Poste Italiane 200 Anniversary of Italian Military

POSTE ITALIANE on 1 October 1974  commemorated the 200th anniversary of the Guardia di Finanza by representing, on 4 stamps, twelve soldiers wearing historical uniforms.

On 1 October 1774, at the behest of the King of Sardinia, Vittorio Amedeo III, the "Legione Truppe Leggere" was established. At the time there was no special corps in Italy for financial supervision of the borders, as well as for the military defense of the borders. About a hundred years later, in 1862, the "Corps of Customs Guards" was established with tasks of surveillance and defense of the State, translated, with Law n. 149 of 1881 in "Corps of the Royal Guardia di Finanza" with the specific function of "preventing, repressing and denouncing smuggling and any contravention and transgression of the laws and finance regulations, to protect the executive offices of the financial administration as well as contribute to the defense of public order and safety".

 

Poste Italiane Opera Composers

 

POSTE ITALIANE on 27 January 2001 issued a series of stamps commemorating Italian oera composers. Shown here:
- 800 L. - 0,41 € - Vincenzo Bellini.
- 800 L. - 0,41 € - Domenico Cimarosa.
- 800 L. - 0,41 € - Gaspare Luigi Pacifico Spontini.
- 800 L. - 0,41 € - Giuseppe Verdi.

La Poste France D-Day Commemoratives - 1969 & 1974

LA POSTE FRANCE in 1969 issued a set of seven first day cover stamps to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the Liberation of France. Each stamp had a special cancellation postmark.

Stamps included:
- The Normandy Landing
- The Liberation of Paris with General Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque
- The Liberation of Strasbourg with General Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque

- Bataille du Garigliano - Mai 1944
- Paratroops of S.A.S. and Commandos of F.F.I.
- National Monument

LA POSTE FRANCE issued on 10 May 1969 a 25th anniversary First Day Cover stamp marking the Garigliano victory on 13 May 1944. Marshal Alphonse Juin, head of the French Expeditionary Force (CEFI) or 'Goumiers' or 'Goums' helped form and lead this army in Italy.  The stamp shown on this maxim card (postcard) was designed by Pierre Gandon and engraved by Claude Haley. 

The CEFI -- French Expeditionary Force of the 2nd Moroccan division and the 3rd Algerian-Tunisian division -- opened a 25km wide breach whereby the Germans abandoned Cassino, breaking the Germans' Gustav and Hitler lines. This allowed Allied Armies to advance and reach Rome on 4 June. 

Despite the Goumiers (CEFI) success in battle, appalling violence outside combat made them notorious. The military achievements of the Goumiers in Italy were accompanied by widespread reports of war crimes: "...exceptional numbers of Moroccans were executed—many without trial—for allegedly murdering, raping, and pillaging their way across the Italian countryside. The French authorities sought to defuse the problem by importing numbers of Berber women to serve as "camp followers" in rear areas set aside exclusively for the Goumiers."

According to Italian sources, more than 7,000 people were raped by Goumiers. Those rapes, later known in Italy as 'Marocchinate', were against women, children and men, including some priests. The mayor of Esperia (a comune in the Province of Frosinone) reported that in his town, 700 women out of 2,500 inhabitants were raped and that some had died as a result. In northern Latium and southern Tuscany, it is alleged that the Goumiers raped and occasionally killed women and young men after the Germans retreated, including members of partisan formations.

The CEFI executed 15 soldiers by firing squad and sentenced 54 others to hard labor in military prisons for acts of rape or murder. In 2015, the Italian state recognised compensation for a victim of these events.

In the 1960 film, "Two Women (La Ciociara)" starring Sophia Loren, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Eleonora Brown and Raf Vallone,  a mother ,(Loren) tries to protect her young daughter (Brown) from the horrors of war. While the story is fictional, it is based on actual events of 1944 in Rome and rural Lazio, during the Marocchinate (the Goumiers). In the end, the mother can neither prevent the rape of her daughter nor herself by the Marocchinate. 

Also shown, on 30th Anniversary, General Diego Brosset, liberator of Lyon on 3 September 1944. In the background is the Notre-Dame de Fourvière basilica in Lyon. Le Poste France issued in 1971.

 

La Poste France issued this 40th D-Day Anniversary setent in 1984.

