This web page, published by the Military Postal History Society, contains the text content of the single frame LATI Mail to the United States This exhibit was created by, and is the property of Dann Mayo, and is being supplied as a courtesy to the Military Postal History Society.
To view the exhibit page images, see: web page containing the image content of the exhibit frame.
Updated 6/19/2024
In September 1939 Germans lost their airmail service to South America by Deutsche Lufthansa, ~~ leaving the Pan American Airways route out of Portugal via the US as their only viable alternative. On January 18, 1940 mail from PanAm planes began to be examined by British censors in Bermuda, leading German radio on January 27 to declare that this “home of pirates, buccaneers and thieves now lives up to its vile reputation by pirating mail.” Fascist Italy’s Linee Aeree Transcontinentali Italiane (LATD, in development since 1938, began commercial operations on December 21, 1939. While its service was slower and its rates higher than PanAm’s, it promised a chance to avoid British censorship.
LATI Mail to the United States
In September 1939 Germans lost their airmail service to South America by Deutsche Lufthansa, ~~ leaving the Pan American Airways route out of Portugal via the US as their only viable alternative. On January 18, 1940 mail from PanAm planes began to be examined by British censors in Bermuda, leading German radio on January 27 to declare that this “home of pirates, buccaneers and thieves now lives up to its vile reputation by pirating mail.” Fascist Italy’s Linee Aeree Transcontinentali Italiane (LATD, in development since 1938, began commercial operations on December 21, 1939. While its service was slower and its rates higher than PanAm’s, it promised a chance to avoid British censorship.
People eventually figured out that LATI’s South American service could be used as the first stage for mail to the United States. This led to a cat and mouse game as British intelligence and sympathetic Americans inside PanAm sought to subvert this LATI-based end run around British censorship. US entry into the war led to termination of LATI’s South American Service in mid-December, 1941.
The overwhelming majority of covers carried by LATI were addressed to South American countries, principally Argentina and Brazil, and these are more or less common and readily available. However, LATI mail to the US is relatively scarce, and it comes onto the market infrequently.
From a Jewish sender, Max Israel Urman, mailed 11 November 1941, delivered December 9, two days before the US and Germany declared war on each other.
Given the high 240rpf postage for a single-weight cover (vs. 65rpf for carriage by PanAm), it is surprising that only about 15% of known LATI covers from Germany to the US were registered, for the small additional fee of 30rpf.
ITALY Rates December 20, 1940 single-weight cover correctly franked with 13.00, representing L1.25 surface mail fee for first 20g plus LATI airmail fee of L11.75 per 5g.
September 24, 1941 single-weight cover correctly franked with L18.00, representing L1.25 surface mail fee for first 20g plus LATI L16.75 per 5g airmail fee.
From the beginning of service on December 21, 1939 Italy had rates for mail to Cape Verde, and South American countries as far north as Ecuador. A rate for mail to the United States did not go into effect until March 23, 1940. This rate was increased on February 6, 1941.
SLOVAK STATE Rates
July 28, 1941 single-weight cover correctly franked with 31.50 Kcs, representing 2.50 Kcs surface mail fee for first 20g plus LATI airmail fee of 29.00 Kcs per 5g. Most of the recorded Slovak State LATI covers to the US bear a “cote Pacifique” notation. Here, as with the Italian covers shown previously, there is no endorsement for carriage by LATI. Rather the postage rate (vs. 8.50Kcs for carriage of this cover via PanAm) was allowed to speak for itself.
Both Beith and Cusworth note that Slovak State LATI mail was not censored by the Germans, suggesting transmission via Hungary to Italy.
The rate to South American countries for a single weight cover via LATI was 21.50 Kcs. Cusworth has suggested that the extra 10 Kes for mail to the US represented the additional cost of sending that mail up the West coast of South America so as to avoid British censorship.
GERMANY Early Mail
February 28, 1940, 4gr cover franked 230 rpf, which appears to be a wild guess at an appropriate fee. The proper fee to Rio de Janiero was 150 rpf — 25 rpf surface mail first 20g plus 125 rpf per 5g for LATI — and to Mexico it was 175 rpf. Apparently a bit was added for the docketed carriage by Condor and PAA.
March 10, 1940, no weight stated but clearly docketed for LATI service. Again, | the 160 rpf postage matches no official rate, the closest being 150 rpf for a single-weight cover to Rio.
As reported in Beith, “Rainer E. Lutgens suggested that the carriage of mails to the USA commenced on 1st September 1940.” The earliest LATI-US cover recorded in Beith was sent on September 9, 1940 and the earliest shown in Cusworth was sent on September 17, 1940. These fit neatly with the fact that the first publication of a LATI rate to the US occurred in September 1940.
However, the above covers establish that, while use of LATI to get mail to the US in the early days of that service was not widespread, it did happen.
