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WW1 Allied Postal Service (How did it work? (All of the mail going to or…
WW1 Allied Postal Service
How did it work?
All of the mail going to or from the front lines was sorted in the Army Postal Service's London Home Depot (a huge wooden hut constructed at the start of the war)
After that, outbound mail would be transported to other depots near the front lines including Le Havre, Boulogne and Calais.
Since trench warfare meant that the frontlines on the western front remained mostly static throughout the entire war, mail was then transported into the trenches with an elaborately planned system of lorries and carts.
At the height of the war, the GPO was delivering 12 million letters and 1 million parcels every week, mostly to those on the front lines
This entire process was so effecient that a reply from a soldier fighting on the front lines in france could be delivered back to Britain within one or two days of posting.
(they would read to make sure that the troops weren't writing about classified information)
When did it start?
Who managed it?
Why was it important?
Distributed recruitment forms nation wide with the government
Boosted troop morale
Communication that helped those in Britain understand what was happening on the front lines
The GPO also had its own battalion made solely of post office staff called the Post Office Rifles
Who were the Post Office Rifles?
Over 12,000 postal workers joined the POR and they together received hundreds of gallantry awards as well as one Victoria Cross
Also used for supplies and munitions
Huge source of pride for the British
Dublin uprising in 1916
On april 24th, 1916, there was a large armed uprising in Dublin to protest English rule and try to establish an independent Irish Republic
One of the first places that the Rebels took was the GPO station, not only not only to
cut off British communication
, but also because it was a
symbol of the pride of Britain
.
Other info
Of the 628 Victoria's Cross awards given out during the war, four of them were given to employees of the GPO
Since they concentrated their efforts so much on the frontlines, local towns would not be able to send as many letters
What was it?
The largest postal service in WW1 was Britain's General Post Office based in London
In 1914, the GPO employed over
250,000 people
and earned
32 million pounds
every year, making it the
largest economic enterprise in Britain
and the
largest single employer of labour worldwide
They not only handled
5.9 billion items of post yearly
, but were also in charge of running the entire nation's
telegraph
and
telephone
systems.