Red Cross Civilian Postal Message Scheme with Channel Islands during the Occupation 1940-45
A Presentation by David Gurney FRPSL
23 January 2003
Introduction
Following the declaration of War in September 1939 the International Committee of the Red Cross obtained specific agreement from the British, French and German Governments for short messages to be exchanged between members of the same family living in belligerent countries as un-interned civilians. Such messages were only to be exchanged via the offices of the International Red Cross Committee in Geneva.
The British Chief Postal Censor approved the new scheme which was introduced in London from 11th December 1939 and extended to provincial centres within a year. A Red Cross Message Bureau was opened in most cities and main towns usually in offices of the Citizens Advice Bureau. Messages of 10 words at a cost of 6d, including a reply on the reverse side, were accepted and this was later extended to 25 words at a cost of 1/-. All messages had to be sent via a Bureau and censorship was strict. At first restricted to relatives and fiancées, this limited communication was soon extended to include friends.
Message forms from the United Kingdom were routed from the Red Cross Bureau to the ICRC in Geneva using various routes as the war situation required. Those destined for the Channel Islands were then sent on to Paris via Germany and then on to the German military headquarters in Jersey. Those for the Bailiwick of Guernsey were forwarded to German military headquarters in St. Peter Port. Conversely messages and replies to the United Kingdom from the Channel Islands followed a similar route back. Overall messages are known to have taken up to nine months to complete their round journey although the average journey was around 4 to 5 months. It is difficult to understand in this age of immediate communication today how terribly restrictive this only means of contact was with a short monthly postal message and a reply that was received so much later.
These brief notes seek to give some understanding of the service with the message forms, the stationery used in several countries, the markings and of course the human involvement and separation, particularly from children, affected by the course of the war.
Frame 1.
A pictorial look at the headquarters of operations in Geneva and London. The earliest form of civilian enquiry to Sark, one of only three known, the Swiss Forms 61 first used from London, a UK message form used by the Prisoners of War, Wounded and Missing Department and a similar printing used by the Foreign Relations Department which took over all civilian correspondence in 1941. A special Section of the Department dealt with the Channel Islands. The message forms should not show individual addresses, later only the Bureau cachets, together with the variety of dates and markings applied en route.
Frame 2.
Two further UK message forms and a pictorial look at the Red Cross Bureau and staff in Guernsey. Some of the several printings of German Red Cross message forms in use for messages sent from the Channel Islands can be seen and a mis-cut form that completed the round journey. Similar to the UK forms, these too have provision for the reply on the back. Comments beside the forms explain the differences in the printings and the less usual marks. The 1942 message from Constance Cumber is interesting! Does it contain a private family code? Is "G-P" an abbreviation for the "Guernsey Press" newspaper?
Frame 3.
German Red Cross message forms sent from the Channel Islands to relatives and friends in countries abroad other than the United Kingdom. In all some twenty overseas countries are recorded exchanging message forms with the Channel Islands and the routing between Geneva and the countries of the National Red Cross Societies concerned was quite different. The message to Eire is a reply to an apparent official enquiry whilst that to Montreaux in Switzerland is most unusual. Also shown is a message form from Ceylon and three examples of several printings used by the Middle East Land Forces from Cairo. These forms illustrate some of the respective National Red Cross Society cachets used.
Frame 4.
Examples of overseas forms continue with those from Italy and Algeria being the only known examples of their country to have come to light so far. The bottom row shows the first of some fifty different types of advice cards used by the Red Cross Bureau in Guernsey and sent to addressees of incoming messages. The sub-types result from the use of any available stocks of card and changes of accommodation the Bureau had to endure. The cards were posted free of charge and the backs often evidence the Guernsey machine cancels when the Post Office machines were working. The use of the cards ceased after May 1942 when message forms were from then posted directly to addressees.
Frame 5.
More advice cards and various Red Cross window and other envelopes used to enclose message forms from Geneva to the Channel Islands. Paper was often in short supply and envelopes were sometimes used twice and for other local Red Cross purposes too. They occasionally evidence the cachets of the French Commission of the German Red Cross in Paris as message forms were randomly inspected there and they often show the reference markings also found on the message form enclosed. In rare cases envelopes were struck with Channel Islands postmarks when passing through the local post to addressees. Nothing is known of the usage of the Bailiff of Jersey's black bordered envelope.
Frame 6.
The variety of types and usages of envelopes particularly by the Red Cross Bureaux in this country can be seen with the Bureau cachets used. Surprisingly very few envelopes addressed to the Red Cross Bureau in either Guernsey or Jersey are known possibly because so much was re-used and little wasted. The range of official stationery used by the I.C.R.C. in Geneva and the various National Red Cross Societies was considerable. The Foreign Relations letters indicate the move of the Channel Islands Section from Warwick House to Clarence House.
Frame 7.
The Cairo letter of March 1944 shows the cachet of the Prisoner of War Wounded & Missing Bureau. The Channel Islands Refugees Committee was quickly formed by evacuated Islanders and provincial branches set up with a London central office in 1940. Invaluable work was performed maintaining close liaison with the British Red Cross and essentially maintaining correct address records of evacuees to ensure effective routing of messages. Instructional leaflets played an important role in guidance and adherence to the rules of the Message Scheme and those used on the Channel Islands service are scarce.
Frame 8.
