Headlines - British attack Italian-held Eritrea.... Tobruk captured.... Bulgaria joins Axis.... Lend-Lease US war supplies to Allies on loan.... Germany invades Yugoslavia, Greece, Crete.... Allies invade Syria, Lebanon.... Germany attacks Soviet Union.... Under Hitler's instructions, Göring orders SS general Heydrich to plan "the desired final solution of the Jewish question".... Japan attacks Pearl Harbor.... US declares war on Japan.... Germany declares war on US.... Japanese victory at Hong Kong.

Philatelic Events

Definitives : Airmail : Other : Postmarks

Definitives -

As a wartime economy measure, the 6 lowest denominations were printed with a shallower engraving of the background - this resulted in a lighter shade and saved money on ink. This was achieved by making a new drawing of the frames around the portrait. Weakening of inks was also trialled, but not found to be successful. - see - views.

21 July - Definitive issue of 2½d 'light colour'

11 August - Definitive issue of 1d 'light colour'

1 September - Definitive issue of ½d 'light colour'

6 October - Definitive issue of 2d 'light colour'

3 November - Definitive issue of 3d 'light colour'

Airmail -

2 April - Start of airmail rate of 3d for postcards to / from the armed services in Middle East, East Africa, Malta and the Royal Navy - lasting until late 1942. First  flight for these postcards 13 April [see House of Lords entries below].

21? April - Start of the airgraph service. At first from Cairo where Middle East Forces could send airgraphs to Britain, this service was extended to public use in 1942 [see House of Lords entries below].

21 May - Extension to the mail service across the 'northern' trans-Atlantic route then across the US and on to Australasia/Asia (see 3 July 1940). Destinations now include Burma, Ceylon, Dutch East Indies, India, Malaya and Siam.

 21 July - Prisoner of War air letter issued with a 2½d imprinted stamp, (cost 3d).

1 September - Railway Air Services started England - Northern Ireland service carrying airmail in both directions. Mail carried by rail to Liverpool for censorship, then flown to Belfast. An air fee of 3d per 8 ounces for packets and 3d for postcards had to be paid in addition to the ordinary inland postage. Letters posted on 30 / 31 August arrived at 9.30 a.m. on 2 September in Northern Ireland. [The air fee to Northern Ireland ended 29 September 1947].

24 December - Postmaster General announced that a special airmail postcard service for mail to the armed services in Malaya had been established with the Post Office Special Services Departments and British Overseas Airway Corporation. Postage rate of 3d.

Other -

Postwomen allowed to wear trousers - their hat is replaced by a peaked cap.

3 April - Question raised in House of Commons about possibility of issuing a victory stamp and a stamp "in celebration of the cooperation between the British Empire and the United States of America, since the sale of these stamps, both in England and America, would furnish a considerable revenue from a source not yet touched." The matter was being considered. Hansard.

20 May - (throughout 1941 various complaints about delays in getting mail to troops are raised in the House of Commons) the matter is debated in the House of Lords - Lord Croft (Joint Parliamentary Under-secretary of State for War) replied "...Under present conditions considerable delay in the transit of all overseas surface mails is inevitable, especially in the case of those between this country and the Middle East for which the circuitous route via the Cape is almost the only one at present available. Sailings are irregular and are subject on occasion to delays which, owing to war conditions, cannot be avoided. In actual fact twelve surface mail consignments and thirty-three air mail consignments have been received in Cairo since January 1 and thirty-eight surface mails and sixty air mails have been received from the Middle East in the same period in this country. Mails for the Middle East Force sent by surface route take from six to thirteen weeks to reach the base, and, in addition, account must be taken of the time mails may be awaiting dispatch from this country, and the time occupied in distribution from the base to the addressee's unit, which, in view of the vast area covered by the Middle East Force, might be considerable—particularly in the case of units situated in remote places. The units may frequently be from 700 to 2,000 miles from the base, and they are engaged in hard fighting and in a war of movement. Rail services hardly exist except in one or two parts of the area.

Mails from troops serving overseas in the homeward direction are subject to similar conditions; and in addition to the actual time taken in transit time must be added for the collection of correspondence from the various units into the Base Post Office, which may in some cases be considerable, as well as the time they may have to be held waiting for a ship. At the present moment there seems to be no hope of improving on these arrangements as far as surface mails are concerned. The whole problem has been receiving the constant attention of the Departments concerned, as well as of the Overseas Mails Committee, and, in view of the impossibility of improving the position as regards surface mails, attention has been directed to the possibility of improving the air mail service.

When Italy entered the war, the Mediterranean was closed to British civil aviation, and since then air mail correspondence for the Middle East has had to be forwarded by sea to Africa for conveyance thence by air. At first it was necessary to send the air mails by sea to South Africa, but since the beginning of this year we have been able to dispatch them to West Africa for connection with the air services operating from there. The average time of transmission to the Base Army Post Office is now about 5½ weeks, but this does not include the time letters may be waiting for the next mail from this country, or the time taken, to distribute the correspondence after the arrival of the mails in the Middle East. This is still the position as regards the general air mail service for letters, and at present the aircraft accommodation is quite insufficient to provide a normal service by air throughout. Improvements have, however, I am delighted to say, been authorised recently, and some have, indeed, actually been introduced which enable a mail of restricted weight to be carried by air between this country and the Middle East.

A new air mail postcard to the Forces has been inaugurated. By restricting the correspondence to thin postcards it has been found possible to reserve space to carry a mail of this kind by air all the way to the base. The first flight left on April 13 and reached the base on April 21, carrying just over 100,000 postcards, and since then other flights have been made and a total of well over half a million postcards have already been dispatched. There is every prospect that regular services of this kind can be maintained. It is also hoped to introduce shortly what is called an airgraph service from this country to the overseas base. So far as the outward service is concerned this is at present held up for technical reasons, but the first airgraph service in the inward direction, that is to say, from the Middle East to this country, comprising 50,000 airgraph letters, actually arrived on May 13, having been dispatched from the East on May 2.^[*] Under the airgraph scheme letters are written on special forms which are photographed on miniature films which are carried all the way by air to this country where enlargements are made for delivery. The films occupy an infinitesimal proportion of the space which would be taken up by an equivalent number of letters, and this is how it has been made possible to arrange for their carriage by aeroplane.

Yet another service has been introduced to help the troops in the homeward direction. This is known as the "rationed" lettercard service. These lettercards are now beginning to arrive: they are due to be conveyed partly by air and partly by surface mail, and should take about one month in transmission from the base. Now that the quicker airgraph service has been introduced the rationed lettercard service may be regarded as supplementary. The ordinary air mail service by sea between Africa and the United Kingdom is still available at the ordinary rates, which are substantially greater than those charged on these special services.

We have appreciated from the first that it is of the utmost importance to speed up communications, and essential to morale that contact with home is maintained. I am grateful to the noble Earl [Earl Manvers] for giving me this opportunity of stating what steps are being taken, and we have every hope that under the new schemes in operation, or about to operate, contact will be greatly speeded up.

[*] As far as I am aware, the delivery envelopes were postmarked from 14.5.41.

Postmarks -

All entries, except *, are taken from Special Event Postmarks of the United Kingdom by George R. Pearson. Published by the British Postmark Society, 1991 who give kind permission for reproduction.

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Contact : Malcolm Sanders :  kg6gb@hotmail.com