In WWI, after the German drive into Žemaitija and Courland started on April 27, 1915, Kaltinėnai (Koltinjany) was passed through the following day by fast infantry units of Abteilung Pappritz coming via Skaudvilė and on the 29th by cavalrymen of Abteilung Lenski coming via Laukuva. The township was not affected by the subsequent Russian counteroffensive.
After the German army’s retreat from Russia at the end of 1918, the area was relatively quiet, though in the second half of 1919 occasional tensions were caused by the bermontininkai of so-called Westarmee or Zapadnaja Armija who were guarding the nearby railway link and highway between Tilsit and Šiauliai. During their final departure for Memelland, some bermontininkai passed through Kaltinėnai in the first half of December 1919, overseen by the Lithuanian Fifth Regiment.
Kaltinėnai had a post office (Koltinjany) in czarist times but none during the German occupation. A mandate to open a Lithuanian post office was not issued until 1920 when on September 20, 1920 Mykolas Verpečinskis was appointed as its first postmaster. As apparently no action had taken place, his appointment was annulled on October 15. On October 20 another mandate was signed to appoint as postmaster Justinas Ratnikas from the Radviliškis P.O., effective from the day of actual opening.
The first stamps available at Kaltinėnai were values of Fourth Berlin Issue, followed by the Sėjėjas Issue etc. Before obtaining a formal postmarker, cancelling at Kaltinėnai was done by means of a makeshift two-line rubber cachet indicating place and date.
A formal calendar-type postmarker seems to have been supplied in 1922 (?). As yet, nothing is known about the early method of registering and other markings.
Known provisional cancelling:
Cancelling by a two-line cachet:
3 XII 20 card to Kaunas, Berlin IV 50 [colln. Liesis]
17 I 2? single, Berlin IV 1a [Brazdeikis]
[19] 20 singles, Berlin IV [Lapas, Liesis, Brazdeikis]
[19] 21 singles, a pair, Berlin IV [Liesis, Doniela]
rds 5. 1. 21 card from Raseiniai via Skaudvile [colln. Bubnys]
[date incomplete] singles, Berlin IV [collns ?]