NEWSLETTER - AUGUST 2023

Our speaker in July was Ian Binnie who had chosen 13 objects around which to tell us about the WWI Gallipoli campaign. Many of us might be familiar with the Suva Bay aspects; he considered a larger overview and the difficulties which faced the whole Allied force - starting with, amongst other problems, the complete lack of water on the peninsula.

The combined Naval-Army exercise followed on a naval-only catastrophe which had tried to force itsway through the Dardanelles to reach Constantinople [now Istanbul] but was sent packing by the artillery fire from fortresses on either side of the very narrow seaway. The combined campaign was not well planned and the forces landed on the narrow peninsula were handicapped by lack of maps or any knowledge about the countryside they were expected to cross; lack of awareness of how well their enemies had prepared the defences; and blithe indifference to the quality of the forces opposing them.

Sea mines hampered a lot of their efforts, sinking ships and crippling the importing of water and provisions and greatly diminishing their ability to extract casualties across the Med to Egypt.

Not enough artillery was available against a well dug-in enemy. None of the key points which they needed to occupy in order to move up beyond the peninsula towards Constantinople were actually taken. Some of the trenches might as well have been part of the Western front, while empty jam tins were made into grenades which proved useful in close combat.

Medical services were rudimentary and evacuation by sea proved hazardous too. Not just ANZACsoldiers participated; Indian troops acquitted themselves well too. But eventually the stalemate proved too much and the Allied troops were evacuated - possibly the best organised part of the campaign

Ian's whole interesting story is on the website in the video library.

Let scribe@samilitaryhistory.org know in order to be sent an invitation to the next ZOOMinar

Thursday 17th August 2023 at 19h30 and then 20h15

Speaker: Dr Brian Austin, speaking from the UK

Subject: "Electronic Warfare (EW): the South African experience".

Monday 14th August at 19h30 and then at 20h15:

Speaker: Stephen Bowker

Subject: The career and military service of Lady Sue Ryder.

SAMHSEC has Requested the Pleasure of your Company (RPC) since 27 July 2020.

RPCs originated with our migration from room to zoom to promote communication amongst our members. Average attendance of the 34 RPCs to date is 35 and holding. Thank you to everyone whose company we have had the pleasure of sharing.

As a reminder: in the past, RPCs have been on the last Monday of the month. First sessions have been for discussing general military history and second sessions for discussing military history books. We observe military etiquette and discuss neither politics, religion nor the ladies. Presentations should last approximately 15 minutes to allow time for sharing the pleasure of one another's company. You can do any number of RPC presentations per year.

With the third anniversary of our RPCs to hand, it is time is to consider the future of RPCs, so SAMHSEC again Requests the Pleasure of your Company to talk about military history on 28 August 2023.

In session 1, we will discuss participants' suggestions for future RPCs. We look forward to an active discussion.

Taken from their newsletter: The next meeting of the SAMHS KZN branch will be a joint meeting with the SA National Society on Saturday the 19th August.

NOTE that this will be a morning meeting at 9.30am and NOT our usual afternoon time. In this respect we bow to the SANS as organisers as this is their usual time. There is only one presentation at this event which will be the SANS's Annual Ken Gillings Memorial Lecture which will be presented by own well-known fellow member Robin Smith.

The venue will be the St Cyprian's Church Hall and there will be snacks and tea/coffee provided for which there is a nominal entry charge, and the Vicar's Alms will be open as usual. The car guard will be on duty as usual.

Approximately 200 of our members receive announcements of forthcoming meetings and are invited to join the meetings. We wish to encourage more of those who are missing out to become involved. The Society holds three ZOOMinars a month.

All you need is a computer, OR A CELLPHONE, and a data connection and you can become part of the meetings. You will need to contact the Society to be added to the invite list and then you are all fitted out. You then click on the link in the invitation just before the meeting starts and it will hook you up to join the meetings.

Notices about book sales arrive almost every month. Pam McFadden at the Talana Museum emailed saying she had a list of books which members might be interested in buying. This is another collection she is selling on behalf a widow and the books are in excellent condition. Since there are over 200 AB-War books listed, all in all almost 250, the newsletter would have to stretch to 12 pages - so please get the list from Pam at pammcfadden1@gmail.com or from Joan at scribe@samilitaryhistory.org

Also from the SAMHSEC newsletter - The Military Bookshop

Emsie van den Berg's The Military Bookshop (Cape Town) has a big collection on various military topics. She distributes an advertisement every Thursday on a WhatsApp group where people can order books.

Please contact Emsie on 082 264 1953 if you are interested in joining the group and receiving her weekly advertisement.

June 2023 Military History Journal

Members have been asked by e-mail how they would prefer to receive their Journals in the light of the postal problems. Journals arrived from the printer this morning - Friday 11th August.