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Слика 4: Промена иошшанских руша након обнове рада Оријенш експреса. Figure 4: Modification de l'itinéraire d'acheminement du courrier suite à la remise en service de l'Orient-Express.

French military post and civil mail in the Balkans at the aid of the first world war [1]

This article presents the contribution of French military post in the recovery of the mail service for the civilians in the Balkans after the first world war. It is based on the archives of the Service Historique de la Defense (SHD in Paris). As we are celebrating the hundred years of these events, it is interesting to study this period.

The first part describes the difficulties in establishing supply lines after the armistice, over a devastated Eastern Europe. The Allied forces advanced quickly from the Salonica region to Serbia, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania. At first, the mail is distributed from Salonica, following the deployment of troops. This route is gradually abandoned as the railway network is restored to link with Western Europe. Of particular importance is the restauration of the “Orient-Express” and the southerly route “Simplon-Orient-Express” in April 1919. From 1st November 1918 till 15 April 1919, the communication lines changed 11 times, but the transit time, which was initially between 15 and 17 days, was gradually reduced to 4 days.