Today in Postal History

 

Bosnia to Austria
October 5, 1916

This censored postal card was sent from the
Austro-Hungarian military post office numbered LXVI Dobrlin.
It was addressed to the Red Cross in Vienna.*

The 1907 5 h. Bosnia-Herzegovina postal card was uprated with
a 1915 5 h. green Emperor Franz Josef I (Scott M25 - Austria).

The card was cancelled with two double ring K.u.K. Milit.Post DOBRLIN CDS .

The card also bears a two line K.u.K. Gendarmerie | Zensur - Dobralin censor mark.*

There are a number of pencilled or crayon marks on both sides.
I cannot explain them; can anyone else?

*Thanks to Knud-Erik Andersen for deciphering the two-line censor mark.
He has also identified the addressee as the Red Cross.
He suggests that some of the colored crayon markings are
internal markings associated with Red Cross processing.
Further comments from Matthew Healey:

The back is written in Polish.  That is not surprising, since Austria used to include Galicia, which is now southern Poland, as well as western Ukraine.  Lots of ethnic Poles served in the Austrian  army in WWI.  The sender could reasonably assume recipient would be able to read Polish, or quickly find a colleague who could.  I can't quite make out the message text but it seems to be a request for follow-up information to an outstanding case, presumably what happened to a fellow named Makari Greb taken prisoner (or fallen ill?) two months previously.  The military unit of the missing person is underlined and a number written over it, so I would go with Knud-Erik's guess that it's a Red Cross notation about a case file.  The sender then gives his own return address in Banja Luka.  As for the 1/8 W on the front, I have no idea - I'd say that could be either postal, censorship or Red Cross notation.

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