Papua & New Guinea Post Stamps 1952

PAPUA & NEW GUINEA POST issued on 30 October 1952 a series of stamps showing local topics and bearing the name "Territory of Papua and New Guinea". The topics featured included  local cultures, economic activities, fauna and flora. These stamps would remain in circulation up until 1959.

Rheinland-Pfalz - French Occupation 1947-1948

RHEINLAND - PFALZ (Rhineland-Palatinate) in post-WWII French zone state, was established on 30 August 1946. It was formed from the Northern part of the French Occupation Zone, which included parts of Bavaria (the Rhenish Palatinate), the Southern parts of the Prussian Rhine Province, and parts of Hesse-Darmstadt. The new state was confirmed by referendum on 18 May 1947, and its capital was established at Mainz.

The new state of Rheinland-Pfalz issued their first definitive postage stamps between May 1947 and February 1948. The stamps were photogravure and printed on unwatermarked papers of varying quality.

The new definitive set featured twelve designs, which included:
- Ludwig von Beethoven.
- Wilhelm von Ketteler.

- Woman carrying grapes
- Porta Nigra at Trier.
- Karl Marx.
- Devil's Table near Pirmasens.
- Street Corner in St. Martin.
- Cathedral of Worms.
- Cathedral of Mainz.
- Statue of Johann Gutenberg.
- Gutenfels and Pfalzgrafenstein Castles on the Rhine.
- Statue of Charles the Great (Charlemagne).

Due to the post-war economic crisis in the Allied occupation zones, the Western Allies instituted currency reform during June 1948. The old Reichsmark currency was replaced by a new Deutsche Mark currency, and this would eventually become the official currency of the soon-to-be Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) until 2002, when it would be replaced by the Euro.

The 1947 stamp designs were re-issued between June and August of 1948 to coincide with the currency reform. The same designs were issued in new colors, with most of the denominations now expressed as "D.Pf." or "D.M.

 

Source: Collecting Stamps.com

Deutsches Reichpost "Deutsche Turn- und Sportfest" in Breslau 1938

DEUTSCHES REICHPOST in 21 June 1938 issued four stamps to mark the Deutsche Turn- und Sportfest (German Gym and Sports Celebration) was the last big sports event organised by the Nationalsozialistischer Reichsbund für Leibesübungen, the Sports governing body of the Third Reich. It took place in Breslau (now Wroclaw) the most important city of Silesia, now in Poland.

The stamps depicted various views of Breslau:
- 3 Pf — Dome Island
- 6 Pf — Stadium
- 12 Pf — City Hall
- 15 Pf — Centennial Hall

The venue was staged from 24 till 31 July 1938 at the city's Hermann Göring Stadium, later renamed "Stadion Olimpijski", following the trademark grandiose style of the Nazi Sports Body. Everybody that could be there was there, including the 23rd Chancellor of Germany and Nazi Party Führer, Adolf Hitler.

Under the eyes of Hitler, Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler, Dr. Joseph Goebbels, Gauleiter Wagner, Konrad Henlein and Reichssportführer Hans von Tschammer und Osten competitors tossed beams, ran, swam, boxed, danced, sang, paraded, rowed, jumped, dove, canoed, and waived Nazi eagle and swastika flags all over the Hermann Göring Sports Field and its vicinity along the river Oder.

This highly nationalistic sports event was designed to officially commemorate the 125th anniversary of the historical German Wars of Liberation against Napoleon and the first award of the Iron Cross in the city of Breslau itself in 1813. It was staged as a grand patriotic, expansionist occasion, illustrating the clamor for a Greater Germany to the public. This event gathered German athletes brought from many different parts of the world, like Argentina, South West Africa, Italy, the US and South Africa. It also became a gathering of representatives of German ethnic minorities, mainly from Eastern Europe (Siebenbürgen, Banat) who staged processions dressed in their colorful folkloric costumes, a display of the Nazi Drang nach Osten policies.

Not only sports competitions and athletes' parades took place, but also numerous military, civil and folklorical-costume processions in the mains streets of the city of Breslau. It was a sensational event, never to be held again because of the threat of war.

Source: Wikipedia, German Stamps.net and USM Books.com

La Poste France Random Cover

 

LA POSTE FRANCE cover of random stamps.

Shown, left right:

In 1958, Postes France issued this red Europa stamp. It was available in blue for a different monetary denomination.

