BWE Forces
I am attaching a scan of a cover from an officer with the Canadian army in France. The franking is FPO AC1 dated Jul 20 44. This relates to the 1st Canadian Army Headquarters. Units of the 1st Canadian Army landed on Juno beach on D-Day, but the Headquarters itself didn't arrive in France until mid-July and only became fully operational on the 23rd July. This would tie in with the date of the franking.
On the reverse of the cover, the officer gives his address as Cdn Army Overseas - BWE Forces. Am I right in assuming that this stands for British Western Europe Forces or something similar?
53 Views
Alan
Yes, you are almost correct. This is an extract from my chaper on "The Liberation of Europe: Forces Addresses":
Some ten days after D-Day, however, the Troops Mail Policy and Planning Committee were still discussing a suitable form of address. At its meeting on 16 June 1944 the Committee pondered over several alternatives: "BEF", mentioned at its December 1943 meeting, was vetoed; "BNEF" was suggested but was turned down as it was similar to "BNAF" in use in North Africa; "BNWEF" and "NWEF" were also suggested but were turned down. As a result Second Army, on its own initiative, devised its own address for use in Normandy. They came up with BRITISH WESTERN EUROPEAN FORCE (BWEF), details of which were promulgated on 22 June 1944.
It took a few days for the revised address to be disseminated downwards to all units and unit personnel. For example 104 Base Sub-Area issued a routine order on 24 June 1944 [Serial 7 (Second Series) Item 42 “Postal Address”] announcing that the use of APO ENGLAND had ceased and that the new postal address BWEF was to be adopted. The BWEF address remained in use as an unofficial Force address until it was replaced by an official Force address promulgated the following month.