Occupation of Macedonia

On about 28–30 October 1944 a short-lived occupation issue for Macedonia appeared: stocks of contemporary Bulgarian stamps overprinted in Bulgarian «МАКЕДОНИЯ / 8.IX.1944» (Macedonia, 8 September 1944). The date marks the declaration associated with the regional power shift that autumn; production and distribution were military, and the print is often described as shared among senior Bulgarian and German officers rather than sold as a normal public postal set.

Although catalogues and wartime politics speak of a «German occupation», the overprints sit on Bulgarian stamps and the ground force controlling the area was Bulgarian — a Bulgarian occupation of what had been Yugoslav Macedonia, inside the Axis alignment of Bulgaria with Germany. The set uses eight designs/values drawn from Bulgarian definitives and the 1942 «Work and Joy» commemoratives, with new face values overprinted on several low values.

For Scouts-on-Stamps the key design is the overprint on the 1942 Work and Joy camp / bugle stamp (Scott BG 412 type), catalogued as Michel DE-MK 7 / Scott MK N7: a Scout figure with bugle under the red occupation overprint. The other seven values are companions (fruit, agriculture, Work and Joy youth and music) kept so the occupation series stays complete. Only these eight perforated stamps are listed as catalog pieces. Ordered by rising face value (15 stotinki → 30 leva).