- £550.00
Russia. (French Military Mission). 1917. Military mail envelope written from the 'Artillery Lourde Brigade, French Troops in Russia' addressed to 'Camp de Courneau/ S.P. 189 - B, French Military Mission' bearing Russia Yvert 105, 10k on 7k blue tied by '102e Regiment D' Artillerie Lourde/ 23rd Battarie/ Le Captaine - Commandant' double ring in violet. (Heavy Artillery Brigade).
Courneau Military Camp located in the Gironde was set up during WW1 to accommodate the Troops known as the Senegalese Skirmishers. The Colonel Troops withdrew in June 1916 due to unhealthy conditions in the camp. Following the departure of the skirmishers, 8,000 Russians loyal to the provisional KERENSKY government arrived in the camp in mid August 1917, in order to distance themselves from the maximalist Bolsheviks of La Courtine and their ultra-revolutionary ideas. They remained until the end of 1917, a period of three months.