GERMANY Early Mail
April 19/26 1940, franked at 175, 325 and 475 rpf respectively. The 325 rpf cover is over-franked for the 5g weight; it should have been 175 rpf: 25 rpf for surface mail plus 150 rpf for LATI.
Faced with an April 1940 rate chart that still showed no LATI service to the US, the German subsidiary of Stanley Works chose the highest rate it could find, to Central America, and applied the prescribed routing information.
GERMANY Later Mail at Standard Rates
January 29, 1940, paid at standard rate of 25 rpf for surface mail up to 20g plus 215 rpf per 5g for airmail to US via LATI to South America.
December 6, 1940, 670 rpf paid at standard rate consisting of 25 rpf for surface mail up to 20g plus 3 x 215 rpf per 5g for air mail to US via LATI to South America.
The publication of an official rate for mail to the United States via LATI service to South America in September 1940 seems to have led to an increased use of that service, as over 90% of the known Germany-US LATI covers were mailed after that announcement.
Weight in grams was usually, though not always, marked on the face of the cover. Most of the known covers weighed 5g or less (a very light letter; our US 1 ounce rate step equals a bit over 28g), and were sent at the 240 rpf rate. Frankings that did not include the 100 rpf Hindenburg stamp, the highest denomination available, are unusual.
GERMANY Later Mail at Standard Rates
One of the two known LATI-rated postcards from Germany to the US, and the only one that was flown. Franked at the LATI rate of 230 rpf (15 rpf surface mail + 215 rpf LATI airmail); censored in Frankfurt. (The other card, also franked at 230 rpf, was mailed too late to make the final flight in December 1941.)
The card is exceptionally curious for several reasons:
1. The message is very stilted, with many details that could possibly be coded references.
2. While the message is very personal, the addressee is simply “Mrs. Householder,” without first name.
3. In 1941, 1868 Columbia Rd. was an office building; officially-published occupants included the Foreign Service Officers’ Training School, the Division of Near Eastern Affairs and the Additional Deputy Chief of Staff [War Dept.]. (No Office of Strategic Services; that was not formed until 1942.) Combined, these suggest the possibility an intelligence agent checking out a new mail route to avoid British censors.
GERMANY Later Mail Rate Confusion
Nearly all of the Germany-US mails via LATI after August 1940 conformed to the published rate steps. But there were exceptions, most of which fit a rate correct for some destination other than the US. The 175 rpf postage on the above cover conforms to the rate then in effect to Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay and Peru.
Additionally, Beith recorded two other covers to the US bearing anomalous postage:
250 rpf (10 rpf over-payment of the rate to the US) January 7, 1941, Goeppingen to Chicago;
270 rpf (which would pay for registration, but the cover was not registered) July 8, 1941, Berlin to Philadelphia).
Further, this exhibitor has recorded:
210 rpf (not consistent with any LATI rate) May 12, 1941, Berlin to Reading, PA;
215 rpf (rate then in effect for mail to Central America, and Mexico) October 21, 1941, Trautenau to Cleveland.
All of these exceptions bear docketing for mail via South America.
GERMANY A cautionary note about 240 rpf: All that glisters in not gold.
Having learned that 240 rpf was the usual rate for a single weight cover from Germany to the US carried by LATI, it is very easy to get excited whenever seeing a Germany-US airmail cover bearing 240 rpf in postage. However, 240 rpf was also the rate for a German cover weighing from 21-25g carried by PanAm from Portugal to the US.
Most (but definitely not all) German airmail covers of this era received a weight notation on their face that will help identify how the postage was determined and by what service the cover was carried. As Robson Lowe once prescribed as a means of identifying a certain forged stamp, “Open eyes wide.”
30 January 1940. Note the "23g" at upper left and the lack of Rome or Sudamerika docketing. This cover is correctly rated for 40 rpf (for the first 20g and 15 rpf for the next 20g of surface mail) + 200 rpf (for 5 x 40 rpf per 5g for car- riage by PanAm).
September 7, 1940. Note "21g" at left. Same rate steps as above plus 10 rpf to pay for airmail postage beyond New York City ("und ab New York")
GERMANY Diversion to Trinidad
Beith records three covers censored in Trinidad in 1940, postmarked September 9 and 17, and November 19, respectively. He suggests that, unlike the more organized diversion of mails to Jamaica in 1941, the limited number of covers censored in Trinidad in 1940 "resulted from a random redirection at Recife, probably by an enthusiastic clerk rather than because of leverage from the Imperial Censorship at that time."
Above, the fourth such cover. While it bears no markings identifiable to Trinidad, it is postmarked September 17, 1940, the same day as Beith’s cover from Cologne to "Weston, MS" [sic; should be MA] bearing a Trinidad censor handstamp. After seizure in Trinidad, where a condemnation form (see below) was applied, this cover was transferred to the main Imperial Censorship station in Bermuda which, when that station closed, transferred it to London.
