British post offices in Africa
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The British post offices in Africa were a system of post offices set up by the United Kingdom to be used by its Middle East Forces and East Africa Forces in Africa during and after World War II.
Definitive British stamps were overprinted "M.E.F." beginning in 1942. They were available in Cyrenaica, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia, as well as in the Dodecanese islands in the Aegean. At the beginning of 1943, the color-changed definitives were also overprinted, and in 1947, the 5-shilling and 10-shilling stamps received the overprint. In 1950, the British government declared that the remaining overprinted stamps were valid for postage throughout the UK, and so many of the surviving stamps have British inland rather than foreign postmarks.
The East Africa Forces in Somalia also received British stamps, but overprinted "E.A.F." instead, beginning January 15, 1943.
From 1948 on, the military administrations in Eritrea, Somalia, and Tripolitania used their own overprints; see British post offices in Eritrea, British post offices in Somalia, and British post offices in Tripolitania for further details.
[edit] Sources
- Stanley Gibbons Ltd: various catalogues
- Encyclopaedia of Postal History
- Stuart Rossiter & John Flower: The Stamp Atlas
- Scott catalogue