Jean Giono (30 March 1895 – 8 October 1970) was a French writer who wrote works of fiction mostly set in the Provence region of France. In 1995, La Poste France issued a 100th birth anniversary stamp of him.

In 1993, La Poste France issued a honouring the French village of Minerve-Herault, located in the Occitanie region in southern France. 

Charles Eugène de Foucauld de Pontbriand, Viscount of Foucauld (15 September 1858 – 1 December 1916) was a French soldier, explorer, geographer, ethnographer, Catholic priest and hermit who lived among the Tuareg people in the Sahara in Algeria. In 1959, Poste France issued a 100th birth anniversary stamp of him.

Jean Guéhenno (25 March 1890 – 22 September 1978) was a French essayist, writer and literary critic. In 1990, La Postes France issued a 100th birth anniversary stamp of him.

 

La Poste France Albert Schweitzer

LA POSTE FRANCE on 11 January 1975 issued a commemorative 100th birth anniversary of Albert Schweitzer. This multicolour, 0.80+0.20 ₣ (French franc) stamp was designed by Adolphe Eugène Lacaque. A total of 3,050,000 copies were printed. The postmark cancellation for first day covers originated in Kaysersburg, Alsace -- the birthplace of Schweitzer.

Dr.  Ludwig Philipp Albert Schweitzer (14 January 1875 – 4 September 1965) was an Alsatian polymath. He was a theologian, organist, musicologist, writer, humanitarian, philosopher, and physician. A Lutheran minister, Schweitzer challenged both the secular view of Jesus as depicted by the historical-critical method current at this time, as well as the traditional Christian view.

He received the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize for his philosophy of "Reverence for Life", becoming the eighth Frenchman to be awarded that prize. His philosophy was expressed in many ways, but most famously in founding and sustaining the Hôpital Albert Schweitzer in Lambaréné, French Equatorial Africa (now Gabon). As a music scholar and organist, he studied the music of German composer Johann Sebastian Bach and influenced the Organ Reform Movement (Orgelbewegung).

Source: Wikipedia

Postes France Liberation - Resistance - 1945

POSTES FRANCE at the end of WWII issued in 1945 a series of stamps dedicated to the Liberation of France, among those stamps released was one  honouring the French Resistance.

La Poste France Heroes of Resistance 1957-1961

LA PSOTE FRANCE from 1957 to 1961 issued a set of 23 stamps honouring "Heroes of the Resistance". The set commemorated 27 members of the French Resistance who died during the Occupation of France between 1940 and 1945 (apart from Edmond Debeaumarché, who died in 1959). Interestingly, of the 27, two were Catholic monks and nuns and three were women

Issued 18 May 1957 
- Jean Moulin (1899-1943)
- D'Estienne d'Orves (1901–1941)
- Robert Keller (1899–1945)
- Pierre Brossolette (1903–1944)
- Jean-Baptiste Lebas (1878–1944)

Issued 19 April 1958
- Jean Cavailles (1903–1944)
- Fred Scamaroni (1914–1943)
- Simone Michel-Levy (1906–1945)
- Jacques Bingen (1908–1944)

Issued 25 April 1959:
-  Five Martyrs of the lycée Buffon
        -Jean-Marie Arthus (1925–1943)
        -Jacques Baudry (1922–1943)
        -Pierre Benoit (1925–1943)
        -Pierre Grelot (1923–1943)
        -Lucien Legros (1924–1943)
- Yvonne Le Roux (1882–1945)
- Mederic Vedy (1902–1944)
- Louis Martin-Bret (1898–1944)
- Gaston Moutardier (1889–1944)

Issued 26 March 1960:
- Edmond Debeaumarché (1906–1959)
- Pierre Masse (1879–1942)
- Maurice Ripoche (1895–1944)
- Leonce Vieljeux (1865–1944)
- Rene Bonpain (1908–1943)

Issued 22 April 1961:
- Jacques Renouvin (1905–1944)
- Lionel Dubray (1923–1944)
- Paul Gateaud (1889–1944)
- Mother Elizabeth (1890–1945)

Postes France Secours National (POWs and Marshal Petain's Winter Relief) - 1941

POSTES FRANCE on 1 January 1941 issued  two surtaxed stamps intended to benefit French Prisoners of War oof. The two designs featured views of prisoners of war inside barbed wire enclosures.

