In December 1944, the Eastern Aegean Islands commander on Rhodes ordered these overprints made for the German forces.

The overprinting was done on stamps supplied by the Italian director of posts. A total of 25,000 stamps were overprinted.

On 22 December 1944, each troop on Rhodes, Kos, and Leros received two stamps for use on airmail Feldpost covers to Germany.

The stamps were printed in sheets of 50. Due to differences in the typesetting, five different versions exist.

• Type I — “1944” in bold Roman script; narrow “9”; closed “4”; evenly spaced; “1” below “EI”; “9” below “HN”; both “4” below “”C” and “TE”; line spacing 1.4 mm
• Type II — Like Type I, but larger space between “19” and “44”; “1” below “WE”; “9” below “IH”; both “4” below “AC” and “HT”; “T” with cone
• Type III — “1944” in wide sanserif script; wide “9”; open “4”
• Type IV — “1944” in wide sanserif script; wide “9”; open “4”; damaged “W”
• Type V — “1944” in bold Roman script; narrow “9”; closed “4”; evenly spaced; “1” below “EI”; “9” below “HN”; both “4” below “C” and “TE”; line spacing 1.8 mm