Normandy Beaches Field Post Offices were established on the beaches on D-Day. Although it was planned that mail be delivered to units on D+1, mail was delivered the following day because of confusion caused by the delay of the invasion. To ensure the safe recovery of mail for ships coming from Southampton, a Postal officer was given the job of patrolling the anchorages in an amphibious Jeep bawling through a megaphone at ship after ship “Are you carrying mail?” This system remained in place until the Mulberry Harbours at Arromanches were established to allow mails to be docked more formally. The first despatch from Normandy was made by the 6th Airborne Division Postal Unit and the Beach Group APO S698 on D+2. The Base Army Post Office 8 arrived in theatre on D+10 and established itself at Crepon in a barn, which had to be cleared of 20ft deep accumulation of manure and straw by bulldozers of a RE Road Construction Company.
Posted on: Fri, 06 Jun 2014 08:23:32 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015