1945 LJUBLJANA, Letter from two periods

Letter, correctly franked with 50 cent. and cancelled with a bilingual stamp LAIBACH 1 / LJUBLJANA 1 from the period of German occupation, was sent the day before the liberation of Ljubljana, on 8th of May 1945. The letter was censored and delivered just under the new military government, sometime prior to the suspension of all postal traffic that happened on 12th of May.

Letter sent loco Ljubljana under the German occupation (8.V.45) but censored and delivered by the Partisans after the liberation of Ljubljana (9.V.45). The acronym "V. K. P. Lj. 1" most likely means "Vojna Komanda Pošta Ljubljana 1" - "Military Command Post office Ljubljana 1".

1944 SENTA, Third phase proof

As already stated, overprinting was done row by row in multiple phases: first five-pointed star in red color and then, on top of it, inscription: 8.X.1944. / Jугославија in black color. For values: P1, XIII, XIV, PI, PII and PIII the third overprint phase was also required.

PIII, showing all three phases.

1944 Senta local provisional issue, third phase proof for PIII. Positions A1-10. This is the only example of third phase proof known to me.

1945 LJUBLJANA, Overfranked letter

I found an interesting letter where everything looks authentic and correct except the rate that was used. Until the 01.07.1945 the tariff for an ordinary letter was 1 Lire and not 1,50 Lire! It could be that it was simply a mistake of the sender, although there is also the possibility that it was a mistake of the postal staff.

It is important to know some circumstances at that time:

a) In an official circular letter of 26.06.1945 new postal rates were announced and new DFJ dinar was introduced. A tariff for an ordinary letter was set as 1,50 Din.

b) In an official circular letter of 27.06.1945 post offices in the Ljubljana region were instructed that they will have to use stamps of the Ljubljana provisional issue as long as they are not supplied with new federal stamps. The exchange ratio was set as 1 Lire = 1 Din.

So, taking a) and b) plus a general situation of that time with full of changes and turbulence, someone can easily imagine that the mistake could be also done by the postal worker who charged 1.50 Din = 1,50 Lire.

1945 Ljubljana, local provisional issue, letter franked with 1,50 Lire, sent from Ljubljana (27.VI.45) to Samobor. Censored by the military censor in Croatia. 

1945 SARAJEVO, Sent from abroad

Recently I found a stationery sent from Trieste what at first appeared to be something impossible. However, thanks to Mr. Novaković, one of the most reputed experts in this field, it turns out that stationery is an authentic postal item used as a reply postcard. Furthermore, it turns out that this is the only known instance of postal usage of 1945 Sarajevo provisional issue sent from abroad.

1945 Sarajevo local provisional issue, postal stationery, type Ia, used as a reply postcard (risposta), sent from Trieste (3.7.45) to Bosansko Grahovo. Unique item.