FOCUS ON PHILATELY
by Ingert Kuzych
Postal history II: an unusual UPA-related cover
This month's example of postal history deals with a cover that had proper postage affixed and was officially canceled; however, it never passed through regular postal channels and was not delivered to any specific address. The item is a specially prepared envelope that commemorates a daring 1944 escape in which the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) played a significant role.
Background
In January 1944, as Soviet Russian forces advanced into Halychyna (western Ukraine), the commanding staff of the German prisoner-of-war camp Stalag 371 in the city of Stanislaviv (present-day Ivano-Frankivsk) ordered the transfer of 2,400 Dutch officers to Germany.
The Dutch prisoners decided to take advantage of this opportunity to attempt a break; unfortunately, not all who tried succeeded. Only 165 officers managed to escape from the two convoys transporting them to Neu-Brandenburg and many of those were soon recaptured by German guards. Twelve officers who succeeded in avoiding capture for an extended period of time ultimately fell into German hands and were taken to Mauthausen concentration camp; there they were liquidated along with other Allied prisoners of war.
Among the fortunate few who succeeded in escaping from the convoy were 10 Dutch officers who were intercepted and hidden by Ukrainian peasants and then turned over to a unit of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA)._1_ Thereafter they were in the care of Col. I. Butkovsky, the commander of a military region of the UPA.
Since the Dutch POWs knew relatively little about Ukraine and its fight for independence, they were somewhat uncertain at the outset about the fate awaiting them among these people. However, close bonds of friendship soon developed between the Dutch officers and the Ukrainians. The latter proved their good-will by assisting the former Dutch POWs to cross the Carpathians and make their way into Hungary, and ultimately to their homeland (Figure 1).
One of the 10 escapees was Lt. Baron J.A. Bentinck of the Dutch Garde Fuseliers, who had been a prisoner of war since early 1942. With the help of the UPA, Bentinck crossed the Hungarian border but was interned in Budapest. Although Hungary was fighting on the side of the Germans, the Hungarian people were sympathetic towards the Dutch because of aid previously given by the Netherlands to Hungary. The two countries technically were not at war.
His attempt to escape to Romania failed in September 1944 and Bentinck was put in prison at Nagyvarad for about six weeks. He was returned to Budapest, where he made contact with two officers of a Hungarian aircrew intent on leaving Hungary before its inevitable occupation by the Russians. Together they made plans to steal a Hungarian Air Force Heinkel 111 bomber from the German base at Papa and fly to liberated southern Italy. Complications set in when the would-be pilot, a Hungarian major, insisted on taking his wife, a 1-year-old daughter and a Hungarian diplomat with him.
Hungarian uniforms were found for Bentinck and the major's wife, who was successfully disguised as a man wearing overalls and a flying helmet. The diplomat also wore overalls, while the baby was packed into a rucksack.
On December 4 the party drove from Budapest to Papa in northwest Hungary, with the major at the wheel in uniform. Rail and road transport had been badly disrupted and the road to Papa was very busy; almost all the traffic was military and under the control of the Germans. In Papa the conspirators went to pre-arranged safe house.
The plan to steal the Heinkel had to remain in the hands of the Hungarian pilot. For almost five days the party hid, anxiously waiting to go. At 19:00 hours on the ninth, the major hurriedly called them together. They donned their disguises and left by car for the airfield near Papa. Fortunately the baby was in a deep sleep strapped inside the rucksack.
Near the airfield the two Hungarians left to reconnoiter and to decide on the best way to enter and steal the aircraft. After some time they returned to the car with the news that the soldiers at the guardpost would allow them to enter. They drove onto the base - which was known to the major - and straight to a parked Heinkel 111. The party had little difficulty in getting aboard, starting the engines, and taking off from a quiet airfield.
Dawn broke as the aircraft left Hungary, flying above the clouds the bomber passed over Serbia. The clouds, parted over the Adriatic and the escapees were able to see units of the Allied fleet; later they passed under B-17 bombers on their way to targets in German-occupied territory. Soon after the plane was intercepted by American fighter aircraft that fortunately did not attack the Heinkel but escorted to a safe landing at Foggia (Figure 2).
Bentinck was taken to Naples, whence he sailed to Liverpool to rejoin the Dutch forces. Maj. Gen. Baron Bentinck retired from the Dutch army on January 1, 1975, (Figure 3).
The cover
The British Royal Air Force Museum (Hendon), in conjunction with the Royal Air Forces Escaping Society of London printed a set of 510 covers in 1979 commemorating the 35th anniversary of Lt. Bentinck's dramatic escape. (This issue was apparently the society's 25th since the envelope bears the designation RAFES SC 25.) The color cachet titled "Back to the Netherlands" depicts the Heinkel bomber arriving in Italy (Figure 4).
The Dutch inscription on these covers reads: "This envelope was flown on September 1, 1979, over the Netherlands in a F27-C-6 troop carrier from the airbase at Soesterberg by Lt. Hes; flight time was 50 minutes.
"[This envelope was] also flown on October 18, 1979, from London to New York and Chicago and on October 22, 1979, back to London in an American Airlines Boeing 727 and a British Airways Boeing 747.
"Group Captain
"W.S.O. Randle
"Edammerpad 1
"Nieuwendam, Holland"
Two former UPA officers signed all of the covers during the U.S. stopovers. In New York, the envelopes were signed by Col. Yuriy Lopatynski, commander of UPA veterans in the United States and Canada; in Chicago, Capt. Jaroslav Strutynsky, one of the rescuers of the Dutch POW group, affixed his signature. The UPA Military Cross of Merit appears prominently on the front of the envelope beside the inscription.
The entire four-month commemorative journey of this cover, as indicated by the markings on the front and back (Figure 5), was as follows.
Additional insignia cancellations that appear on the back of the cover are those of the Royal Air Force Museum, the Dutch 344th Tactical Air Squadron and the Cross of Former Members of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.
I wish to thank Capt. Strutynsky who supplied me with all of the basic information for this article.
1. The Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) operated primarily in the western regions of Ukraine and in the years 1943-1945 fought against the Nazi occupying forces. The UPA was made up of patriots fighting for the independence of Ukraine. After the German retreat, the UPA continued its armed struggle against the Russian communists; fighting continued well into the 1950s. The political body heading the Ukrainian insurgents was the Ukrainian Supreme Liberation Council. [Back to text]
Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, August 1, 1999, No. 31, Vol. LXVII
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