Censor markings WW1
Here are four covers from 1918. All posted at Muldersvlei (Stellenbosch area). The censor marks are C14, Censor 99 and C15/99.
Interestingly Censor 99 continued to censor covers even after the War had stopped!.
My question : Was there a central censorship office or was it devolved to regional or local level?
Secondly: Was it a civil or military function?
Third: If Italy was one of the Allied Nations in WW I why is the mail censored?
I don't know anything about censorship in that War and my only experience with censorship was that my letters to my grandmother were censored during the 1980s when I was in the army. - not much help there.
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Andrew, many thanks for your contribution.
I am not a censor mark expert and hope that someone who is will answer your post more fully.
World War One did not end with Armistice Day on 11th November 1918 when the Germans and the Allies agreed to stop fighting. This was a ceasefire only, not an end to the war berween the powers. The official state of war between the combatants existed until the Treaty of Versailles which officially ended World War I on June 28, 1919.
Given the state of war that continued to exist from November 1918 to June 1919 wartime censorship continued in many places until mid-1919 , especially in occupied enemy territory like German South West Africa. I would hope someone can comment more authoritively on the application of censorship in the Union of South Africa and also give a precise date for its end.
I note that all your covers are going to Italy and that three of your covers are from 1918. These first three are from the period of the shooting war. The last, the lovely MULDERVLEI RAIL cover, is post-Armistice Day but pre-Treaty of Versailles that ended the war. Clearly, in December 1918 censorship by Censor 99 still continued and probably would for another six months, especially to overseas destinations. Censor 99 is most likely a Cape Town Censor mark. It was almost certainly not applied in Muldersvlei.
Re the SADF, I did my National Serrvice in Potchefstroom in 1969. Compared to your service in the 1980s, by the slang of my time in the Army, I am officially an 'ou man'. (Afr. old man - veteran). I shall be polite and not remind you as the junior in that relationship what those of us who had served longer called the guys below them. It is too 'blue'.