Prior to the operation formations had assumed a closed address “APO ENGLAND” and the Home Postal Centre NOTTINGHAM was carrying out the functions of Concentration Office for the force.
In addition the Postal branch of CANADIAN Section GHQ l Echelon 21 Army Group had joined the Postal Directorate of HQ 21 Army Group.
In view of the fact that the distance to UK was so short and casualties were being evacuated direct to UK from the outset, it was decided not to establish a Postal Tracing Section for units other than CANADIAN.
Instructions were there fore sent out to units to return to the Army Post Office for return to senders all correspondence addressed to individuals who were deceased or missing, or whose address was not known or who had been evacuated to hospital and in respect of whom no redirection card had been received within fourteen days. The usual safeguards to prevent premature return of such correspondence in the case of deceased or missing personnel were applied.
The first postal personnel to land in the theatre were those of 6 Airborne Division who landed by parachute and glider well before H-hour. The postal personnel of 1 and 4 Special Service Brigades followed about an hour after the sea assault began, just prior to the arrival of the beach group detachments personnel.
The next to arrive were the personnel of 50 Division, 1 and 30 Corps postal units, who established their “D” (divisional) and “HT” (corps) offices and future “S” (static) offices. Second Army Postal Unit followed and established an “S” office which also acted as a cross post centre for the formations ashore.
DADAPS (Deputy Assistant Director Army Postal Services) 1 and 30 Corps were in sole charge of the postal services in their own sectors until D+5 when Second Army took over.
Locations Control (21 Army Group) was established on the Continent on D+6. HQ L of C with a staff increment from 21 Army Group took over the Base and L of C Area on 13 July and HQ 21 Army Group Advance Section took over from them on 29 July.
Arrangements had been made for the delivery of mail to assault units on D+1. In fact deliveries did not commence until D+2 due to shipping difficulties, but the placing of mail was found to have been generally satisfactory.
In the case of follow-up formations cut-offs of unit mail in the UK had worked well and all formations found their mail awaiting them on arrival in the theatre.
The first despatch from the theatre was made by Beach Group APO S688 on 8 June.
On 20 June all despatches to UK were taken over by 8 Base Army Post office at CREPON, which had the CANADIAN Base Post Office adjoining it.
On 6 July a two way airlift of first class letter mail only, was established between the theatre and UK, leaving parcel mail to be convoyed as before by surface routes. The first day’s lift to the theatre consisted of 8,100 lbs. of BRITISH mail and 1,600 lbs. of CANADIAN mail, while the first despatch by air from the theatre amounted to 7,000 lbs. of mail.
This resulted in an immediate improvement in the service to the troops, but the service to the UK continued to be unsatisfactory, and many complaints were voiced both by the troops and in the Press. It had been thought that shipping delays were responsible but when the introduction of the airlift failed to improve the homeward service, further investigations were carried out and the cause of the trouble was discovered to be dislocation of the civil postal services in LONDON as a result of damage from flying bombs.
The maximum amount possible of correspondence was immediately diverted to provincial distribution centres and an instant improvement was noted.
The establishment of firm and efficient surface links had proved to be more difficult than expected. Loading in the UK was delayed by the failure of lighters to find the correct coasters, while on the theatre side it was held up by the inability of the authorities on shore to locate the ships containing mail until thirty-six to forty-eight hours after they had anchored. An officer was given the full time job of patrolling the anchorages in an amphibious jeep to locate the mail ships, and thus hasten unloading which was normally carried out with DUKWS. This resulted in an improvement in the service.
During this first phase the force changed its address three times. At the outset it was “APO ENGLAND”; on 22 June this was altered to “British Western European Forces (BWEF)”; and finally on 14 July as a result of a high level political decision, the address was again changed to “British Liberation Army (BLA)”, which title was retained throughout the campaign.
26 July-26 September
The most important aspect of this phase from the Postal point of view was the problem created by the rapid lengthening of the L of C.
Corps and divisional postal distribution centres moved forward sometimes at one and two day intervals and the maintenance of a regular daily service to and from the RMA presented many difficulties.
A postal service for units grounded at various points on the L of C and machinery for the disposal of mails of disbanded units and formations had also to be provided.
The establishment of so many APOs on the L of C led to a serious shortage of postal personnel.
This was to some extent alleviated by the employment of civilian labour on duties such as sorting of home-going mail which could not lead to breaches of security.
