Feld post number on photo??

[R MICHAEL]

Hello all, It goes to show that looking thru albums every so often pays off. I jave had this album since I started collecting photos about 7 years ago and never paid this photo no attention.
Now that I am a little wiser, I hope, I can tell this may be a FP#. Any help would be appreciated.
I do not have a date but I would say early in the war as there aren't any adlers on the blouses.

Thanks! Mike

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Mike, here you go:

23903

(2.1.1940-27.4.1940) Kommandant Flughafenbereich z.b.V. 1/XI,
(28.4.1940-14.9.1940) gestrichen,
(19.7.1941-14.2.1942) 12. Kompanie Luftnachrichten-Regiment 203,
(31.7.1942-9.2.1943) gestrichen,
(6.4.1944-9.11.1944) 17.8.1944 Pionier-Sonderstab 13.

Cheers, Ade.

[jmark]

Hello all, It goes to show that looking thru albums every so often pays off. I jave had this album since I started collecting photos about 7 years ago and never paid this photo no attention.
Now that I am a little wiser, I hope, I can tell this may be a FP#. Any help would be appreciated.
I do not have a date but I would say early in the war as there aren't any adlers on the blouses.

Thanks! Mike

Hi Mike,

I can't help you any more than Ade has, but I'd just like to make a comment. Finding a Feldpostnummer in just one of an album's photos is a very good way (I was going to write "a sure-fire way" but I'm loate to use absolutes) of identifying the unit. It drives me insane when I cannot identify to which unit the original album owner belonged, so I pore over each photo, trying to find a unit insignia, a grave marker, anything at all to help me identify the unit. Occasionally, an FPN will be on the back of a truck, or written on a sign for a group of men to pose with (as in your photo), or hidden away in the background of a photo on an actual mail box, and it's a moment of triumph when one is found! As you no doubt know, identifying non-motorised units can be quite difficult. To date, only one album in my collection has eluded my attempts at identifying it... actually, I think I might dig it out now and have another go at it!

All the best,
Jason

[Akira Takiguchi]

I find it very interesting, because the board clearly says Luftgau Postamt Hannover. What higher organization was it part of?

[Akira Takiguchi]

P.S. Yes, photo collecting becomes much more interesting as you learn more... If you don't learn and just like to see panzers in them, it will become soon boring...

[Larry deZeng]

This is very interesting and very strange. Kommandant Flughafenbereich z.b.V. 1/XI (abbreviated as Koflug z.b.V. 1/XI) was set up specifically for the invasion and occupation of Denmark and Norway that began on 9 April 1940. It was set up by Luftgaukommando XI which was the senior Luftwaffe command for the present-day states of Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein. When the invasion began, it moved into Denmark to set up airfields. It was then disbanded at the end of April and a permanent infrastructure set up to run the airfields in Denmark. There is very little information about it due to it's very brief existence.

The photo appears to have been shot in Denmark where, I believe, brick buildings are more commonly found that in Germany.

--BHS1956

[R MICHAEL]

thanks guys for the information so far!! I just have a quick minute and thaought I would say thank you. I will dig a little deeper into this album as there are a fair bit of writing which I have a very hard time reading. I do know it appears to start in april-may of 40, Holland is mentioned and France, then ends in the USSR.

Thanks again for the help!

Mike

[Akira Takiguchi]

Googling "Luftgau Postamt" will give you a few entries. One entry ( http://www.filatelie-klim.com/inside...kce_pis_24.pdf ) refers 35.314 as Luftgau Postamt Wien. When looking into Kannapin, you get a company from a Luftgau-Nachrichten-Regiment / Luftnachrichten-Regiment. So a Lufgau Postamt was subordinated to a company of such a regiment?

[Larry deZeng]

Googling "Luftgau Postamt" will give you a few entries. One entry ( http://www.filatelie-klim.com/inside...kce_pis_24.pdf ) refers 35.314 as Luftgau Postamt Wien. When looking into Kannapin, you get a company from a Luftgau-Nachrichten-Regiment / Luftnachrichten-Regiment. So a Lufgau Postamt was subordinated to a company of such a regiment?

