Closed Auction

lot # 4372 - WESTERN UKRAINE Romanian Occupation of Pokutia - postal history

Thursday Feb 21, 2019 10:00 America/New_York
Last date for bids: 
Feb 21, 09:00 EST

1919 (9 June) Austrian 8h stationery card additionally franked with pair of 10s on 3h violet Kolomyia Issue (positions 21-22), tied by negative seal cancels of Czernielicy (near Kolomyia) and addressed to Przemysl, with Romanian Military Censor "132" and negative "Censura Militara C.M.", forwarded via Hungary (unreadable transit postmark on back) and Romania to Poland, minor card tears, otherwise v.f., signed Mikulski, with his 1972 certificate ("'only known stationery card franked with stamps of Western Ukraine, used during the Romanian occupation. It is furthermore the only known example of civilian mail to a foreign destination") (at the end of World War I, Przemysl was disputed between Poland and the West Ukrainian Republic. On 1 November 1918 a local provisional government was formed with representatives of Polish, Jewish, and Ruthenian inhabitants of the area. On 3 November, however, Ukrainian military unit overthrew the government, arrested its leader, and captured the eastern part of the city. The Ukrainian army was checked by a small Polish self-defense unit of World War I veterans and young Polish volunteers from Przemysl high schools ( later to be known as "Przemysl Orleta", similar to the more famous Lwow Eaglets). The battlefront divided the city along the river San, with the western borough of Zasanie held in Polish hands and the Old Town controlled by the Ukrainians. Neither Poles nor Ukrainians could effectively cross the San, so both opposing parties decided to wait for a relief force from the outside, which arrived in the form of Polish volunteers on 10 November. When the subsequent Polish ultimatum to the Ukrainians remained unanswered, on 11ñ12 November the Polish forces crossed the San and forced out the outnumbered Ukrainians from the city in what became known as the 1918 Battle of Przemysl)
Estimate: $5000

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