Today in Postal History


 
China Feld Post to Germany
August 9, 1901

This postal card was not sent on August 9, but rather on June 28.
August 9 is the date it arrived in Osterfeld.
(I don't have a scan of a cover sent on August 9.)

During the Boxer rebellion German troops were dispatched to China to join other western troops.
The Feld Post (Field Post) was the mail system provided German troops.
This card, with a script Feld Post at the top,  was sent from the K. D. Feld Poststation No. 2 in Peking.
It received a boxed handstamp indicating that it was from a unit in the Chinese expeditionary force.
The handstamp reads S.B. | OSTAS. EXPED. | JÄGER KOMAGNIE.*
This translates as S.B. (?) | East Asia Expeditionary Force | Hunter Company.
Can anyone provide further data on this handstamp?

The sender added his name, unit, and location at the bottom left of the card.

Feld Post mail did not require stamps.

The destination was a town near Osterfeld about 45 km
southwest of Leipzig and 45 km south of Halle in Sachsen.
Jim Whitford-Stark says town is Pretzsch and provides this excellent map.
What a great find!

*Thanks to Knud-Erik Andersen for his help in deciphering the boxed handstamp.
Thanks to Jim Whitford-Starl for his suggested spelling and finding the map.

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