NEWSLETTER - JULY 2023

June saw Dr Arnold van Dyk telling us about some of the aspects of Veterinary Service during the Anglo-Boer War. Since horses as a means of transport are pretty much unknown to us in this day and age, most of us had given little if any thought to what the sheer logistical challenge must have been to export and then supply the British (and other colonial troops) in South Africa with suitable mounts.

Arnold listed references which reflected just how much warfare in those times relied on horses. He mentioned how the hardy Boer mounts - not being susceptible to African horse sickness and able to even thrive on meagre food supplies, were found to be better suited to the veld conditions than their bigger British counterparts. Apart from horses brought in from America, Argentina, India and other Empire sources, which generally had to adapt to the African conditions, there were plants in the feed - cosmos, khakibos etc - which adorn the Transvaal countryside in late summer and autumn to this day. There were even some casualties on board the ships transporting the horses to South Africa.

Almost half a million horses were involved in the conflict, of which more than 200 000 died. Apart from the veterinarians, there were many grooms and farriers in the British army. Boers tended to look after their individual horses. The Onderstepoort Veterinary training facility (a faculty of the University of Pretoria) and research institute did pioneering work developing vaccines - especially the founding head, Dr Theiler, - against various animal sicknesses. (It was his son who received a Nobel prize for developing a vaccine again yellow fever a generation afterwards based on the vaccine research pioneered by his father.

The speaker mentioned various memorials to horses in cities spread over the country. One of the audience, Prof Jan Myburgh, who is currently at Onderstepoort, contributed answers to some of the questions and Lyn Mantle, a former chairman of the Society, offered the vote of thanks.

The recording can be found in the Video Library of the website at www.samilitaryhistory.org

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

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.

Thursday 13th July 2023 at 19h30 and then 20h15

Speaker: Ian Binnie, speaking from the UK

Subject: A History of the Gallipoli Campaign in 13 Objects

Ian, a trustee of the Gallipoli Association, will describe the events and give an analysis of what went wrong in this important WWI campaign.

Monday 10th July at 19h30 and then at 20h15:

Speaker: Helmoed Heitman

Subject: The German Navy capital ships in WWII.

The fates of Graf Spee, Bismarck and Scharnhorst are well known, but the actions and fates of the other capital ships less so and there are some interesting bits of information even about the better known ships.

SAMHSEC Requests the Pleasure of your Company to talk about military history on 31 Jule 2023 at 19h30 and then at 20h15.

Session 1: Franco Cilliers will tell us about Joseph Beyrle. He is the only American soldier known to have served in combat in both the United States Army and the Soviet Red Army during WWII.

For details please contact Prof Phil Everitt 084-437-1636 everitt@iafrica.com