This airmail cover was sent from Woodmansterne.*
Woodmansterne is a suburb on the south side of London about 10 km south of Battersea.
There are two Woodmansterne CDS.

The sender had written Air Mail at the top left of the front which was covered by the airmail etiquette.
It was sent shortly after the start of World War II.
That was the beginning of a long journey.

Its destination was Victoria in Hong Kong where it arrived on October 6
(CDS on  front) after transitting Kowloon the same day (CDS on back).

The addressee had left for Alexandria, Egypt and a new address label was pasted over the original address.
The cover was duly forwarded after handling in Hong Kong main post office
(October 13 backstamp), and Victoria (October 13 and 14 backstamps).

The cover's arrival in Alexandria was noted by the cancel on the back.
The date is illegible.
The cover was censored upon arrival in Alexandria and a blue censor mark was stamped over the address.
The Alexandria CDS on the front indicates the cover's departure on November 15.*

It was again readdressed to Malta and an Alexandria transit mark
with an illegible date was stamped on the back.

The cover arrived in Valleta on December 9 and was readdressed once again to 2 Harper Lane, Floriana.

There is a smudged blue mark on the rear which may also be a censor mark.
Further, there is a faint CDS over the Malta readdressing on the label.

The cover is franked with King George VI definitives from the 1937-1947 issue.
There is a 1s. bister brown (SG 475) and a 3d. violet (SG 467).

*Thanks to Jim Whitford-Stark for suggesting alternatives to the original CDS identification.
Examination of a less compressed image convinces me that Jim's suggestion of Woodmansterne is correct.
Thanks, also, to Anne Bursin-Tolpin for suggesting revising
the sequence between the Alexandria arrival and departure CDS.

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