POSTES FRANCE on  4 March 1941 issued  two surtaxed stamps  design to benefit the "Secours National / Marshal Petain's Winter Relief".

The surtaxed or "semi-postal" pictorial French stamps of this period were intended to raise money for national events and public charities.

Many of the later charity stamp issues are inscribed "Secours National" or "National Relief".  This national fund provided food and clothing for the poor and for needy children.

Source: Collecting Stamps. com/France

Postes France Massacre at the Village of Oradour-sur-Glane - 1945

POSTES FRANCE on 13 October 1945 issued a stamp commemorating the Destruction of Oradour-sur-Glane in June 1944.  This surtax stamp benefited the Entraide Française. The design showed the Burning of the Oradour Church. That said, the FDC (13 October 1945) date is correct while the postmark cancellation shown here refers to the postal relay system created by King Louis XI; it is not the FDC Oradour landmark that was used. Also, while this 1945 postcard depicts a prominent landmark in Ales, it should not be mistaken for the destroyed church in Oradour.

 

Historical background: On 10 June 1944, the village of Oradour-sur-Glane in Nazi occupied France was destroyed, its church was burned, and 642 of its inhabitants, including women and children, were massacred by soldiers of the German 2nd SS Panzer Division.

According to the Yvert-Tellier specialised catalog, many of these charity stamps were issued for the benefit of the Entraide Française or the "French Mutual Aid [Society]".  This was a public charity whose purpose was to provide assistance to the sick, the disabled, and the needy.  Following a bit of further research, it seems that one of their key focuses was the plight of French Jewish families (especially the children) that had either been displaced or deported by the Germans during the war.

Postes France Liberation of Alsace and Lorraine from Nazi Germany - 1945

POSTES FRANCE issued on 16 May 1945 a single stamp marking the Liberation of Alsace and Lorraine from Nazi Germany. On a background representing the cathedrals of Strasbourg, on the left, and Metz, on the right, an Alsatian and a Lorainne in traditional costumes of their regions celebrate, under the French flag, the Liberation of France. Designed by Paul-Pierre Lemagny and engraved by Raoul Serres. Postage was intended to be used on single letters to foreign countries. It was printed in Rotary Intaglio with 50 stamps per sheet, block or booklet on No. 5 press. This red-brown stamp featured 13 perforations and measured 40x26  mm   40 mm x  26 mm. A total of 4.95 million copies were printed.  

According to the Yvert-Tellier specialised catalog, many of these charity stamps were issued for the benefit of the Entraide Française or the "French Mutual Aid [Society]".  This was a public charity whose purpose was to provide assistance to the sick, the disabled, and the needy.  Following a bit of further research, it seems that one of their key focuses was the plight of French Jewish families (especially the children) that had either been displaced or deported by the Germans during the war.

Postes France Devastated French Cities - 1945

POSTES FRANCE on 5 November 1945 issued four surtaxed French pictorial stamps of four cities devastated by WWII.  The surtax benefited the Entraide Française, in particular, the suffering residents of the four cities depicted in the stamps.

The four designs depicted the post-war ruins of the following:

 - Dunkirk.
 - Rouen.
 - Caen.
 - Saint-Malo.

According to the Yvert-Tellier specialised catalog, many of these charity stamps were issued for the benefit of the Entraide Française or the "French Mutual Aid [Society]".  This was a public charity whose purpose was to provide assistance to the sick, the disabled, and the needy.  Following a bit of further research, it seems that one of their key focuses was the plight of French Jewish families (especially the children) that had either been displaced or deported by the Germans during the war.

Postes France 18th Century Regional Costumes - 1943

POSTES FRANCE on 27 December 1943 issued six surtaxed pictorial stamps, featuring 18th Century Regional Costumes (Headdresses).  The surtax benefited the Secours National or "National Relief".  This national fund provided food and clothing for the poor and for needy children during the Vichy government (1940-1944). After the Liberation of France, surtax postage continued under Entraide Française or the "French Mutual Aid [Society]".

The six designs, in the order that they appear above, are as follows:

   - Picardy.

   - Brittany.

   - Ile de France.

   - Burgundy.

   - Auvergne.

   - Provence.

USPS Famous Baseball Fields

USPS on 27 June  2001 issued a series stamps commemorating ten legendary baseball fields. Avery Dennison Security Printing printed a total of 125,000,000, using the  Photogravure method. These stamps featured a Serpentine Die Cut of 11.25 x 11.5. They were issued in various cities, depending on the stadium location.

