Autumn Auction

1902 Registered red-band cover addressed in Chinese and Russian to Colonel Madritov at Port Arthur franked 4k + 10k tied by MUKDEN/FIELD TELEGRAPH BRANCH PRIAMUR DISTRICT 25 IX 1902 with Mukden registration label alongside, all on reverse, Port Arthur arrival on obverse.
Lt.Col.A.S. Madritov, a member of the Russian general staff, was involved in the Yalu River Timber Concession, one of the causes of the Russo-Japanese war. Gen. Kuropatkin ordered him to sever his links with the timber company or resign his commission. Madritov mapped the area of Manchuria along the Korean border and in May 1904 led a raid across the Yalu to attack the Japanese in Korea. As a detachment commander, he later played an active part in the battles of Lioyang, Sha-Ho and Mukden