The instructional leaflets used by the Foreign Relations in the FR/CL series are numerous and only a few types are known to have been used on the Channel Islands service. These are mainly self-explanatory, provide a good indication of the workings of the Postal Message Scheme and were usually enclosed with message forms or the replies where appropriate. The card FR/C7A dated 15.7.40 is believed to the earliest and only known surviving example of its type to date, used in connection with the Channel Islands service. The form FR/CL/108 of April 24th, 1945 was commonly used as lists were received in the UK which had been carried initially by the Red Cross ship S.S. "Vega" from the Islands to Lisbon in 1945, explained in Frame 12. The last sheet in this frame shows one of several types of Censorship leaflet often attached to message forms. This P.C.11. form refers to the cut-out below which might well have been made by the Glasgow Bureau.
Frame 9.
The markings found on the forms are many and varied and just a few examples are shown applied in Geneva, London and Paris. The COUPON REPONSE and TIMBRE REPONSE cachets indicated that Reply Paid Coupons or postage stamps had been attached. Most such forms bear evidence of staples, pins or bits of stamp selve-edge in the top left corner. The reply sides of three different forms illustrate some of the Island markings as well.
Frame 10.
The markings of the French Commission of the German Red Cross in Paris are continued with the boxed Deutsches Rotes Kreuz, believed to be a cut down version of the larger handstamp incorporating provision for dates (Eing. :/Ausg. :) shown on the preceding sheet. The most interesting and sought after cachet used in the Channel Islands is the large 55mm double circle introduced by the Germans incorporating the name 'DER BAILIFF VON JERSEY' which brought about an immediate and furious protest by the Bailiff in regard to its total unsuitability to an English speaking service. It was promptly withdrawn! Some examples of the octagonal British censor cachets with different letters and numbers are included, but the real purposes of these can only be guessed as Governments are reluctant to issue any information. Two important and rare message forms at the foot of this frame are those carried by the German Supply Flights during the Fortress period ie from August 1944. The Jersey form has the rare red boxed cachet 'Geprüft/ Dienststelle' in the top right corner of the form, used by the Security office of the German Command Headquarters in Jersey. These message forms were believed to be specially handled on arrival in England because only those forms carried on the German Supply Flights seem to have the British octagonal censor marks with the initials C.S.P./P.100 or IP.171.
Frame 11.
The deportation of some 2000 Islanders of British birth to internment camps in Austria and Germany from September 1942 meant that message forms arriving in the Islands for those concerned had to be forwarded onto the camps. The replies going back to England were specially handled and often bear the octagonal censor cachet with initials P.W. and various four digit numbers. The two forms shown had been forwarded on to Wurzach and Biberach Camps respectively. Various types of German military censor cachets are known mostly used in Berlin and Frankfurt. Examiner's marks in boxed three and four digit series are mostly seen on the backs of envelopes and are generally very scarce. Large 34_mm circular Oberkommando der Wehrmacht censor marks in black in two styles were used at the Nancy Primary Censor office in France and two different examples applied in 1944 are shown. Instructional and transit cachets are often found on message forms addressed to or received from service personnel. Specific regulations were in force to protect sensitive information on unit location. Army Record Office cachets are shown in the next frame.
Frame 12.
With the deteriorating conditions in the Channel Islands following their isolation after the June 1944 Normandy landings, agreement was achieved by December 1944 between the British, German and International Red Cross for a Swedish Red Cross ship, the S.S. "Vega" to carry bulk relief supplies of food, medical equipment and other essentials to the civilian population. Some Internee and Prisoner of War mail was carried on the first voyage and summarised Red Cross messages followed on subsequent voyages. In Guernsey the brief summaries were typed on to small flimsy paper at the Red Cross Bureau from the lists brought on the S.S. "Vega" and subsequently on to locally printed forms of similar size to the Red Cross message forms for posting to addressees. In Jersey a similar procedure was adopted except that larger flimsy paper was used of similar size to the Red Cross message forms. Only six Guernsey and sixteen Jersey flimsy forms are known to date, of which two surviving examples were found still inside re-used Red Cross window envelopes. There was tremendous gratitude in the Channel Islands for the work undertaken by the volunteers in the respective Red Cross Bureaux and this was reflected in generous financial donations made to the Red Cross during and after the Occupation.
Main Entrance Hall display cabinet.
Standard form of application for a message, in this case used by the Ceylon Branch of the British Red Cross Society.
Memories of (Miss) Léonie D. Trouteaud, M.B.E. (Head of Guernsey Red Cross Bureau).
" No Cause for Panic - Channel Islands Refugees 1940 - 45" by Brian Ahier Read.
Guernsey "The Star" newspaper of 14 January 1941 announcing details of the procedures for receipt of Red Cross messages.
January 1944 edition of "The Channel Islands Monthly Review" published in England with photograph of Guernsey Red Cross staff and news items of messages and Internees.
50th Anniversary of the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux leaflet showing a mobile Bureau and documenting the early years from 1939.
The standard 389 page work on the subject by David Gurney published by
the Channel Islands Specialists Society in 1992.
" A Tribute to the S.S. "Vega" by Keith Taylor with Red Cross
and Internee mail chapters written by David Gurney FRPSL and Alan Moorcroft FRPSL
respectively.
1941 German Red Cross letter re uniforms of Manageress and staff at the Soldiers Home.
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