era, he also received orders for postage stamps. In 1944, Marggraff was on the list of those blessed by God of the Reich Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda. Source: Wikipedia Mi.2 A (Perforated). Ref: 16/6. It is noted that Michel Specialised states that prices 'on cover' are for package addresses with complete data for sender and recipient. Large cut outs with one piece of information (sender or recipient) are worth only 30% of a complete package address. Contact Brief History to inform us of additional information regarding this page

11th March 1942 Stalag VIII-C Stalag VIII-C See 19/71 (1945, returned mail due to 'interuption in communications') Contact Brief History to inform us of additional information regarding this page