The Examiner 401 label and the RELEASED marking were applied in London. The "HELD BY..." handstamps are New York Post Office markings. It is highly unusual to have two different types on the same cover. This probably occurred here due to the cover mistakenly being passed on to the Registry Division (shown by February 5, 1946 New York Reg’y Div. backstamp) — most likely because of its high-value franking.
A complete condemnation form (reduced), taken from another cover. These were internal forms used to explain why a cover had been seized by the censor. The part at right was supposed to have been removed before the cover was released.
GERMANY Diversion to Jamaica
Unlike the 1940 diversions to Trinidad, the transfer of LATI mail addressed to the US in July-November 1941 result- ed-from a conscious effort to divert to Jamaica part of the mails transiting the US Postal Agency at Cali, Colombia.
October 21, 1941. This cover is short-paid by 25 rpf. The clerk either forgot to add the surface mail fee of 25 rpf or confused the 15 rpf stamp for the 40 rpf of almost the same color.
July 10, 1941. Examiner 4140 is also found on two of the covers recorded by Beith.
Of the 15 Germany-US LATI covers recorded by Beith that were posted during July-November, 1941, seven were censored in Jamaica while the others avoided British censorship. The covers shown above do not appear in Beith's listings; nor does Examiner 450, which Morenweiser records as having been in Jamaica at this time.
GERMANY Routing Instructions
The vast majority of the covers from Germany to the US that were paid for carriage by LATI bear typed or manuscript docketing by the sender that involved the words Rome, LATI and/or Sudamerika. A few bear handstamped instructional markings. Cusworth records nine different types of handstamps used on LATI mail from Germany to all countries. The one shown above has the same wording as his DEO1 but uses a different font.
Rarely, senders supplied no routing instructions, counting on the franking and the attention to detail of the German postal workers to get their mail into the right bag. The "5g" weight and 240 rpf franking on the bottom cover showed that it was intended to be carried via LATI. A 5g cover destined for PanAm would have had only 65 rpf of postage.
GERMANY Receiving Markings
A signature element of covers carried by LATI from Germany to the US was their long transit time, usually something on the order of from four to five weeks vs. the seven to ten days required by mail carried PanAm. Very infrequently, evidence of this long time in transit can be found from private markings applied on receipt.
From postmark to
receiving mark:
28 days
33 days
Hotel backstamp on above cover.
Unlike most South American countries, the US in the 1940s did not routinely date-stamp incoming foreign mail unless it was registered or forwarded. Just as the sender had to take it on faith that the LATI service paid for by the exceptionally high postage fee actually would be provided, the modern purchaser of most non-registered Germany-US LATI covers must make the same leap of faith: that the cover so franked and docketed was in fact flown by LATI.
Private docketing marks applied on receipt are not often found, but when they are they provide reassurance and research value equal to that of registry backstamps and censor datestamps on covers diverted to Jamaica.
GERMANY Early German Censorship
A dispute over whether a certain Germany-US cover had been carried by LATI led to a detailed examination of German censorship of LATI covers in general.
December 17, 1940.
March 7, 1941.
It was established that from the beginning of the LATI service until some point in April, 1941, censorship occurred in Frankfurt. After initially using un-coded devices, the Frankfurt censorship office was assigned the code letter "e."
GERMANY Later German Censorship
The review of LATI covers revealed that, while Frankfurt retained responsibility for mail to the Americas carried by PanAm, by early April, 1941, responsibility for censoring LATI mail from Germany (to whatever country) shifted from Frankfurt to the Munich station, which used code "d."
This Munich arrangement appears not to have been uniformly observed. A review of LATI mail between Germany and all countries (almost all other than the US), shows Frankfurt censorship in May, June and September, 1941, and Berlin censorship in May, June, August and September and then heavily in November and December, 1941.
GERMANY A Problem Cover
Whether this cover was flown by LATI (which would make it the fourth Germany-US LATI cover censored in the US) or PanAm has been the subject of fierce debate. Points to consider:
325 rpf franking fits neither LATI (455 rpf) nor PanAm (105 rpf) rates for 7 1/2g weight (partly covered by censor tape). A draw.
Docketing "Mit Fligpost nach Amerika" contains neither prescribed "Stdamerika" nor "Nordamerika" routing. A draw.
Frankfurt censorship favors PanAm, but, as noted on the previous page, exceptions to the general rule exist. 1/2 point to PanAm.
US censor label bears number assigned to San Francisco. SF station's limited staff's first "full" day of operations December 15, 1941 = Full month (or more) between the November 15, 1941 postmark and US censorship. Bermuda station known to have delayed transmitting Germany-US mail for short times, but 3 weeks seems excessive. 1/2 point to LATI.
90% of mail from Germany went through Bermuda unmarked, so lack of Bermuda censor device not dispositive. A draw.
John Wilson has suggested an ingenious solution: there is a San Francisco, Argentina, and the cover is properly franked for that destination. This idea would have more weight if there were backstamps or re-routing indications, but, alas, there are none. It is just this sort of conundrum that makes collecting postal history more fun than a barrel of monkeys!