Nemunėlio (Naujas) Radviliškis is a township ca. 23 km north of Biržai, on the border with Latvia. In World War One, it was entered by German 8. Kavallerie-Division on August 7, 1915.
During the German withdrawal from Russia at the end of 1918, formations of the Red Army appeared in the Biržai district in mid-January 1919 and, while frequently challenged by local anti-Bolshevik paramilitaries (Joniškėlio partizanai), held out until end of May 1919. In the second half of 1919, the area came under increasing control of Bermondt’s Westarmee. Nemunėlio Radviliškis was seized by “bermontininkai” on October 16, but was cleared of foreign troops a month later.
A mandate to set up a Lithuanian post office at “N. Radviliškis” was given to Petras Sturna, effective from October 5, 1919. The unsettled military and political situation may have prevented its timely opening and/or effective functioning. Postal use of a formal seal presumably belonging to a local committee (Valsčiaus Valdyba?) indicates that, as in some similar situations elsewhere, the postal facility had to rely on native self-administration even for basic tools.
The above-mentoned documented abbreviation “N. Radviliškis” reflects the fact that in 1919, as a result of various occupations, the township was also called “Naujas Radviliškis”. However, the older name “Nemunėlio Radviliškis” remained more popular.
To begin with, Nemunėlio Radviliškis was supplied with Fourth Berlin Issue, followed by the Sėjėjas Issue etc. In the absence of a standard postmarker, for cancelling the facility made use of the Shire Seal which on stamps has survived only in fragments. Legible segments show “…NEM-RADVILIŠKIO…”, the rest probably reading “Valsčiaus Valdyba” or the like.
Later, when N. Radviliškis was supplied with a standard box-type cachet for parcel cards and money orders, it too was put to use as canceller.
In late 1920 or 1921 the post office was supplied with a standard calendar-type postmarker inscribed “NAUJAS RADVILIŠKIS” but in the next postmarker the name was ambiguously altered to “N. RADVILIŠKIS”.
Known provisional markings:
Cancelling by seal-like cachet:
No date single, Berlin IV 30 [colln. Bubnys]
No date single, Berlin IV 15 [colln. ?]Cancelling by box-type cachet:
no date single, Berlin IV 30 [colln. Jankauskas]