Vainutas is a township in Žemaitija, 35 km north-west of Tauragė and ca. 10 km from the border of what was Memelland. In World War One, Vainutas was rushed through on the very first day of the German advance into Žemaitija and Courland, April 27, 1915, by squadrons of 45. Kavallerie-Brigade.
During the German withdrawal from Russia, a vanguard of the Red Army was stopped further to the east. Vainutas escaped post-war armed clashes and was able to form local self-administration.
It seems that Vainutas had no postal facility in the czarist period. A mandate to set up a Lithuanian post office was issued to Povilas Stancikas, with no specified date. Most likely, the postal branch was opened in August 1920.
For stamps, Vainutas was supplied with Fourth Berlin Issue, also Kaunas Coloured Issue, followed by the Sėjėjas Issue etc.
In the absence of a postmarker, Vainutas made use of a two-liner rubber cachet with “Vainuto Paštas” in the top line and date in the bottom line.
Within a few months the cachet was amended by removing “Paštas” and leaving only “Vainutas” and date. This alteration was probably caused by realising that at foreign destinations to which registered mail was addressed, the word “Paštas” could be mistakenly regarded as part of the name of the originating P.O.
Having no cachet for registered articles, Vainutas made use of makeshift markings showing “R” and serial number, also by making use of “Vainuto” from truncated “Vainuto paštas”.
A standard calendar-type postmarker seems to have been supplied rather late, probably in 1921.
Known provisional markings:
Cancelling by two-liner “Vainuto Paštas”:
5. 10. 1920 no details [reported Fugalevičius]
15. 10. 1920 cover to USA, Berlin IV 30, 50 [colln. Bubnys]
2. 11. 1920 cover to USA, Berlin IV 20 x4 [colln. ?]Cancelling by two-liner “Vainutas”:
…1920 single, Berlin IV 10 [colln. Doniela]
8. 11. 1921 cover to USA, Berlin IV 10 x4, 30, Kaunas Col. 20 [colln. Lapas]
21. 11. 1921 pair, Berlin IV 75 [colln. Liesis]
…1921 single, Berlin IV 10 [colln. Lapas]
…1921 single, Berlin IV 30 [colln.?]
Part of date singles, Berlin IV 10, 30, 50, 1a [colln. Doniela]Registration with “Vainuto Paštas”:
118 22. 10. 1920 reg. cover to USA, Berlin IV 60, 1a [formerly Matuzas]Registration by two-liner “Vainuto No.”:
533 15.IV. 21 cover to USA, Kaunas Col. 40 x 4 [colln. ?]