This issue of the newsletter discusses postal history and transportation infrastructure in the Carpatho-Ukraine region. It begins by confirming the use of Correspondenz-Karte postal cards in Ungvár in 1870. Pages are then dedicated to identifying the correct railway viaduct pictured from a previous issue and providing historical context on its repair. Scans from a 1928 tourist guide to the Podkarpatská Rus region are shared, alongside relevant sections from a 1937 road map. The issue concludes by showing a 1919 Czechoslovak field post letter originating from Perecsény.

1. The Sub-Carpathian Messenger – Number 42 (February 2017) Page 1
The Sub-Carpathian Messenger
Newsletter of the Study Circle
for the Postal History of the Carpatho-Ukraine
Number 42 – February 2017
Dancing girls from the Podkarpatská Rus

2. The Sub-Carpathian Messenger – Number 42 (February 2017) Page 2
About us and the Newsletter
The Study Circle is a loose group of persons who are interested in the postal (and general)
history of the area known as Kárpátalja in Hungarian, as Podkarpatská Rus during the First
Czechoslovak Republic, which had a short day of independence as Carpatho Ukraine, and
later was integrated into the Ukrainian SSR in the Soviet Union as the ‘Zakarpatskaja Ob-
last’. Since 1991 it is ЗАКАРПАТТЯ, the westernmost administrative district in the now
independent Ukraine.
The Newsletter came out of a meeting of a few collectors during the PRAHA 2008, its first
number appeared in November 2008. In the last years we have always produced at least
four issues per year but may not be able to keep this high level due to a substantial lack of
contributions. On the other hand, as we can see from the access counts at the public web
site, this Newsletter is read by hundreds of people.
This imbalance between supporters and consumers-only has finally brought the editor to
the decision that he will stop editing this magazine after ten years, i. e., with the issue of
November 2018. If someone wants to take over, he (or she) is very welcome.
We have to report that our member Jim Simon passed away on May 4th
, 2016. We send our
regards and best wishes to all members of the Study Circle.
Distribution method
All issues of the »Sub-Carpathian Messenger« can be browsed at and downloaded from the
Internet address
http://www.slideshare.net/subcarpathian
For those who have no Internet access and/or no e-mail, the distribution method is still
the same: you will receive a colour print-out by air/surface mail as you did in the past.
Everybody can freely access the uploaded numbers of the Newsletter but the notification
service for new numbers is limited to the actual members of the Study Circle.
Rules and Regulations
All articles in the Newsletter carrying the name of an author are the sole responsibility of
this author and should not be taken to represent the common opinion of the Study Circle.
Such articles are, if not marked otherwise, copyrighted by the respective author. Free use
within the Study Circle is granted. We thank our authors for their much appreciated work
and contribution.
Participation in the Study Circle is not bound to a formal membership and does not include
the duty to pay a membership fee. There is a moral obligation to support the Newsletter
from time to time by sending some article, some interesting piece of information, some
question, some answer or whatever, although a number of ‘members’ has chosen to dis-
respect even this minimal request for support.
We will “print” everything even only loosely connected with our subject of interest so any
contribution is certainly welcome. Please send it (as Word 2003, 2007 or 2010 document,
graphical elements in JPEG, 300 dpi or better) to the editor’s e-mail address (kb@aatc.at).
His traditional postal address, if you would need it, is:
Dr. Helmut Kobelbauer, Untergrossau 81, A-8261 Sinabelkirchen, Austria / Europe

3. The Sub-Carpathian Messenger – Number 42 (February 2017) Page 3
Helmut Kobelbauer
Hungarian Type of First “Correspondenz-Karte“ used in Ungvár
A genuine Austrian invention, the “Correspondenz-Karte” first issued on October 1st
, 1869,
was produced in a number of types:
Austrian coat-of-arms, text in German
Hungarian coat-of-arms, text in German
Hungarian coat-of-arms, text in Hungarian
The use of these “correspondance cards” in the Kárpátalja is rather elusive, and some
collectors have questioned whether they have been used there at all.
2 xr stationery of 1869, Ungvár, May 16th
, 1870, to Kassa.
This proves at least the use of the second type of this card.

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Helmut Kobelbauer
More to the Pictures from Volosyanka / Волосянка of SCM #041
In the last issue, our friends Peter Cybaniak and Roman Dubyniak have shown the following
picture of a damaged railway bridge:
They have reported it as the famous railway viaduct near Volosianka. I would rather think
that this picture shows the so-called Kossari or Szkotarszka viaduct on the railway line
from Munkács through Volócz to Ławoczne and then to Skole. The railway station at the
boundary between Kárpátalja and Galicia was the “E. St. Beskid” (Eisenbahnstation
Beskid).
Extract from the Military Maps (around 1910).
My doubt that the picture shows the (quite similar) railway viaduct near Volosianka
comes from the fact that we have pictures of the damaged viaduct and then of the
repair – these pictures were published in the SCM #022 (September 2012) on pages
8 and 9:

