Stamps and Postal History of World War II in the Former Yugoslavia.
One accidental flaw in line perforation is irregular or wavy perforation. This type of anomaly is a specific risk of line perforation machinery; unlike comb perforation, where the grid is fixed, line perforation processes each line independently. This flaw occurs when the sheet of paper is not perfectly aligned or shifts slightly during feeding. If the paper moves while passing under the perforating needles, the needles strike in a curved or wavy path rather than a straight line, resulting in a structural dislocation.
This post continues one published almost exactly a year ago - see it here.
This time, I present a newly discovered cover bearing the censorship handstamp "★ VOJNA CENZURA 5" ("★ MILITARY CENSORSHIP 5"). The letter was sent at the end of 1944 from Petrčane, near Zadar, to Belgrade. Because of its destination, it most likely travelled by boat to Vis and from there by airplane to Zemun.
As with Military Censorship No. 7, the exact location of Censorship No. 5 cannot be determined with certainty. However, it probably belonged to Vis—not only because the later civil censorship on Vis used the number 5, but also because this particular letter was addressed to Belgrade, which strongly suggests that it passed through the Vis mail route.
From time to time, previously unseen items could be discovered. In late 1944 and early 1945, before the civil censorship service in Dalmatia was established, mail was censored by military authorities. Until now, only the following military censors were known: No. 1 - Sinj, No. 3 - Split, No. 10 - Dubrovnik, and No. 13 - Knin. A new discovery adds No. 7, found on a letter sent from Trpanj...
Mail bearing the Split Provisional Issue stamps, posted in southern Lika, is rarely seen. The coastal and island post offices, where the newly issued stamps were mainly used, did not cover the Lika area. Censorship in Lika was also not part of the broader censorship system, so the unified censorship mark "CENZURIRANO / Br. N" was not applied there.
Shipments abroad were very rare. Most of them were sent to Bari, where a division of the Yugoslav Army was stationed. So far, I have come across only three letters destined for the USA, one of which is registered. This letter is truly remarkable — it was sent from a small island near Šibenik, correctly franked for foreign postage, double-censored, and bears three transit and arrival cancellations.
In the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, there existed specific circumstances under which letters could be sent at a reduced tariff:
Although these regulations were not formally enforced in 1945, a few preserved items indicate that such practices persisted.
After the liberation of Dalmatia, the partisans established a censorship service in most major cities. Uniform (but not identical!) censorship rectangular framed rubber stamps with the inscription "CENZURIRANO / Br. No." were used. All known numbers are listed below:
1 Drniš (RR)
2 Hvar (R)
3 Split
5 Vis (RR)
6 Šibenik
8 * Biograd na Moru (RR)
9 * Obrovac (RR)
10 Dubrovnik
11 * Omiš (RRR)
12 Zadar (RRR)
13 Knin
15 * Novigrad (RR)
16 Korčula (R)
17 Sinj (R)
18 Makarska (RR)
19 * Preko (RRR)
20 * Vrgorac (RRR)
21 * Supetar (RRR)
* The identification of the location of the censorship office is uncertain and based on a limited number of preserved items.
Except for 3 Split, 6 Šibenik, 10 Dubrovnik and 13 Knin, all other censorships are rare. To my knowledge, the rarest are Nos. 11, 12, 19, 20, and 21. Whether the numbers 4, 7 and 14 were in use is unknown.
Censorship in Yugoslavia was officially ended on July 2, 1945. However, it was still carried out for shipments to or from abroad ...
Only five “Small Peter” stationery that travelled are known. So I am happy to have found another one for my collection ...
Following Allied intervention across the Adriatic into the Balkans in late 1944 and early 1945, postal services were disrupted and fell into the control of Allied Military Liaison Headquarters, part of the Middle East Command. In November 1944, the Controller of Civil Posts BMA Dodecanese reported that arrangements had been made in the Balkans for urgent civilians posts to be accepted for disposal through the Director Middle East Censorship (part of the British MEF) and Cairo, then the Egyptian Postal Services. Only a few examples of such mail are known.
The Split provisional issue was used mainly in the mainland part of southern and central Dalmatia. Use north of this, in Lika or even Kvarner, is very rare...
If the sender or addressee was a military person, the basic fee for shipments was free of charge. However, all additional services such as registration, express handling etc. were charged at the applicable tariffs.
