Friday, June 30, 2023
Postes Francaises "Fortnight Imperial" - 1942
Wednesday, June 28, 2023
Poste Francaises (Vichy) Victims of Allied Bombings
Dunkerque was virtually destroyed during the Battle of Dunkirk and the evacuation of Allied forces, 1940.
Lorient was essentially destroyed by Allied bombing raids on the German U-Boat pens, 1943.
St. Nazaire was destroyed by fire-bombing in Allied bombing raids on the German U-Boat pens, 1943.
Billancourt, Paris suburb, was heavily damaged by British and US bombing raids on the large Renault factory, 1942 and 1943.
As a result of the bombing, not only was critical war infrastructure destroyed the civilian population became "internally displaced" refugees. Thus, these surtax stamps benefited the Secours National.
In total three stamps were released. Shown here is one of the designs: "Civilians under air attack".
North Vietnam Propaganda Victory Stamps
- NAM NGAI Kien Cuong Di Dau Diet Ma (Battle of Ba Gia)
- TÂY NINH Ann Hung (Battle of Loc Ninh)
- TAY NGUYEN Bat Khuat (Battle of Ban Me Thuot)
- TRỊ THIÊN Quat Khoi (First Battle of Quảng Trị)
- CU-CHI Dat Thep (Cu Chi Tunnels)
North Vietnam Propaganda Stamps of American Aircraft Downed
NORTH VIETNAM throughout the Second Vietnam War issued stamps detailing the numbers of American aircraft they had downed. As the United States began its "Operation Rolling Thunder" bombing campaign over North Vietnam, the North Vietnamese defended themselves as best they could and managed to shoot down many American fixed wing aircraft and helicopters, mostly by anti-aircraft fire, surface-to-air missiles and small arms fire. To shore up morale in the face of devastating US raids, North Vietnam began issuing a series of postage stamps boasting of their successes in shooting down American aircraft.
The first stamp in 1965, indicated 500 aircraft had been downed. In 1966, another stamp was issued claiming 1,000 shot down. Later in 1967, the 2,500th US aircraft to be shot down over North Vietnam was commemorated in stamps. By 1968, the North Vietnamese were claiming 3,000 US Aircraft shot down. In April 1972, one stamp brought the total up to 3,500 and portrayed a US airman in captivity. By 1973, one stamp in a set of 4 called ‘Victory Over US Airforce’ claims a grand total of 4,181 US Aircraft shot down over North Vietnam.
These were propaganda stamps and one could assume that the North Vietnamese claims must have been greatly exaggerated. How many US aircraft were actually lost? It is quite difficult to find a definitive number that everyone agrees on. The number 2,257 is mentioned often but it depends on whether you include helicopters, losses due to accidents, losses over Cambodia and Laos and other variables. A declassified US Airforce report (should be a reliable source) puts USAF (i.e. not including Navy, Army, Marines) combat losses of fixed wing aircraft at over 1600. According to the Oxford Companion to American Military History, 8588 fixed wing aircraft and helicopters were lost. Whatever the true figure, it was huge!
Deutsches Reich Weimar Verfassunggebende Deutsche Nationalversammlung - 1919
The Weimar National Assembly (German: Weimarer Nationalversammlung), officially the German National Constitutional Assembly (Verfassunggebende Deutsche Nationalversammlung), was the popularly elected constitutional convention and de facto parliament of Germany from 6 February 1919 to 21 May 1920. As part of its duties as the interim government, it debated and reluctantly approved the Treaty of Versailles that codified the peace terms between Germany and the victorious Allies of World War I. The Assembly drew up and approved the Weimar Constitution that was in force from 1919 to 1933 (and technically until the end of Nazi rule in 1945). With its work completed, the National Assembly was dissolved on 21 May 1920. Following the election of 6 June 1920, the new Reichstag met for the first time on 24 June 1920, taking the place of the Assembly.
