In a live meeting of the Royal Philatelic Society London held via Zoom video conferencing, Paul Watkins presented to an international audience of 80 people that spanned the globe from Canada and the United States in the west to China, Thailand and Indonesia in the east.
The German invasion of France through Belgium in June 1940 was rapid and ruthless, causing chaos and devastation in the North-East of the country in particular. Villages, along with their post offices, were destroyed. The French post was frozen until a tightly-controlled system could be set up, following the partition of the country and the creation of a puppet government at Vichy. Movement of mail was controlled, censored or completely halted, according to German requirements. The Allied invasion of North Africa in November 1942 provoked a German occupation of the entire country: further restrictions meant loss of contact with French colonies and increasingly restricted airmail routes. The 1944 landings in Normandy and in Provence resulted in an increasing loss of control as German forces retreated or were defeated; the chaotic ‘Liberation’ period of late 1944 also threw up items of interest.
The effects on the post of the German invasion and occupation of France 1940-45 is a vast subject, beyond the scope of a single collection. The aim of the presentation was to give a general impression of its fascination through discussion of some interesting covers.