Field mail has always played a key role among all its other species that have ever existed in Russia. She then occupied a leading position, then disappeared for a rather long time. But as soon as military conflicts started somewhere and active hostilities began, she immediately came to the fore again.
Field mail is understood to mean a special service that provides courier-post service to troops. It has such a name in peacetime, and in war it becomes a military field.
Why doesn’t such mail use a conventional address spelling system
In order for mail delivery to be carried out without interruption, each military unit has its own field mail number to which letters are sent. Until 1942, the numbering of mailboxes of military units was imperfect, and if the enemy intercepted mail near the location of troops, it could reveal not only the actual numbers of military units, but even the place of their deployment. But after October 5, 1942, the Order of the NPO SSR No. 0679 was signed, which set out detailed instructions for sending mail to the Red Army, all the flaws were corrected. Since that time, if you do not know the number of the military unit, its name, type of army and location, then a search by field mail number will not provide any accurate information. Such data are considered confidential (military secrets) and are not subject to disclosure not only when military operations take place, but even in peacetime.
Field Mail History
The date of foundation of field mail is considered to be 1695. Its founder was the last king of all Russia and the first Russian emperor Peter I. This happened during the famous Azov campaigns. Regular Russian field mail existed throughout the campaign (April 1695 - August 1696) in two directions of troop movements: along the Volga and along the Don. Mail worked fast enough. So, letters sent from Moscow reached the desired addressee in the Azov region on about the 15th day.
The name “field post” appeared only in May 1712, and it was finally consolidated thanks to the Military Regulations of Peter the Great only in 1716. At the beginning of the 18th century (during the Northern War), so-called “hasty lines” were laid between the capital and the front to support communications communication. " “Mail to the shelves” was used temporarily, and it was served initially by dragoons, which were subsequently replaced by ordinary coachmen.
The next heyday of field mail came in 1812, when it was used to provide communication between various parts of the army. She also made contact with St. Petersburg, Moscow and the rear. Coda Napoleon began an active advance to Moscow, many new postal routes were organized (almost at every station there were 30 to 50 horses that were supplied by the population). After the Napoleonic troops were defeated and pushed to the border, the field post followed, and ended up almost in Paris.
The role of field mail in the civil war
In Soviet times, field mail was given great importance, especially when a civil war roared throughout the country . It was then that an order was signed (No. 233 of February 29, 1920), which stated that in no case should postal cars be detained on the railway. In order for them to be in constant motion, commandants of absolutely all railway stations were obliged to attach them to any trains. At that time, mail cars were equal in importance to cars with military cargo. In addition, this order indicated that the delivery of mail for the Red Army was not only of undeniable military importance, but also moral and political.
Field mail and World War II
During the war, communication between military units, ships, various military educational institutions, enterprises, as well as with the population was carried out by the military field post. At this very tragic stage in the history of our country, not only soldiers became heroes, but also mailers who delivered correspondence to active military units, risking their own lives. They also had to take arms and defend their valuable cargo, because if correspondence fell into the hands of the enemy, our army could suffer huge losses.
It should be noted that the Great Patriotic War field mail delivered about 70 million letters and 30 million newspapers to the Red Army per month. The largest volume of correspondence was between front-line soldiers and their relatives, who were in the rear.
Even at the beginning of World War II, the Office of Field Mail was established (based on the Main Directorate of Communications of the Red Army). Also, special departments were created at the fronts and in all army headquarters, and postal field stations in parts.
Features of sending mail to the forefront
Letters continued to be delivered even during the siege of Leningrad and the siege of Sevastopol. Field mail did not stop its work, despite hunger, cold and constant shelling. Correspondence was brought on sledges, carts and even simply carried in the hands.
During the endless bombing of the capital, military postal personnel had to work in severe conditions. Sorted and sorted the received correspondence not only in dugouts and huts, but even just on the ground or in a clearing in the forest. Very often it was necessary to deliver letters to the addressees, making their way crawling under the machine gun burst, passing through minefields. The main goal was to deliver letters from relatives to soldiers in the trenches, and documents to commanders in dugouts. It was the news from his native home that gave the fighters the strength to further defend their homeland.
Triangle letter - news from the front
Postal delivery was carried out both to the front and from the front to the rear. When the postmen got under the Katyusha volleys to the necessary military unit, they took away letters in the form of a triangle. These were news to relatives from the front, which said that their sons and husbands were still alive.
In the Soviet Union, front-line letters were sent for free. They were folded in the shape of a triangle on purpose (with this method there was absolutely no need to use envelopes, which were pretty hard to get on the front lines).
Such letters developed quite simply: they took a rectangular sheet (most often they pulled it out of a regular notebook), bent first from right to left, and then vice versa - from left to right. In this case, a small strip of paper remained, which was inserted into the resulting triangle. Of course, no one sealed the letters (each letter from the front underwent censorship so that the enemy did not recognize the plans of the Red Army), stamps were not used, and the address was written simply on top of the sheet.
Numbering system of parts in the Soviet Union
In the field mail of the former USSR, a special numbering system for various military units and locations was used. Where the usual address should be written, letters and numbers were indicated. The first were the letters of the military unit, which meant a military unit, then followed by a five-digit number series - the code of a certain unit, at the end they wrote a letter (it denoted an internal unit). It should be noted that in the Soviet Union delivery of postcards and letters for conscripts (both to and from them) was free of charge.
Current state of field mail in the Russian Federation
Nowadays, field mail has not lost its significance. It, as before, is key in ensuring communication between various military formations. Now each military unit has its own designation, which consists of five (four) numbers and letters (for example, No. 54321-U or military unit No. 01736-C).
In order for the post office (field) of the Russian Federation to continue its work, the country's leadership constantly made the necessary decisions for its support and improvement. So, in one of the orders of the State Committee for Communications and Information of the Russian Federation (No. 104 dated 12/25/1997) it was stated that on ordinary letters and postcards (weighing up to 20 g) that are sent from military units and sent across the territory of the Russian Federation, stand stamp triangular shape. This stamp confirms that the letter does not require postage. Well, if it weighs more, then sending is carried out on a common basis (at a tariff).
By the way, triangle letters have not yet outlived themselves, because in places of hostilities envelopes are still very difficult to get, so this method is still actively used.