German Boxer Rebellion Feldpost Card

Found this beauty in my mailbox today.

It's a postcard sent by a member of Germany's East Asian Expeditionary Corps from Tientsin, China, on 13 January 1901. At that time, the East Asian Expeditionary Corps was serving largely as an occupation force protecting Western interests in China in the wake of the Boxer Rebellion.

Great card Postmaster.

The cancellation is quite clear too and also with what appears to be a 'carrier' marking as well.

Chimo

Bujutsu

A few questions:

- Germany had a colonial presence in Kiaochow at this time. The article also mentions Tientsin (where your card originated from) and Peking being occupied by German forces. Are there other Feldpost cancellations from China during this time?

- Is it safe to assume that postage was free to (German) soldiers involved in this mission, or is there the potential for stamped covers using Kiaochow postage stamps?



- Have you made any effort to translate the letter? It would be a Herculean task, to be sure, but might turn out to be quite interesting.

Great cover and history lesson!

Brian

Brian,

The Boxer Rebellion led to some very unusual postage.

At the time, there were about 7-10 German post offices in China. With the arrival of a large number of German troops, an additional 10 feldpost stations were opened. Basic feldpost was still free, but civilians also used the feldpost stations at times, so the feldpost cancels can also be found on postage.

In addition, due to disruptions in the normal supply of German Offices in China postage, unoverprinted German stamps were sometimes used, as were Kiauchau stamps. These two unusual uses are commonly referred to as Petschili Provisional Issue (Petschili is the Germanized name of the Zhili region, where the Boxers originated). They were cancelled at both the regular POs and the feldpost stations.

Boxer Rebellion postage is actually pretty common, as the period lasted a couple years. You could probably find dozens for sale at any one time on the Internet.

I've tried to translate it, but the script and my limited German are a formidable combination. I can make out a few words, but that's about it.

I have tried to transcribe it, can read a lot of it, but not everything.

Lieber College

Beide Karten habe ich sehr erfreut darüber erhalten. Mit dieser Karte geht ein Brief an Euch allen ab. Jetzt ist hier strenger Winter und bitterkalt. Wie man hört soll Frieden sein, doch wird es ...-der nicht wahr sein, wie schon oft.
Ich .... mich fortgesetzt besten Wohlseins und eines kräftigen "Ja..urrrrrrs" (???) Wünsche Euch allen Dasselbe. Näheres im Brief! Herzliche Grüsse an allen und besten Dank für Karte
..öbert

Unsere "neuen" Landsleute
Feine Kerle! was?

The sender writes to a colleague. He thanks for both cards he has received, about which he is very pleased. He now sends a card in return and refers to a letter that is also sent. He continues to write that it is mid-winter and very cold. Then there is a bit that I cannot really make sense of, followed by wishes for good health and a strong "....rrrrrrs" (whatever that is). He promises to tell more in his letter and sends best wishes to all.

The lines above the picture says: Our "new" compatriots. Fine men, don't you think?

Wow! Thanks!

On the left side:
[...] erhielt ich Eure Karte [..] 20 November, bin sehr erfreut und danke herzlichst. Allen Gruß

@PostmasterGS: no problem :)

Beautiful card. Penmanship, another good thing lost forever

Very very neat and fascinating! I love this type of post!