EAST AFRICAN ARMY POST OFFICE 59
I attach a scan of a cover sent by 7344768 Sgt. R Masters utilising East African APO 59 on 15 May, 1945. This post office was with the 11 (EA) Division Postal Unit. Whereas the X241 Unit Censor marker in the corner was one of a series, used I believe be East African forces, the Field Censor 219 censor stamp I don't know. Can any member enlighten me as to whether the sergeant was seconded to the East African forces, and where the Field Censor 219 was generally in use.
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Ross - E.A. APO 59 was used in Ceylon (Vavuniya) according to "History of the East African Army Postal Service" by Stuart Rossiter (Edited by Edward Proud).
FIELD CENSOR 219 is an Indian Censor (Type IND103) according to "World War Two Censor Marks" (2nd Edition) Edited by Nick Colley. The UNIT CENSOR X241 is also recorded by Colley (Type IND162) as being India: he states that it is throught the word INDIA had been removed as Indian forces entered Burma and beyond; I wonder if this also applied to Indian forces in Ceylon? Why two censor marks, I don't know, unless the 219 mark represented a Base Censor marking.
Mike