[Prahanoaki]

This is a quote from:
http://lt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bermontininkai

"Bermontininkai Lietuvoje
1919 m. liepos 26 d. bermontininkai pasirodė Kuršėnuose, kur pradėjo rekvizuoti butus. Kareiviai plėšė vietos gyventojus ir net planavo karinį perversmą Kaune. Prieš jų plėšikavimą į kovą pakilo vietos gyventojai, atsirado partizanų būrių. Jų veiksmus koordinavo Laikinasis partizanų štabas Šiauliuose. Lietuvos vyriausybė pareikalavo, kad bermontininkai išsikraustytų iš šalies, tačiau jie reikalavimų nepaisė. Lietuvos vyriausybės nurodymu pradėtas ruoštis ginklu atremti užpuolikus.
Spalio 9 d. P. Bermonto-Avalovo įsakymu prasidėjo puolimas. Lietuvos kariuomenės vadas generolas Pranas Liatukas prieš bermontininkus sutelkė beveik visas karines pajėgas: šešis pėstininkų pulkus, raitelių pulką, 5 baterijas, geležinkelių kuopą ir kitas technines dalis. Visoms dalims vadovauti paskyrė K. Ladygą, vėliau jį pakeitė Vladas Skorupskis.
Su bermontininkais kovojo Raseinių komendantūros kuopa kairiame sparne ir Pasvalio batalionas dešiniajame, taip pat prisidėjo partizanų rinktinės. Per spalio ir lapkričio mėnesius bermontininkai užėmė didesniąją dalį Latvijos, taip pat Šiaulius, Biržus, Radviliškį, Raseinius, Jurbarką, Linkuvą.
Lapkričio 21–22 dienomis lietuviai Radviliškio kautynėse sumušė kariuomenės likučius ir privertė juos pasitraukti į Rytprūsius. Po pergalės Lietuvos kariuomenei atiteko daug karinio turto: 10 patrankų, 30 lėktuvų ir jų variklių, 100 kulkosvaidžių, taip pat šautuvų, pabūklų, šovinių, artilerijos sviedinių, automobilių, šarvuotį (kuris vėliau buvo sutaisytas ir gavo „Savanorio“ vardą). Po šių pralaimėjimų Antantė pareikalavo bermontininkų išvedimo ir iki gruodžio 1 d. pasitraukė visi daliniai iš Latvijos, o iki gruodžio 15 d. – ir iš Lietuvos."

Their presence in Lithuania lasted nearly 4 months, yet, I have not seen any West army cover used in Lithuania nor seen any references mentioning about an example of the use of West army"s stamp in Lithuania. Is it because it is extremely rare? or they suddenly stopped any kind of written communications once they have crossed the Lithuanian border for an unknown reason?

[Audrius]

Ray,

Thanks for posting interesting question. I also want to thank Dr. Vytautas Doniela who so promptly responded by email and kindly provided detailed comment and two illustrations.

Dr. Doniela writes:

"The section of the Russo-German Western Army (Westarmee) that operated mainly in Lithuanian territory in the second half of 1919 was its Second Corps commanded by Colonel Virgolich (II. Korps Wirgolitsch). For postal services it depended on the German volunteer post office stationed in Šiauliai, freiwillige Feldpost 3072. Surviving covers and postcards mailed by members of the Second Corps are rare and normally carry both a dated Deutsche Feldpost postmark and an undated seal-like cachet displaying the Russian Imperial double-eagle framed by a military inscription in Russian. Within a certain range postal services for the Korps Wirgolitsch were free and no stamps were needed.

By contrast, overprinted Latvian stamps were used by the First Corps (I. Korps Keller) active in Latvian territory. By late 1919 a spurious set of Russkaya pochta stamps, apparently printed in Berlin at a private initiative, made an appearance in both Latvia and Lithuania but they had no postal validity. While a few of these stamps display “cancels” of some kind or other, it must be noted that any regular Lithuanian cancellation (e.g. KURŠĖNAI) stems from illegal misuse, though in recent years some total forgeries (e.g. MAŽEIKIAI) have appeared on the market as well.

A more detailed account of postal matters related to the Western Army in Lithuania can be found in V.Doniela’s article (in Lithuanian) on the posts in Šiauliai 1915 -1919, in the Lithuania Philatelic Society Journal No. 237 (2008/9). An article (in English) on the posts of the German Border Guards (Grenzschutz) in Lithuania in 1919 is expected to appear in a later issue of the Journal."

Kursenai cvr Bermondt.jpg

Mazeikiai cvr forged.jpg

[Prahanoaki]

Thank you so much Audrius for such information! Please also thank Dr. Doniela too.
Very interesting misuse of postmark and the forgerie indeed. Like you wrote, the soldiers of West army didn't have to pay for the their own field post but what about the civilians living in Siauliai during their occupancy? Was the Lithuanian post operating?

[Audrius]

Dr. Vytautas Doniela further writes:

"Although the members of the Russo-German Western Army were entitled to use the mostly free postal services of the freiwillige Feldpost 3072 stationed in Šiauliai, in some cases they (esp. German soldiers) made use of the various Lithuanian civilian post offices whose network in 1919 kept expanding. Of course, such mail was treated as civilian and had to be prepaid in Lithuanian stamps, but Lithuanian post offices were more becoming numerous geographically and not seldom worked faster than the rather centralized freiwillige Feldpost 3072 with its prescribed channels."

For the turbulent postal situation in Šiauliai in 1919 and its civilian aspects see the illustrated article Šiauliai at LithuanianPhilately.com, the section Provisional Postmarks, contributed by Dr. Vytautas Doniela.