NEWSLETTER - JUNE 2023

There was no lecture on 11th May because of the unavailability of the internet for the host. Whenever the cellphone towers are unable to recharge their batteries - when a 4 hour load shedding stint is followed by only 2 hours of recovery time - the Marshes are unable to guarantee being able to host two sessions.

So Ian Binnie, speaking from the UK, will only be able to tell us about Gallipoli on 13th July.

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 8th June 2023 at 19h30 and then 20h15

Speaker: Dr Arnold van Dyk
Subject: Veterinary history of the ABW.
Overview of sources, an introduction (mainly on horses), services on Boer side (Theiler - ZAR and Henning - OFS), Army Veterinary Department - including prominent officers and the 12 casualties on British side.

Monday 12th June at 19h30 and then at 20h15:

Speaker: Dylan Fourie
Subject: Louis Zamperini, an Italian-American Olympian and War Hero.

SAMHSEC Requests the Pleasure of your Company to talk about military history on 26 June 2023 (subjects postponed form 29 May RPC)

Session 1: Barbara Ann Kinghorn will talk about another Coronation.
Session 2: Barbara Ann will tell us about the Souvenir Programme of the Commonwealth and Empire Contingents at the Coronation of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II June 2nd 1953.

Are you one of the many SA residents whose father, grandfather, uncle or other relative was taken prisoner at Tobruk, in what has been called South Africa's greatest military disaster? Find out what really happened, at the SAMHS talk by Philip Everitt on the 10 June 2023. Phil, whose own father was one of those captured, will present an illustrated talk on "What happened at Tobruk", which will cover:

1. An introduction to the desert war from 1941 with special reference to the South African contribution.
2. The stand at the Gazala line.
3. Rommel's breakthrough and the "Gazala Gallop" retreat of the Allied forces.
4. The isolation of Tobruk.
5. The German break through, allied collapse and subsequent surrender of Tobruk within 24 hours.
6. The recently revealed role of both allied and axis intelligence in the disaster.
7. The role of Churchill and leadership problems in the allied forces.
8. The aftermath and effect on South Africa's image amongst the allies.

In keeping with the desert war theme, the above main talk will be preceded by an illustrated curtain raiser where Roy Bowman, will tell the enthralling story of "Max and Moritz", the two British Armoured Command Vehicles captured by Rommel during his campaign in the Western Desert and some of the adventures that these vehicles went through during their possession by the "Desert Fox".

Thanks to art supplies in Red Cross parcels, one of the 10 000 SA soldiers taken PoW at Tobruk was able to spend some of his time in incarceration in Italy and Germany, painting. In the mid- 1970s he wrote about his experiences for his family and collated his paintings. In 2003 his daughter compiled a book which she lent to the Society for copying. These paintings - mainly water colour - are to be found at http://samilitaryhistory.org/diaries/vdberg/vdbergv6.html

Apart from the chairman's report which follows hereunder, members will find the income statement and financial report from the treasurer on the website at http://samilitaryhistory.org/fin2022.pdf

The Society has continued to experience the effects of load-shedding but has resumed monthly lectures - albeit in the form of Zoominars for Johannesburg and the Eastern Cape. We are extremely grateful to all our speakers for the time and effort that they put into their interesting presentations, most of which are supported by PowerPoint slides.

Although it is possible to link up to ZOOM from a cellphone, quite a few members chose to discontinue their membership in the absence of in-person meetings. To offset this, the international membership has increased.

The Military History Journal again appeared twice in 2022. The December Journal was a bumper issue to commemorate 100 years of South African Navy involvement.

Postal difficulties led to members being asked to serve as collection hubs for fellow members, with the Journals of all at a hub being sent by courier. Overseas postage was again thwarted by poor service - some Journals arrived 9 or more months after posting. Some Johannesburg members suffered similar extreme delays. Electronic versions of the Journal were sent to all overseas members and offered to local members.

The KwaZulu-Natal branch has resumed its monthly in-person meetings, held on Saturday afternoons at the St Cyprians Church hall.

Sadly, the Cape Town branch could not find enough members who were willing to serve on a branch committee and had to close. Their members are being served by the Eastern Cape branch until this situation rectifies itself in due course.

The Johannesburg venue, Ditsong Museum, has not been equipped with facilities to bypass loadshedding and has thus not been approached for room meetings.

Phil Everitt took over from Charles Whiteing as Chairman of KZN during 2022 and their branch is slowly recovering with attendance at meetings increasing. Thanks are due to the chair and his committee for continuing to keep the Society alive, and to the members who have volunteered to serve as distribution hubs for the Journal.

Thanks are due to Malcolm Kinghorn and his committee in the Eastern Cape who not only manage two Zoominars a month, but also undertake field trips to interesting venues in their vicinity.

We are again grateful to our Committee members, Mike and Joan Marsh, who have been able to keep our Society going in these difficult times.

Any members willing to serve on committees would be most welcome!

DAVID SCHOLTZ
Chairman

The full report is available at http://samilitaryhistory.org/fin2022.pdf

Salient points are: the Society is on a sound financial footing;
Surplus of income over expenditure for 2022 was R1189;
Membership stood at 363 at the end of the year.

Eastern Cape details contact    Malcolm Kinghorn    041-373-4469    culturev@lantic.net

Gauteng details contact    Joan Marsh     010-237-0676    joan@rfidradar.com

KwaZulu-Natal details contact    Prof Phil Everitt    084-437-1636     everitt@iafrica.com

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