 

The stadiums included: Ebbets Field (Brooklyn), Tiger Stadium (Detroit), Crosley Field (Cincinnati), Yankee Stadium (New York City), Polo Grounds (New York City), Forbes Field (Pittsburgh), Fenway Park (Boston), Comiskey Park (Chicago), Shibe Park (Philadelphia), Wrigley Field (Chicago).

Shown here are five of those stadiums:
- Fenway Park (Boston).

- Comiskey Park (Chicago).
- Shibe Park (Philadelphia)
- Polo Grounds (New York City).
- Tiger Stadium (Detroit).

Polynesie Francaise Poste 1958 Island Scenes

POLYNESIE FRANCAISE POSTE  on 3 November 1958 issued a stamp set of nine "Island Scenes"  denominated from 10 centimes to 20 francs. The designs depicted a Polynesian girl playing guitar, a Polynesian man in headdress, and a Polynesian girl collecting shells on the beach. Shown here are three of four stamps featuring the Polynesian girl playing guitar. All postage stamps of this set were engraved by famous French engraver Charles Mazelin and printed by the copperplate printing process known as intaglio.

Öesterreich Post "The Dawn of Peace"

ÖESTERREICH POST on 10 September  1945 issued a  surtaxed charity stamp of 1 Mk. + 10 Mk. denomination for public welfare. The design was an allegorical representation of "The Dawn of Peace", and it featured a dove of peace at the top, and an Austrian returning to his Alpine home.

 

When one considers the history of Austria from the moment of the Anschluss in 1938, the Austrians who served in the German Wehrmacht (many of whom ended up fighting on the Eastern front and were interned in Soviet gulags until the 1950s), the internees who died at or survived the Mauthausen and concentration camp elsewhere,  the destruction of Austrian cities, the occupation of the four Allied powers and the multitude of displaced people, this stamp is truly touching and reflects a nation looking forward to peace.

This stamp is also interesting in that the Soviet occupied eastern region of Austria initially used overprint stamps of Hitler, then  the Austrian coat of arms (an eagle) with hammer and sickle in its talons.

Deutsche Post Berlin 10th Anniversary of Assassination Attempt on Adolf Hitler

DEUTSCHE POST BERLIN on 20 July 1954 issued a single stamp marking the 10th anniversary of the assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler. This 20 Pfennig stamp was designed by Gerhardt and released from the Allied occupied zone of West Berlin. This particular stamp is mint -- never postmarked. 

The figure of the man with his hands bound depicted in the stamp was based on a sculpture created by Professor Richard Scheibe. Since 1953, this naked and solitary bronze sculpture has stood in the very Bendlerblock (German Resistance Memorial - Berlin) courtyard were Colonel Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg and his co-conspirators were executed by firing squad.

On 20 July 1944, Claus von Stauffenberg and other conspirators attempted to assassinate Adolf Hitler, Führer of Nazi Germany, inside his Wolf's Lair field headquarters near Rastenburg, East Prussia, now Kętrzyn, in present-day Poland. The name "Operation Valkyrie"—originally referring to part of the conspiracy—has become associated with the entire event.

The plot was the culmination of efforts by several groups in the German resistance to overthrow the Nazi German government. The failure of the assassination attempt and the intended military coup d'état, or putsch, that was to follow led the Gestapo to arrest more than 7,000 people, 4,980 of whom were executed.

Although the German Resistance Memorial is primarily intended to commemorate those members of the German Army who tried to assassinate Hitler in 1944, it is also a memorial to the German resistance in the broader sense.

While historians agree that there was no united, national resistance movement in Nazi Germany at any time during Hitler's years in power (1933–45), the term German Resistance (Deutscher Widerstand) is now used to describe all elements of opposition and resistance to the Nazi Regime, including the underground networks of the Social Democrats and Communists, The White Rose, opposition activities of the Catholic Church and other Christian denominations such as the Confessing Church, along with the resistance groups based in the civil service, intelligence organs and armed forces.

For more information see this link

Deutsche Bundespost Hausfrau - 1990

 

DEUTSCHE BUNDESPOST on 19 April 1990 issued a commemorative stamp mark the "75 Jahre Deutscher Hausfrauen-Bund".