5. The Sub-Carpathian Messenger – Number 42 (February 2017) Page 5
The bridge at the Uzsok pass as blown up by the Russians.
The repair of damages of the Czorbadomb viaduct.
The Czorbadomb viaduct had no middle pillar that had been blown up and lay
crumbled on the ground. Also the extensive repairs obviously took a rather long
time – see the wooden structure for the provisional bridge.
There is an article by Gero de Bellis in issue 126 of the “Rundbrief” of the “ArGe
Feldpost Österreich-Ungarn”, i. e., “Working Group for Austro-Hungarian Field
Post” which says:

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“24. März 1915: Inbetriebnahme der Strecke Munkács – Beskiden-Pass – Ławoczne nach mehr als
drei Wochen Arbeit am etwa 8 km nördlich Volócz gelegenen, aus drei Fischbauchträgern be-
stehenden Kossari-Viaduktes, welches in seiner mittleren Spannweite (76 m Länge und 42 m
Höhe) gesprengt war.
Die Strecke hatte den ausgesprochenen Charakter einer Gebirgsbahn mit ungünstigen Steigungen,
vielen und scharfen Kurven, sowie zahlreiche Kunstbauten. Die Wiederherstellung der letzteren bot
erhebliche technische Schwierigkeiten, waren doch die Baustellen meist außerordentlich schwer
zugänglich und die Baustoffe schwierig heranzubringen. Auch fehlte es häufig an genügend Raum
zur Anlage der Arbeitsplätze.“
So the Kossari viaduct was – after only a bit more than three weeks of repair – already
functional near end of March 1915. This is in clear contradiction to the amount of repairs
necessary for the Czorbadomb viaduct.
The other fact is that the railway leading over the Beskid pass was (and still is) much more
important than the railway leading over the Uzsok pass, so had certainly higher priority in
repair.
I have also checked with GoogleMaps and have extracted the following satellite pictures:
Satellite picture of the “Beskid” railway viaduct near Volovec.

7. The Sub-Carpathian Messenger – Number 42 (February 2017) Page 7
Satellite picture of the current form of the Kossari railway viaduct near Volovec.
(Our Ukrainian friend Alex Popovych who lives nearby in Huklivy may be able to send us an
even better and current picture of this viaduct.)
I completely agree with everybody who considers this a (mild) case of nit-picking. On the
other hand, the railway viaduct near Volosianka gets all the attention, and I take the op-
portunity to highlight the other railway viaduct near Volócz.
Our friends from Leeds (UK.) will hopefully forgive my nit-picking as they always go for the
highest correctness in matters historical.
If anybody can clarify the question or can contribute otherwise, we all will be happy.
Concerning bridges …
Wooden bridge across the Ung river (in the vicinity of Nagyberezna).

8. The Sub-Carpathian Messenger – Number 42 (February 2017) Page 8
Helmut Kobelbauer
Czechoslovak Field Post from Perecsény (Perečín)
In earlier issues we have shown some Czechoslovak field post items from the two phases of
„occupation“ of the previous Kárpátalja: the first one in January 1919, covering Ungvár
and probably also the Ung valley up to the Uzsok pass, the second in April and May 1919
covering Munkács and the region in the south (as far as not occupied by Romanian troops).
The above letter was struck with the “PERECSÉNY | B” canceller of Hungarian origin on
November 14th
, 1919. The soldier gave his troop as 111th
infantry regiment, 2nd
home guard
battalion, machine gun unit and noted the field post office as “Polní pošta 14”. But this
field post office was located rather far away from Perečín and so the letter was sent
through the civil mail network.

9. The Sub-Carpathian Messenger – Number 42 (February 2017) Page 9
Guide to the Podkarpatská Rus
[Our reliable contributor from Spain, Juan E. Page, sent scans from the following tourist’s guide from 1928. We
offer the pages describing the Podkarpatská Rus together with details from the Neubert road map. The editor]

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On the following pages we reproduce the relevant parts of the famous “Neubert’s general
road map” (1937) of the First Czechoslovak Republic – many thanks to our member Cristian
Camartin from Switzerland who provided us with scans of this very nice 1:200.000 map.

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Part 12 – section 11

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Part 12 – section 12

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Part 12 – section 13

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Part 12 – section 18

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Part 12 – section 19

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Part 12 – section 20

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Part 12 – section 21

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Part 12 – section 22

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Part 12 – section 23

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Part 13 – section 02

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Part 13 – section 03

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Part 13 – section 04

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Part 13 – section 05

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Part 13 – section 06

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Part 13 – section 07

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Part 13 – section 08

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Part 13 – section 09

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Part 13 – section 11

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Part 13 – section 12

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Part 13 – section 13

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Part 13 – section 14

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Part 13 – section 15

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Part 13 – section 16