THE AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN ARMY 1914-18

Chapter 8 Appendix B

IN-SERVICE DATES OF AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN FIELD POST OFFICES 1914-18

This Appendix is based on the dates that each Austro-Hungarian Field Post Office (FpA) was in-service as given by Majetic. The resulting data may be taken as a guide to the 'in-service' period of any FpA. However the term 'in-service' should not be taken to mean that any FpA was actually open all the time between the dates given. 'In-service' properly means that the FpA was established and authorized to be open when required between those dates. Column 'a' shows the FpA number. Column 'b' shows the type of FpA that it was: some FpA were of more than one type during their 'in-service' period. The key to the types is as follows:

1. kuk Hauptfeldpostamt (HptFpA) = Austrian head field post office
2. kuk Feldpostamt (FpA) = Austrian field post office
3. kuk Etappenpostamt (EtpA) = Austrian base post office
4. Tábori Föpostahivatal = Hungarian head field post office
5. Tábori Postahivatal = Hungarian field post office
6. Hadtáp-postahivatal = Hungarian base post office

(Note that these key numbers are also used in Appendix 8C)

Columns c to g show the period during which each FpA was 'in- service' , under the years 1914 to 1918. Thus the entry against FpA 2 (column a) shows that that office was a FpA (column b) and it was 'in-service' from the beginning of June 1916 to the end of April 1918. Column h shows the branch office indicators that appeared on the cancels used by that office. (So for example, for FpA 2 these are 2, 2a, 2b.) For further detail as to type of cancellation reference must be made to Majetic, Tranmer and Clement.

Appendix 8A gives the identification (where known) of the formation etc to which each FpA was allotted. Thus these two Appendices should be used together when trying to decide where a particular FpA and its users was at any time during the war. This Appendix reveals that only FpA numbered (in broad terms) from 6 to 162, 200 to 214, 300 to 322, 350 to 355, 501 to 507, and 603 to 614 were 'in-service' when the war began.

January 1915 saw a new group of FpA come into service. See, for example, 161 to 175 and 320 to 330. Then in May and June 1915, with the entry of Italy into the war and the advance into Poland and Galicia, more FpA were required. See 2 to 5 and 216 to 227 for example. In October 1916 a major change took place when many of the FpA that had been operating had their numbers changed. See 243 to 259, 273 to 299, 337 to 349 and 356 to 450 for example. Thus FpA 6 which had served 106 LstID from August 1914 wherever that division went, now became FpA 296 and served 106 LstID until September 1918. More FpA came into service in March 1917, as 452 to 474 and 620 to 646 show.

Finally in late summer/autumn 1918, and too late to be fully implemented before the war came to an end, the policy changed. Until that time it had been the rule that FpA served with formations, or were located at a place and served all units in that locality. Now, with the introduction of FpA numbered in the one-thousand series, all FpA were located at a place and served all and any troops nearby or passing by. This system was coming into operation when the war ended and few of the new FpA have been identified, probably because they were still being set up.

In the table, a number in columns c-g is the month when the office came in or out of service; '>>>' means it was still in service. So for example FpA 2 came into service in June 1916 and remained thus until April 1918.

FPOs 1002 - 1010

These were in service from 10/1916 to 9/1918, but were not APOs as such - see Tranmer for details.

FPOs 1051 up - all known in 1918 only.

Last updated 26 Feb 2002