The River Danube

War

On 29th July 1914, the First World War began with the firing of a salvo from monitors of the Austrian Danube Flotilla directed at Belgrade. For the remainder of the war, vessels of the flotilla remained active patrolling the river, clearing mines and other obstructions and supporting the army commanders in military operations. Items of mail from these ships generally received F.P.O. cancellations although a few ships (eg the Enns, a twin-turret monitor, shown below) had their own dated postmarks. Mail from shore bases usually received the local town cancellation.

The Enns

This Feldpost card was sent from S.M.S. Inn, another twin-turret monitor, to Bohemia, on 15 April 1915 when she was based at Petrovaradin. The 2-line Hungarian endorsement indicates free postage for the armed services.

In February 1917 Braila fell, giving the Central Powers control of the Danube. The picture is of a pontoon bridge-building exercise on the Danube.

This field post card was sent by a member of 4/1 Bridge Company on 28 April 1917; FPO299 operated in Rumania between August 1916 and November 1918.

In WWII, river units formed part of Germany's armed forces and material from them is quite scarce.

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