Description
WWII period westbound Baghdad overland mail from Iran: 26 X 1943 registered airmail cover from TEHERAN to HAIFA, franked (on back, covering most of return address) 22D & tied by multiple strikes of local postmark + Persian air mail etiquette on front; opened/resealed locally & tied by #4 Russian & #15 English "Anglo-Soviet-Persian Censorship" handstamp (front/back) + Persian "7" censor cachet (front); backstamped 8 NOV 43 BAGHDAD REG transit & 15 NO 43 REG HAIFA arrival; slit open at left. Long 3-week transit time, suggesting that the cover was actually transported via the Baghdad overland route. If transmitted by air the cover may have been carried by ISA to BAGHDAD (Habbaniyah), then via BOAC on leg of "Horseshoe Route" to TIBERIAS - but this not indicated by the postal markings. Joint Allied-Persian censorship began c. Aug 1942 & ended c. autumn 1945. Interestingly cover not censored in Palestine. Overland mail to Palestine is scarce.