Source: Wikipedia
Deutsches Reich (Weimar) Defintives of Famous Germans - 1926 & 1927
DEUTSCHES REICH (WEIMAR) issued in the Weimar Republic between November 1926 and August 1927 new definitive stamp designs featuring portraits of famous Germans, with some of them being repeated throughout the set. During this period, the 3 Pf. and 5 Pf. denominations were issued in two distinctly different shades.
The designs feature:
- 3 Pf., 25 Pf. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)
- 5 Pf. - Friedrich von Schiller (1759-1805)
- 8 Pf., 20 Pf. - Ludwig von Beethoven (1770-1827)
- 10 Pf. - Frederick the Great (1712-1786)
- 15 Pf. - Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)
- 30 Pf. - Gotthold E. Lessing (1729-1781)
- 40 Pf. - Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716)
- 50 Pf. - Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
- 80 Pf. - Albrecht Durer (1471-1528)
All of these Weimar Republic definitive postage stamps were issued both in panes of 100 and in coil rolls. The 5 Pf., 8 Pf., 10 Pf., and 15 Pf. denominations were also issued in booklets, having panes of 10 stamps for each denomination. A very rare variety of the 20 Pf. is known with a sideways watermark.
Source: Stamp Collecting . com
Sunday, June 25, 2023
South Vietnam Trung Trac & Trung Nhi - 1959
These two high-born Vietnamese sisters rallied their people in order to fight against oppression. Known simply as the Trung sisters, Trung Trac and Trung Nhi raised an army and went to battle in order to protect their ancestral homeland. China had occupied Vietnam for half a century when the oppressive rule of Governor To Dinh provoked a rebellion by Vietnamese nationalists.
When Trung Trac's husband was executed for plotting against the Han Chinese, Trung Trac and her sister Trung Nhi led other Vietnamese nobles with a small army as, in 39 A.D. Armed with swords, bows and arrows, axes and spears, these elephant-riding warrior sisters and their army stormed 65 Chinese-run citadels and the governor’s home, successfully forcing the Chinese leader out of the region. They seized control of an area extending from Hue to southern China and ruled for two years.
When the Han Chinese first invaded the area now known as Vietnam in 111 BC, they immediately installed several local rulers to act as conduits for Chinese interests. Among those local leaders was the Trung sisters’ father—who, like several of the other installed rulers, did manage to push back against the Chinese on occasion in order to protect the interests of the local people.
Southeast Asian society at the time was quite progressive when it came to women’s rights, especially when regarding educational access and property ownership. “It was a society where women had a lot of rights,” says Keith Taylor, a professor of Sino-Vietnamese cultural studies at Cornell University. “From what we can tell from society at that time, women did have a very high status. People inherited property, and their social position, and a lot of other rights through their mothers and their fathers.”
In 42 A.D. they were defeated by a much larger Chinese army near modern Hanoi.To avoid capture, the sisters drowned themselves in the Red River (Song Hong).
In the 2,000 years since their deaths, the legend of the Trung sisters has come to represent Vietnamese nationalism—and a rare moment in which two young women ruled an independent nation pushing back against colonial repression. They became symbols of freedom, immortalised in plays and folktales, as well as worshiped by cults. Hai Ba Trung Day is a Vietnamese national holiday.
Source: A&E History
Monday, June 12, 2023
New Zealand Health "Hygieia" - 1932
NEW ZEALAND in 1932 issued a Health stamp showing the symbolic figure of Hygieia, the Greek goddess of health, cleanliness and sanitation. While her father, Asclepius, was more directly associated with healing, Hygieia was associated with the prevention of sickness and the continuation of good health (the word 'hygiene' is derived from her name).
Hygieia is often depicted as a young woman feeding a large snake that is wrapped around her body from a jar that she carries. On the stamp, Hygieia is reclining on a pedestal holding a goblet high against the rays of either the rising or setting sun and the serpent is going hungry.
Unfortunately, all this classical mythology was lost on a writer in the Australian Stamp Monthly who suggested that the stamp depicted a scantily dressed young woman greeting the morning sun with an upraised goblet having been engaged in an all-night hedonistic drinking orgy - so potent that given there are no snakes in New Zealand, she had started to hallucinate about them. The stamp, he noted, is appropriately coloured a rich wine red!
