5 Shillings

The British War Department currency series was produced for use by Allied military personnel in occupied and liberated territories during and after the Second World War. These notes circulated alongside local currencies in areas where sterling-denominated scrip was operationally convenient — and where the British authorities wanted to limit the inflationary pressure that paying troops in hard currency or local notes could cause.

The Camb#5020 reference places this in the standard BOAC/military auxiliary series. Dates of actual issue within the 1941–1948 window varied by theater, and distinguishing early wartime printings from later occupation-period releases typically depends on prefix letter blocks rather than any printed date.