Today in Postal History

This beautifully composed picture postcard only had a short distance to go.
I believe both the scene and the card are Japanese.

The card appears to have been addressed to Monsieur Armand Rabier
(Soldat Telegraphiste) attached to the 16th Colonial in Peking.
It looks like the troops were following the practice of making souvenirs.
There is a brief, illegible sender's annotation on the face.

The card has a faint Peking military origination CDS "Corresces aux Armees" (10.8.08).
Since the French military post office had no authority to deliver locally,
the card was passed to the Imperial Japanese Post Office (I.J.P.O.) for delivery.

This handling also required additional franking.
Two 1906 violet 1½ sen Chrysanthemums
overprinted for use in China (Scott 5) were applied on the face.

The card received three I.J.P.O. CDS, two on the stamps
on the face and one on the address side.

All in all, an uncommon usage:
A card mailed in a French military post office in China
but handed over to the Japanese post office for local delivery
to what might have been the sending unit.

All this and a very pleasing photo thrown in for good measure!

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