This health stamp was the first to attribute the surcharge to 'health' rather than 'charity' - a more accurate term given that the funds were being used to establish and maintain summer camps for children suffering from malnutrition and low stamina.
The first two sheets printed were presented to the then Governor-General, Lord Bledisloe, on an official visit to the Otaki Health Camp.
Saturday, June 10, 2023
Deutsche Bundespost Welfare Stamps of German-speaking Actors
DEUTSCHE BUNDESPOST on 12 October 2000 issued a series of five welfare stamps. For more than 50 years, the welfare proceeds have been donated to the Federal Association of Free Welfare e.V. In 2000, the welfare stamps were reminiscent of popular German-speaking film actors who have achieved world renown.
Thees Bond villains: Gert Fröbe as the legendary Mister Goldfinger and Curd Jürgens as the villain Stromberg in "The Spy Who Loves Me"; the two ladies: Lilli Palmer and the unfo stamps were dedicated to two Jamrgettable Romy Schneider - better known as Sissi; and last but not least, perhaps the greatest of all - Heinz Rührmann.
Thursday, June 8, 2023
Vietnam 30th Anniversay of the Battle of Dien Bien Phu
The Battle of Dien Bien Phu was the climactic confrontation in the First Indochina War between the French Union's French Far East Expeditionary Corps and Viet Minh communist-nationalist revolutionaries. It was, from the French view before the event, a set piece battle to draw out the Vietnamese and destroy them with superior firepower. The battle occurred between March and May 1954 and culminated in a comprehensive French defeat that influenced negotiations over the future of Indochina at Geneva.
North Vietnam Propaganda Stamp of US Pilot and Vietnamese Soldier
On 20 September 1965, Capt. Bill Robinson had the misfortune to become the longest held enlisted prisoner of war in American history when the HH43B helicopter he was aboard was shot down by enemy fire in Ha Tinh Province, North Vietnam. He and his crew survived the crash but were soon captured on the ground. On 12 February 1973, he along with fellow POWs were released. He spent a total of 7 1/2 years in captivity at various prisons including the notorious Hanoi Hilton. He was horribly mistreated – as he says in his biography -- “We were all treated equally, we all got the hell beaten out of us”.
North Vietnam American Anti-war Activist Norman Morrison
Norman Morrison was a devout Quaker and anti-war activist best known for his act of self-immolation at age 31 to protest United States involvement in the Vietnam War. On 2 November 1965, Morrison doused himself in kerosene and set himself on fire below the office of Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara at the Pentagon.
It has been suggested his action may have been taken after Thích Quảng Đức and other Buddhist monks, who burned themselves to death to protest the repression committed by the South Vietnam government of Catholic President Ngo Dinh Diem.
Morrison’s choice to self-immolate was particularly symbolic in that it followed President Johnson’s controversial decision to authorise the use of napalm in Vietnam, a burning gel that sticks to the skin and melts the flesh.
Morrison was perceived to be sane and sincere in sacrificing himself for a cause greater than himself. In North Vietnam, Morrison quickly became a folk hero to some, his name rendered as Mo Ri Xon. Five days after Morrison died, Vietnamese poet Tố Hữu wrote a poem, "Emily, My Child", assuming the voice of Morrison addressing his daughter Emily and telling her the reasons for his sacrifice.
Morrison's widow, Anne, and the couple's two daughters visited Vietnam in 1999, where they met with Tố Hữu, the poet who had written the popular poem Emily, My Child.
On his visit to the United States in 2007, President of Vietnam Nguyễn Minh Triết visited a site on the Potomac near the place where Morrison immolated himself and read the poem by Tố Hữu to commemorate Morrison.
Today, there are streets in the Vietnamese cities of Da Nang and Hanoi named after Norman Morrison in memory of his act against American involvement in South Vietnam.
Source: Wikipedia
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