1948 Jerusalem Army processed civilian mail DOUBLE proving cover: 11 June 1948 postmarked cover sent from a civilian in TEL AVIV to soldier Avraham Ziskind of the "Kvutzat Portzim" unit at KIRYAT ANAVIM "near Jerusalem", franked 10 mils per domestic letter postage rate using a tabbed rouletted right marginal single stamp (Ba #3c) & tied by full strike of TEL AVIV head post office cancellation (on Friday just before Shavuot holiday on Sunday - an important proving date, see below). The unit to which this cover was addressed was the 4th Breechers Battalion - 'Gdud Portzim' - of the Palmach 'Harel Brigade'; this was the headquarters battalion containing the special forces units of the brigade, hence the "kvutza" - 'group' - designation in the address. The settlement where they were based was a battle zone at this time.
The letter was posted the day the 1st Truce of the War of Independence came into effect (lasting 28 days until 9 July - although both sides violated it).
According to the specialist literature, at this time until 20 June, the JERUSALEM area was under total land siege and mail into or out from the area was transported by air, however between 7-18 June there was no regular air service from TEL AVIV to JERUSALEM, and this was rectified when the provisional Army Post Office (APO #5) became part of the general Army Post service, on the 18th; from then until 2 August mail in both directions was flown. The literature (JSPS p.156) further states that locales in the area received army and civilian mail in this period and this was likely because the Army may have considered the settlements to be military outposts and treated mail sent to them as Army Mail - to be transported by air. This cataloguer disagrees with all of the above (to be detailed in a forthcoming article in "JerusalemStamps Bulletin" #3) and this cover proves his position:
The supposed stoppage of air mail service notwithstanding, the cover was subsequently transit-arrival backstamped on 3 July by APO 5 in JERUSALEM - the minimum 2 week transit from 18 June alone is more than enough to confirm that this cover and others like it was not flown but rather transported by land (confirmed flown mail in this period was transited between the 2 cities within a day).
The cover is a double proving cover on account of the large rubber 'provisional' APO 5 postmarks tied to it: the cover was forwarded to KIRYAT ANAVIM where the address was crossed out in red crayon with the soldier's service number added, and with the notation added: "In Recovery Break, Wounded" and probably here a blank adhesive label was attached on the front with the notation "To be returned to sender, [addressee] in recovery | Battalion IV..."; the cover was subsequently returned to APO 5 on 13 July (backstamp) again using the provisional rubber handstamp. These backstamps using the provisional type postmark serve to overturn the theory of Dr. Baruch Hurwich in 1988 (HLPH bulletin #35 p.844-847) according to which "all dates with the month of July are errors and should really be June" (JSPS p.155) - by that logic the supposed transit-recieval date for this cover would be "3 June", predating the actual date the letter was posted. The use of the provisional postmarks here also serve to negate a widely held and unfounded view that these postmarks were decommissioned on 17 June and replaced with the standard metal cancelling device on the 18th.
From here the army had difficulty locating the soldier, and the cover was subsequently dispatched to APO 15 (TEL LITVINSKY), the headquarters of the Harel Brigade as well as the location of the Tel HaShomer hospital, where it was received 2 Dec 1948 - the long transit time is typical of returned/rerouted military mail from this period; here the cover was probably stamped with the Army Postal Service boxed cachet for undelivered mail, where it was re-routed to unit post box 171 (Naval Headquarters, per Harris), with the original label and other notation crossed off: the word "Saad" (nursing/invalid) was initially written, then crossed off and the word "Wounded" written above - this too crossed off.
The cover was forwarded to APO 4 (HAIFA) on 10 Dec. 1948 - and still unable to be delivered, whereupon it was sent to the Army's Returned Letter Office on the 13th, where the cover was stamped once on the front and once on the back + pencilled date on front. Opened roughly at top (part of backflap with part of return address missing), exploded for repair and reattached to inner board for reinforcement.
A critical piece of army and Jerusalem postal history serving set the record straight on the transport and postmarking of mail in this period - the only one seen so far with 2x provisional APO 5 postmarks. Ben-Arieh certificate enclosed.
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