Militär-Eisenbahndirektion 1
During the First World War, the railways played an important role in the rapid deployment of troops, the transport of equipment and munitions and the repatriation of the wounded. In the occupied territories, the Germans set up 11 Military Railway Directorates (Militär-Eisenbahndirektionen or MED):
Map of the various Militär-Eisenbahndirektionen on the Western Front in November 1914. Source: Das deutsche Feldeisenbahnwesen 1 Reichsarchiv 1928. Click to enlarge.
MED 1 moved to AIX-LA-CHAPELLE on 13 August 1914, then BRUSSELS on 2 September and finally LILLE from 26 October 1914 until mid-October 1918.
Map of the MED 1 sector on 1st April 1917. Click to enlarge.
Photograph of German railwaymen in front of a locomotive at Valenciennes station in 1915.
To run the trains, build or maintain the tracks, operate the maintenance workshops and manage rail traffic, MED 1, like the other MEDs, employed several thousand people, both German soldiers and civilians, as well as prisoners of war and civilian workers. In 1918, an estimated 44,2000 people were employed by the military railways in the occupied territories[1].
A MED was organised into several departments (Abteilungen):
1914-1915:
Direktion (Directorate)
Abteilung 1: Transportwesen (Transport Department)
Abteilung 2: Bau und Betrieb (Construction and Operations)
Abetilung 3: Maschinen- und Werktstättenwesen (Machines and Workshops)
Abteilung 4: Telegraphenwesen (Telegraph)
Abteilung 5: Verkehrswesen und Hauptkasse (Traffic and main accounts)
Abteilung 6: Feldintendantur mit Feldmagazinpersonal und Kriegskasse (Quartermaster's Office with Field Depot Staff and War Treasury).
1916-1917:
Stab (General Staff
Abteilung 1: Transportwesen (Transport Service)
Abteilung 2: Betrieb und Bahnunterhaltung (Track operation and maintenance)
Abteilung 3: Maschinen- und Werktstättenwesen (Machines and Workshops)
Abteilung 4: Telegraph- und Stellwerkswesen (Telegraph and signal boxes)
Abteilung 5: Verkehr-, Rechnungs- und Kassenwesen (Traffic, accounting and treasury)
Abteilung 6: Feldintendantur, Magazinverwaltung und Kriegskasse (Quartermaster's Office, Warehouse Administration and War Treasury)
Abteilung 7: Gesundheitsdienst (Health Service)
Abteilung 8: Einsenbahnbau, Feldbahnwesen (Construction, country railways)
Abteilung 9: Landwirtschaft (Agriculture)
As these personnel could not always take advantage of a nearby military post office, the MED set up sorting centres (Verteilungsstellen) which were responsible for routing mail from Germany to MED personnel, as well as sending it to Germany. These sorting centres were located in the MED headquarters towns.
Card written by a soldier assigned to the 37th section of tracklayers and processed by Feldpoststation 260 in CAMBRAI. Troops involved in building or maintaining the railways moved around a lot, so their postal addresses changed with them. To facilitate the routing of mail coming from Germany to these units, the mail was sent directly to the sorting centre (Verteilungsstelle) of the MED, which was responsible for finding the addressee. In the case of this card, the reference to the Verteilungsstelle of MED 1 is made directly in the unit stamp.
These sorting centres were not managed by the Feldpost, but it was planned that they should be. Nevertheless, we can assume that the Verteilungsstelle at MED 1 in LILLE became a military post office of its own, since in 1917 it obtained a Feldpost date stamp bearing the words "Deutsche Feldpost m". To date, it is the only sorting office known to have used this type of date stamp.
Card processed by the Verteilungsstelle of MED 1 on 11 October 1917. Deutsche Feldpost m" date stamp.
Letter sent on 6 November 1918 by a sapper assigned to the service of the MED 1 and processed by the Verteilungsstelle of this Militär-Eisenbahndirektion, postmarked "Deutsche Feldpost m".
At this date, MED 1 was no longer in LILLE, which had been liberated on 17 October 1918.
Mail was deposited locally at the various services of the MED, which accepted both the mail of MED personnel and that of other military personnel using the trains (troops being deployed, soldiers on leave, etc.). Mail deposited at these services bore their stamp (Dienststempel or Briefstempel).
In most MEDs, these service stamps bore the name of the service and often its location.
From January 1915, MED 1 used a very different system to identify its services. Its service stamps were standardised and anonymised, bearing only the words "Militär-Eisenbahndirektion Brief-Stempel" with or without a number.
Their diameter is approximately 35 mm.
Stamp with 2 stars without number
Stamp with 1 star without number
Stamp with number
Card of an auxiliary railway clerk (Hilfsschaffner) deposited at the Feldpoststation n° 77 of VALENCIENNES. The MED service stamp is completely dumb. This card was delayed for military reasons (Aus Militärischen Gründen verzögert).
Card of a soldier of the 11th Bavarian Infantry Regiment being transferred. The card was handed over to a MED 1 service and picked up by Bavarian Feldpoststation no. 7. This post office was close to VALENCIENNES station. The post office to which the service stamp belonged is not known, but it is known to have been located in VALENCIENNES.
Letter written by a member of the machinery office (Militär-Maschinenamt) in VALENCIENNES. This department was number 67 in the nomenclature of MED 1 services and was responsible for managing the locomotive fleet in its sector.
Unfortunately, we do not know the nomenclature of the MED 1 services.
Sources:
[1] Der Weltkampf um Ehre und Recht, tome 6 Die Organisationen der Kriegführung. 1933.