No, Taki. A Luftgau Postamt was a territorial distribution center for all mail inbound to and outbound from Luftwaffe units stationed/based within the territory of that Postamt. All Wehrmacht postal units, Heer, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine, SS-u.Polizei, RAD, Organisation Todt, etc., etc., came under the Heeresfeldpostmeister for day-to-day operations. He was the boss for all postal operations of the German armed forces. The postal clerks at a Luftgau Postamt or Heeres Postamt in the Reich were normally civilians. In the occupied territories and near the fronts, they were a mix of civilians and soldiers.

The Luftnachrichteneinheiten listed under Feldpostnummer 35314 have nothing to do with Luftgau Postamt Wien, unless they happened to be stationed within the territory serviced by that Luftgau Postamt, which included the Balkans. This is a very complicated subject that took Norbert Kannapin nearly a full volume to try and describe. You might want to take a look at it:

Kannapin, Norbert. Die deutsche Feldpost: Organisation und Lokalisation 1939-1945. Osnabrück: Biblio Verlag, 1979. ISBN 3-7648-1169-2. 183p.

It worked the same way the U.S. APO/FPO system worked or works. A World War II German civilian living in Rostock would write a letter to Gefr. Karl-Heinz Knorr, FpN L 07662, Luftgau-Postamt Wien. The letter would go to Vienna where the Luftgau-Postamt would check a list to see that the FpN belonged to a Fliegerhorstkommandantur in Athens/Greece. Next to the unit in the list would be the Heeres-Feldpostleitstelle in Greece that it should be forwarded to for delivery. When it arrived there, it would then go to the Feldpostamt or Feldpostzweigamt in Athens that handled the mail for that Fliegerhorstkommandantur in Athens. When Gefr. Knorr replied, his letter would follow the same path back up the line to Luftgau-Postamt Wien where it would be introduced into the Reichpost system for delivery to the civilian address in Rostock.

Hope that helps.

Now, Taki, as a moderator perhaps you can do me a favor. How does one go about receiving an auto-notice e-mail informing him that a thread he is working here on Wehrmacht Awards has receiving a posting? A system like this exists for the PMs here, and it also exists on every other forum that I participate on, but I cannot find it for the threads here. I went to the Control Panel and clicked on Options, but there was nothing there for this. Can this be done?

--BHS1956

[Akira Takiguchi]

Thank you BHS1956 and a PM sent for your query!

[Larry deZeng]

Thanks, Taki. I did what you said but I then forgot to click on "Save Changes" at the bottom of the page ( ). A couple of hours later I realized my mistake and went back and took care of it. Hopefully, it will work out now.

Thanks again,

--BHS1956

[R MICHAEL]

P.S. Yes, photo collecting becomes much more interesting as you learn more... If you don't learn and just like to see panzers in them, it will become soon boring...

I whole heartedly agree Akira.. The enjoyment is learning as much as I can about my photos that I am the care taker of.
I have been trying on and off to Id this unit, though it has been a few years since the last effort.

Mike

[R MICHAEL]

Hi Mike, here you go:

23903

(2.1.1940-27.4.1940) Kommandant Flughafenbereich z.b.V. 1/XI,
(28.4.1940-14.9.1940) gestrichen,
(19.7.1941-14.2.1942) 12. Kompanie Luftnachrichten-Regiment 203,
(31.7.1942-9.2.1943) gestrichen,
(6.4.1944-9.11.1944) 17.8.1944 Pionier-Sonderstab 13.

Cheers, Ade.

Ade, Thanks for the help. I am guessing as in a lot of other FP#'s the subsequent units were "off-spring" of the earlier units. If so the range of the photos I would date would be up to early 43.
Oh what does "gestrichen" mean?
Thanks again! Mike

[R MICHAEL]

JAson and BHS, Thanks for the help and the support!

I don not see any photos that are labeled Denmark, unfortunatley though given the info you provided it is a good bet that some of them are.

Here is the dog with collar unit emblem that is on the vehicles that hopefully I can now give a unit name to!


Mike

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Mike, "gestrichen" means that use of that number was discontinued.

Cheers, Ade.