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> HISTORY OFF DANZIG'S MAIL AND POST CANCELATIONS

Figure 10: French Military Post, dated 3 October, 1812, backstamped at Paris on 20th.

N°50.  GRANDE-ARMEE
“No. 50” Stationary Office Danzig, 1812.

In the war of the Third Coalition of 1805-07, Napoleon I won remarkable victories at Austerlitz and Jena, forcing Russia’s Tsar Alexander I to accept a reversal of Alliances at Tilsit on 8 July, 1807. Napoleon’s power began to wane from 1808. First he was faced with the failure of the Continental System; later the Peninsular War (1809-14 in Iberia against the British) drained his reserves by occupying the activities of 250,000 Frenchmen in the Peninsula. The invasion of Russia began in June of 1812 and, though victorious at Borodino outside Moscow on 7 September 1812, Napoleon could not sustain any momentum and retreated before Kutuzov’s troops after a month’s lull. On 18 October 1812, Napoleon failed to induce the Russians to accept peace and decided to withdraw. The cold winter arrived earlier than usual and created havoc in the French armies. When the rearguard withdrew from Russian territory on 14 Dec., only 1,000 of the “Grande-Armee” were fit for action.

 

Danzig Report  Nr. 13 – January - February - March - 1977, Page 7.