Introduction to APOs

The USA joined WW2 on 8th December 1941 (the day after Pearl Harbour), but the 1st BPO (APO640 Sutton Coldfield) wasn't reconstituted until 1st May 1942, and didn't arrive in England until 16th June 1942. As it says below, the full system of APOs wasn't established until after Pearl Harbour.

Introduction to A.P.O.’s

Two fundamental facts - that soldiers in the field like to receive mail and that armies move, lead to the development of numbered post offices for military postal services. Add to those the value of anonymity of location for security. The practice did not begin in the United States or during World War II. It goes at least as far back as the Franco Prussian war in the 1870’s. The United States employed a system of numbered army post office during its role in the First World War.

The system of A.P.O.’s that serviced the army and army air corps during the Second World War began before the American entry into the war, and continues with some modifications through today. In the spring of 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt entered into an agreement with the government of the United Kingdom to exchange 50 destroyers for 99 year leases to establish military bases in several British Caribbean colonies. Army Post Office numbers were assigned to each of these new bases as the troops arrived to garrison them. The number of American servicemen stationed outside the boundaries of the continental United States increased during late 1941, and so did the number of A.P.O.’s. With the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the entry of the U.S. into the war, a full system of numbered A.P.O.’s was established.

In some cases there was a logical reason for a certain A.P.O. number to be used. For example, A.P.O.’s assigned to service infantry divisions were in most cases numbered the same as the division. The 1st Infantry division was assigned A.P.O. 1. In other cases, the A.P.O. number coincided with a regiment number. Certain geographic areas were assigned a series of numbers. For example, numbers 825 through 837 were assigned to specific bases in the Canal Zone, numbers 931 through 949 were assigned to Western Canada and Alaska, and numbers 950 through 966 were assigned to Hawaii. There were also other relationships between the A.P.O. number and sort of soldiers the A.P.O. serviced, but many A.P.O. numbers appear to have been assigned numbers on a random basis. In all, about 1000 different A.P.O.’s were in use the period between 1941 and the end of 1945.

http://www.postalhistory.com/Military/APO/index.htm


APOs in UK by number:

This is a list of all the US APOs in the UK I have discovered so far. There are lots, and I keep finding new ones! I haven't yet worked out which are WW2 or how any of these connect to APO640 Sutton Coldfield. And I may never understand all this. What follows is a labour of love through gritted teeth. It could be that APO640 Sutton Coldfield was the key distribution centre for all in coming and out going US mail during WW2 (the Collins' argument), or it was just one of many such key distribution centres (and I've seen various US military mail that is APO numbered but which hasn't gone through APO640 Sutton Coldfield). Who knows?

0001 England
0004 England
0005 England
0009 England
0010 England
0028 England
0028 Wales
0029 England
0030 England
0034 Northern Ireland
0035 England
0052 England
0056 England
0057 England
0058 England
0061 England
0062 England
0063 England
0067 England
0068 England
0069 England
0076 England
0078 England
0079 England
0080 England
0083 England
0084 England
0087 Scotland
0090 England
0094 England
0095 England
0099 England
0109 England
0110 England
0111 England
0115 England
0117 England
0118 England
0119 England
0121 England
0122 England
0124 England
0126 England
0127 England
0128 England
0128 Northern Ireland
0129 England
0129 Northern Ireland
0130 England
0131 England
0131 Northern Ireland
0132 England
0132 Northern Ireland
0133 England
0134 Wales
0135 England
0136 England
0137 England
0138 England
0140 England
0141 England
0143 England
0144 England
0145 England
0146 Northern Ireland
0147 Northern Ireland
0148 England
0149 England
0150 England
0151 England
0152 England
0153 England
0153 Northern Ireland
0155 England
0156 England
0157 England
0158 England
0160 England
0161 England
0162 England
0163 England
0164 Wales
0165 England
0166 England
0167 England
0168 England
0169 England
0170 England
0171 England
0172 England
0173 England
0174 England
0176 England
0178 England
0179 England
0203 England
0204 England
0205 England
0206 England
0207 England
0208 England
0209 England
0225 England
0226 England
0228 Wales
0229 England
0230 England
0231 England
0232 England
0243 England
0251 England
0252 England
0253 England
0254 England
0255 England
0256 England
0257 England
0258 England
0259 England
0261 England
0262 England
0270 England
0298 England
0302 England
0305 England
0305 Northern Ireland
0307 England
0308 England
0312 England
0314 England
0316 England
0339 England
0340 England
0348 England
0349 Wales, 4182 US Army Plant, Newport 1944 for 7 months
0350 England
0403 England
0407 England
0408 England
0409 England
0413 England
0417 England
0436 England
0437 England
0437 Scotland
0443 England
0448 England
0449 England
0451 Wales
0452 England
0454 England
0463 England
0469 England
0469 Northern Ireland
0472 England
0505 England
0506 Scotland
0507 England
0508 England
0510 England
0511 England
0512 England
0513 England
0514 England
0515 England
0515 Wales
0516 England
0516 Wales
0517 England
0518 England
0519 England
0520 England
0525 England
0526 England
0527 England
0528 England
0545 England
0546 England
0551 England at Botesdale (1943) then Hadden Hill (May 1944) and then finally at Tidworth (from August 1944)
0552 England
0553 England
0554 England
0555 England
0556 England
0557 England
0558 England
0559 England
0560 England
0561 England
0562 England
0563 England
0564 England
0568 England
0569 England
0571 England
0572 England
0578 England
0579 England
0580 England
0582 England
0584 Wales
0589 England
0592 England 18th Bomb Squadron 1945
0636 Northern Ireland
0637 England 8th Fighter Command Watford 1943
0638 England
0639 England
0639 Northern Ireland
0640 England, Whittington Barracks, Lichfield, 16 June 1942; Sutton Coldfield 30 June 1942 to April 1944; then London and then France.
0641 England
0641 Northern Ireland
0642 England
0642 Wales
0644 England
0645 England
0646 England
0647 England
0649 England
0650 England
0651 England
0652 England
0653 England
0654 England
0655 England
0658 England
0659 England
0696 England
0741 England
0742 England
0756 England
0757 England
0871 England
0872 England
0872 Wales
0873 England, Goxhill
0874 England, Whittington Barracks, Lichfield, 1941 - 1944
0875 England, Kettering
0887 England, London 1942 to August 1944
1116 England
1118 England
1126 England