Historama Autumn Mail Auction #5

Eastbound mail: 8 NO 1941 cv on Windsor Hotel stationary ex HAIFA to "Nairn Transport Co. Ltd" (operators of "Baghdad overland" service) DAMASCUS, franked 15m using 5m & 10m (Ba93/97) per period "overland" service though cv not marked such (period non-UK surface rate was 20m) & tied by strike of local pmk; cv opened/resealed by a Haifa censor using red label but then unusual routing: b/s 23 NOV 1941 BAGHDAD transit + f/s Iraqi "Propaganda Directorate General | Censor 2" purple h/s (AJ-Type-Civ4); b/s 1 XII 1941 DAMAS & cv opened/resealed by Free French censor (using gray label). Normal route would have been Damascus via Beirut but here westwards via Baghdad for undocumented reasons (destination was no longer combat zone as of Aug. 1941). Slit open at bottom. Triple censored & rare routing.