Operation TAAF 

a progress report on what happened to a souvenir sheet that was broken into 5 parts

Episode I - Iles Éparses 

Episode II - Crozet

Episode III - Iles Australes - St. Paul et Amsterdam

Episode IV - Iles Australes -  Kerguelen 

Episode V - Terre Adélie - Cover received on 29 March 2023

And so the Puzzle is completed!

I have to confess I was already losing hope of receiving this last piece since it has been more than a year  - 1 year, 2 months, 16 days, to be more precise - since I first sent out the pre-stamped covers on their journey to the various locations covered by the TAFF souvenir sheet that inspired this little philatelic operation.

The last cover to arrive had to be the one that travelled to the farthest point and, of course, one year is quite a normal rotation time if we consider the logistics involved in exchanging letters with the postmaster at the Dumont D'Urville Station, right inside the South Arctic Circle, in the land that gave its name to a penguin species...

According to the potted notes on Wikipedia, Tere D'Adélie, the French territorial claim in the Antarctic continent, was discovered by Dumont D'Urville, an officer and explorer of the French Navy, in 1840, commanding a fleet comprising  l'Astrolabe, a corvette built in 1811, and la Zelée, captained by Charles Hector Jacquinot, another French naval  officer. 

Dumont D'Urville chose to name the discovered land Terre d'Adélie, in honour of his wife, who - you've guessed it - was named Adèle, and, as stated above, would indirectly be the origin of the common name for the Adélie penguin  (Pygoscelis adeliae), which, I’m, pretty sure, is rather more common in the area than the human species....

Today, the scientific station that honours his name, is permanently populated with a staff that varies between 25-35 in the winter and up to 120 in the summer.

Further to the postmark issued at the station on 28DEC22, my cover is also graced with the usual rectangular stamp mark indicating the coordinates of the TAAF location where the letter was processed and also a rather nice green stamp mark showing what seems to me to be an emperor and some Adélie penguins below the legend Terre Adelie: Étude Scientifique et Protection de la Nature (Terre Adélie: Scientific Studies and Nature Conservation).

... and so the Puzzle is completed, said I in the beginning, and here's the proof to it: