Meškučiai (later known as Meškuičiai) is a township and a railway station ca. 18 km. north of Šiauliai. In World War One, during the two battles for Šiauliai involving fast moving cavalry actions Meškučiai changed hands repeatedly and was finally secured by 78. Reserve-Division on July 20, 1915.
During the German withdrawal from Russia at the end of 1918, Meškučiai came under Bolshevik control ca. mid-January 1919. In turn, Red Army troops were pushed out by German Grenzschutz by mid-March 1919. As a railway station on the important Šiauliai – Jelgava (Mitau) line, Meškučiai remained guarded by the Grenzschutz and, later, the entire rail link as a vital supply line was tightly controlled by Bermondt’s Westarmee. It was only on November 22, 1919 that Meškučiai was cleared of “bermontininkai” by Lithuanian regulars.
In the czarist period, Meškučiai had had a post office Meshkutsi but none during the German occupation. A postal facility of the same name, Meshkutsi, is mentioned in a Bolshevik document dated March 1919, but there is no other trace of its existence.
A Lithuanian postal facility was established ca. 1921 in the Meškučiai railway station. Its status was that of an agentūra as shown for several years in subsequent postmarkers, though by ca. 1928 it was raised to Post Office status.
For stamps to start with, the Meškučiai agency was supplied with Fourth Berlin Issue followed by the Sėjėjas Issue etc. Not possessing a regular postmarker for cancelling, Meškučiai made use of a one-liner cachet “st. Meškučiai” thus showing its essential link with the railway station in which it was set up. So far, no other provisional markings have been recorded.
It is not clear when Meškučiai obtained its first standard calendar-type postmarker. The first postmarker still identified the postal facility as “MEŠKUČIAI” but by ca. 1928, as evidenced by subsequent postmarkers, it was renamed “MEŠKUIČIAI”.
Known provisional markings:
Cancelling by one-liner “st. Meškučiai”
No date singles, Berlin IV 10, 30 [colln. Bubnys]
No date single, Berlin IV 10 [colln. Liesis]