German Military Units and Field Post Numbers Connected to Norway 1940-1945, Erik Lørdahl, 8-1/4 by 11-3/4 inches, perfect bound, soft covers, 346 pages, War and Philabooks Ltd., Tårnåsen, Norway, 2001, ISBN 82-995588-3-2. 390 NOK (approx. $43) plus postage. Ordering details from the author at Gydas v. 52, 1413 Tårnåsen, Norway, or by email loreri@c2i. net

Drawing on the earlier work of Torbjørn Larsson-Fedde, Karl U. Sanne, and Ragnar Wolden, the author has compiled an extensive database of fieldposts of German units during the occupation of Norway in WW II. In addition to the army units he includes naval and air units that were based in Norway, units that attacked the Soviet Union from northern Norway and Finland, construction units, Norwegian volunteers in SS detachments, and Norwegian students arrested and sent to Germany for "reeducation."

The major parts of this book are devoted to listings of the fieldpost numbers in numeric order (yellow pages), unit designation in alpha order (green pages), and unit locations in alpha order (pink pages). The tables include fieldpost number, location, unit designation, and inclusive usage dates (from/to). The explanatory text is presented in Norwegian, English, and German, thus bringing the information to a wide audience.

To provide a clearer picture of the material there are a number of illustrations of covers, post cards, propaganda stamps and labels, registration labels, fieldpost cancels and handstamps, censor marks and resealing tape, and SS handstamps for mail entering the civil post. Abbreviations are listed and there is a bibliography showing additional sources.

The English language portion of the text is quite good. There was a correction to one of the illustrations slipped into the book on a separate piece of paper. This is a very useful book for those interested in postal history of the German units in Norway during the Second World War.

Alan Warren