During the period there was a number of non-flying days due to bad weather, but in each case a double load of mails was successfully carried by the next day’s aircraft. In order, however, to provide for prolonged stoppages of flying, arrangements were made to transfer mails to surface routes as necessary.
The stage was eventually reached where a split of the air lift for mail became essential and separate lifts were devised for units of the rearward area and units of First Canadian and Second British Armies.
It was also possible in connection with this revision to arrange air transport of mails posted and due for delivery within the theatre.
On 10 September DIEPPE was adopted as a port of entry for mail for units in the forward area and from 25 September mail for units of the RMA was brought in at CAEN instead of ARROMANCHES (MULBERRY).
In conformity with the general administrative policy a decision was taken to move 8 Base APO to ANTWERP upon the freeing of the port, and this was completed by 26 September.
A rear element of 8 Base APO was left at CREPON to provide a base postal installation for the RMA, and the general area SOUTH and WEST of the River SEINE.
27 September 1944—14 January 1945
On 21 October the port of entry for mails was altered from DIEPPE to OSTEND and on 1 November the employment of CAEN as the mail “in” port for the RMA ceased. As a result of this transfer the mail situation was not affected by the opening of the port of ANTWERP although it had originally been intended to use it. The UK “out” port changed from SOUTHAMPTON to TILBURY on 26 October and again to DOVER on 7 November.
In order to accelerate the delivery of home going mail and to assist UK offices, arrangements were made for a considerable extension of the range of letter sorting in the theatre. Labelled bundles of letters were prepared for all towns with a population of more than 20,000 and direct despatches of mail were made up in the theatre for all towns with a population of more than 150,000.
By early October arrangements had been completed for the interchange of mail between personnel of 21 Army Group and civilians in liberated territory. At first only limited areas were affected but these widened progressively with the re-establishment of the civilian postal services.
During this period bad weather conditions caused several interruptions of both air and surface- borne mail, the most serious of which occurred just prior to Christmas when thick fog prevented flying and interfered with the sailing of mail ships. Conditions, fortunately, improved on 22 December and all outstanding mail was cleared by Christmas Day.
In view of the abnormally high rate of sales of postal orders it was decided that purchases from APOs would be made only with the authority of an officer.
In early 1945 a temporary telegraph service was inaugurated and operated via APO channels to enable personnel proceeding on leave to advise their families at short notice of their impending arrival. Telegrams were conveyed to UK from the Base by air and transferred to the central telegraph office in LONDON for onward transmission by wire. This arrangement ceased as soon as the fact that leave was to be granted was made public and personnel had sufficient time to inform their families before their arrival.
15 January 1945 - 8 May 1945
Owing to the difficulties which were experienced in maintaining regular daily arrivals and departures of sea-borne mails through OSTEND, the port for this class of mails was changed to CALAIS on15 February, where an all-weather berth was allocated for this purpose.
On the same date a special postal train began to operate for the movement of surface mails between CALAIS and BOURG LEOPOLD stopping at various intermediate distribution points.
The terminal railhead was later extended to MILL and still later to BEDBURG.
The successful working of this train helped considerably in the maintenance of a regular parcel mail service, and enabled substantial reductions to be made in the amount of MT used for the conveyance of mail.
During January and early February bad flying conditions gave rise to a number of short breaks in the day-to-day regularity of letter mails, but these were never so serious as to justify a change from the policy of adherence to air movement. In fact there were more interruptions in the continuity of surface mails than in that of air mails during this period.
As the advance up to and beyond the RHINE progressed the airfield for the despatch and receipt of letter mails from UK for Second Army was changed in conformity with the general movement. Airfields at HELMOND, HEES, RHEINE, DIEPHOLZ and LUNEBURG were successively used.
On 8 March a V-1 caused the virtual destruction of the premises and postal organisation of 8 Base APO in ANTWERP. Steps were immediately taken to ensure the maintenance of the primary mail services to and from UK by the opening up of a fresh installation in BRUSSELS.
There was very little loss of mail, and as a result of the measures taken no break occurred in the services to and from UK. Delay to inter-unit mail was limited to two or three days.
Part of ECLIPSE planning during January and February provided for mail facilities and newspapers for liberated allied PW and mail facilities for DPs. No postal difficulties were encountered in the execution of these plans.
