U.S. & Worldwide Stamps & Postal History

1941-43 eight covers or cards to and from University Level Camps, one registered from Carnoustie (Scotland), with Polish Army in Great Britain 75gr used in combination with 8p George VI franking, sent to Winterthur, opened by British and Swiss censors, also registered cover from German Occupied Warszawa, opened by German and Swiss censors, others from "Camp d'Internement Militaire Universitaire Fribourg" and Winterthur to Basel and Geneva (one addressed to "Service d'Aide intellectuelle aux Prisonniers de guerre B.I.E.", etc. (the capitulation by the French left the Polish troops in a quandary. Units continued to fight despite Petain's call for armistice and demobilization. Polish units were cut off by the retreat and many decided to sneak around German strongholds to avoid capture. Brigadier-General Bronislaw Prugar-Kietling defended the Belfort area with 545 senior officers, 2,373 officers and 12,912 troops. The First Division fought on until the 18th June and the 2nd Division decided to escape across the border into Switzerland, as the first German tanks overran the remains of the Franco-Polish defenses. At the border the Polish soldiers abandoned their arms and became interned under the control and protection of General Henri Guisan. The interned Poles were encouraged to return to their studies and many took this option. The Universities of Fribourg and Zurich together with the HEC at St. Gallen and a Lycee camp at Wetzikon provided a wide variety of courses, particularly in the sciences and math. For others, the farms, mines and forests provided work. Some work details were based in the mountains building roads, bridges and trails that are still in use today)
Estimate: $250