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Good day, Mr. Townsend,
Cannot provide authoritative information, but I can give you a hypothesis. Unfortunately, the History of the British Army Postal Service, Vol. III (1927-1963) does not provide much information. The offices which backstamped the cover were in Germany and were presumably still there in 1968. What I strongly suspect is that the addressee was a member of one of the "military liaison teams" that existed in Germany as a result of World War II. The Soviets had such teams with NATO forces, and the major NATO partners, at least, had teams in the German Democratic Republic. Liaison team members were somewhat like military attaches. Unfortunately, I did not think to check on their mailing arrangements when I was in Germany in the mid-1960s. I doubt very, very much that there were any NATO post offices in the German Democratic Republic or Soviet post offices in the German Federal Republic. I think the reference to "Dresden" in the address was simply a device to ensure the letter was routed properly (almost surely through some sort of courier system somewhat like the use of diplomatic pouches). There were some unpleasant incidents involving certain of these teams. The Soviet teams were a nuisance to NATO forces because they sometimes entered U.S. truck convoys or attempted to enter the off limits areas shown on the maps NATO provided to them. I should add that the teams were supposed to drive around in marked automobiles, and the team members were supposed to wear their national military uniforms.
B.R. Beede |
