Collection area

Division of the Lithuanian territory into Russian governorates 1867–1915

Source: Wikipedia

In addition to the 8th Army (Courland and northern Lithuania) and the 10th Army (around Vilnius, which was occupied on 18.9.1915 under General von Eichhorn), the Army Department Scholtz was also located in the area around Dünaburg (Daugapils) since 8.5.1915 with headquarters in Uzjany (Utena), where it also remained after being renamed Army Department D until 18.2.1918. In the south of Lithuania – more in what is now Belarusian territory – the 12th Army and later the Army Department Woyrsch secured the Russian Western Front.

The area that is now Lithuania was thus already largely occupied by German troops by the end of 1915 and had become part of the administrative territory of the Commander-in-Chief East of the German army.

Map of the front line 2015 in Lithuania

Source: Piekalkiewicz, Janusz 1994: Der erste Weltkrieg (the First Wold War). Augsburg. p. 484.

The first national post offices in Lithuania were opened on January 15, 1916 in Kielmy (Kelm / Kelmė), Kowno (Kauen / Kaunas), Olita (Alitten / Alytus), Poniewiez (Ponewiesch / Panevežys), Schaulen (Šiauliai), Wilno (Vilna / Vilnius) and Wylkowyszki (Wilkowischken / Vilkaviškis).

The Kielmy post office (Kelm / Kelmė), which was also opened on 15.01.1916, is a special case. In Kielmy, the existing field post office No. 170 was responsible for the postal and telegram traffic of the civilian population. The date of closure is 19.10.1916; the field post office had been moved to Skaudwile (Skaudvile), according to the official gazette of the Reichs-Postamt in Berlin on 2.11.1916. Letters and postcards from this post office are rare.

The production of the German steel stamps for the Lithuanian postal towns was often very much based on the Polish spelling. This also stems from the majority Polish-inhabited areas around Vilnius.

The postmark of the postal town of Wylkowyszki was replaced in the same year (1916):

When the post office opened, the steel stamp was only available in the Polish spelling of the place "Wylkowyszki".

From October 2, 1916, a new postmark was used, now written in German: "Wilkowischki".

Commercial cover with envelope from the Wloclawek sulphite cellulose factory, Wloclawek, at that time Generalgouvernement Warsaw, with date stamp from Schaulen a of 6.1.18 to Vilnius. Censored by the Schaulen postal surveillance office (Sn). Delivered in Vilnius by the Vilnius Citizen's Post Office, which collected 10 Pf. order money for it.

Postal control centres on Lithuanian territory for postal traffic circulating within the postal area of Oberbefehlshaber Ost were located in Kowno, Schaulen and Wilna.

On April 20, 1916, three more post offices were opened in Kalwaria (Kalvarien / Kalvarija), Mariampol (Mariampol / Marijampolė) and Wladyslawowo (Wladislawow / Vladislavovas) to satisfy civilian postal traffic.

Skaudwile (Skaudvile) was the last post office to open in 1916 on October 20 . The day before, the field post office in Kielmy (Kelmė) had been closed and moved to Skaudwile.

R–Letter dated 20.11.1917 from Skaudwile to the War Ministry in Berlin.

There are also isolated bank vouchers from Mariampol (Mariampolė), Schaulen (Šiauliai) and Skaudwile (Skaudvile).

Since the beginning of the year 1917, one finds numerous demand post to the Deutsche Bank with branch in Libau (Liepāja), today Latvia.

The letter from Skaudwile dated 29.07.1918 was first censored at the Schaulen (Sn) postal surveillance office before being forwarded to Libau.

Of the post towns opened on 11.11.1918, the cancellations shown here on the printed matter from Rakischki (Rokiskis), registered letter from Uzjany (Utena) and the letter piece and R label from Radziwilischki (Radviliškis) belong to the few existing "postal contemporary witnesses".

Due to completely insufficient documentary material, the actual opening of the post office is not guaranteed for all postal locations.

A special feature with the regional reference to Lithuania is the postmark of the town of Szczuczyn (Shchuchyn / Šukynas) / Lithuania . (not to be confused with the present-day postal town of Sczuczyn in Poland).

The stamp impressions shown here are both from samples that were struck on white paper after the stamp production for control purposes.

It seems likely that the incorrectly designed postmark "Syczuczyn / (Lithuania)" (left) was used at first. The corrected postmark "Szczuczyn / (Lithuania)" (right) with a date after the closure of the Ober-Ost post offices is certainly only a proof (probably by Gleichmann printing shop, Berlin) – it has never been seen on mail before.