Dr Brian Austin once again regaled us with details about wireless applications as he talked about "Signalling in Southern Africa - from the Boer to the Bush Wars" from his home in the Wirral in England
Marconi having demonstrated his apparatus to the British in 1896, there were high hopes in Army circles that wireless communications would be of great value in the Anglo-Boer War. As he had explained in a previous lecture, the effect of ground conductivity was not yet understood, while the winds and especially thunderstorm activity near De Aar led to the equipment being given to the Royal Navy. Their use in aiding the blockade of Louren&ccedi;o Marques (now Maputo) was one step in the right direction for maritime purposes.
The first use of wireless in warfare was thus during the Anglo-Boer War. Were it not for eagle-eyed customs personnel in Cape Town, the Boers would have had it too - but the equipment bought from Germany (Siemens already!) was confiscated at the Docks...
The start of First World War saw a South African electrical engineer, Basil Schonland, attending Cambridge University, join up and rapidly be promoted until he was in charge of the British wireless communications in and around the trenches on the Somme.
In 1920 England started their Royal Corps of Signals, followed by South Africa 3 years later. All signallers know their emblem - the winged messenger of Roman antiquity - as "Jimmy" whether they are in British or commonwealth units. The most widely accepted theory of where the name Jimmy comes from is a Royal Signals boxer, called Jimmy Emblem, who was the British Army Champion in 1924 and represented the Royal Corps of Signals from 1921 to 1924. Changes to Badges, heraldic backgrounds and features peppered the lecture as politics intervened.
Technical excellence allowed Schonland to build a working radar set in 3 months; after establishing up the coastal radar defence watch system he went to England in 1941. The team under (later Wits' Vice-Chancellor) Bozzoli continued working on the radar. Many of these people - Trevor Wadley, Bert Howes, Frikkie Fourie - were involved in the SA school of Signals during and after the war.
Radio equipment became scarce in the northen desert once America entered the war. Enter Horace Dainty, then in Durban, who supplied radio equipment and together with his engineer David Larsen, built the M17 radio transmitter-receiver which became the mainstay of signalling in WWII. Dr Austin traced the technological developments which were made by Dainty as Racal SA and later Grinel supplied various radio sets to many countrieseven after South Africa left the Commonwealth in 1961.
He then spoke at length about SA participation in the Rhodesian independence struggles, not only by supplying superior radio and other equipment, but in the form of expats who were no longer promoted in SA after 1948 when the Nationalist Government won the general election and commenced the policy of Apartheid.
His most interesting comment however was the revelation that one of the most senior Rhodesian officers - in charge of Intelligence, no less - was an MI6 agent!!
Brian's lecture has been added to the Video Library.
FORTHCOMING ATTRACTIONS -
ZOOMINARS
- in date order -
Eastern Cape Branch (SAMHSEC) Zoominars
Monday: 9th September 2024 at 19h30 and then at 20h15:
Speaker: Stephen Bowker
Subject: 24 Squadron SAAF.
CONGRATULATIONS
to the Eastern Cape Branch on their
TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY!
Johannesburg
Thursday 19th September 2024 at 19h30 and then 20h15
Speaker: Andriza Liebenberg
Subject: "Tunneling on the Western Front in WWI"
This will NOT be about gold or similar mining, rather an overview of the techniques used
to tunnel and place very large mines under enemy installations; listening for sounds of
enemy mining activity; explosives technology and usage, and a few examples of
successes.
SAMHSEC RPC
The next RPC (Request the Pleasure of your Company) Zoominar will be held on Monday 30 September 2024 at 19h30 and then 20h15. Speakers and topics will be confirmed by invitations.
KwaZulu-Natal Branch Meetings
Next Meeting - Sat 7th September 2024
David Hulme will present "Fall of the Berlin Wall".
There will be no DDH.
It follows his March lecture on the "Berlin Airlift"
The starting time is 1.30 for 2.00pm on SATURDAY 7th September,2024.
We aim to be finished before 4pm to get you home before the Boks vs All Blacks in Cape
Town at 5pm.
Members of all Branches are always
Welcome to Attend all ZOOM Meetings
Let scribe@samilitaryhistory.org know in order to be sent an invitation to the next ZOOMinar
Time to join the Zoominars
For those members still anxious about Zoom lectures, please give them a try! Go onto the internet and open your web browser at www.zoom.us . If using a cellphone visit the app store. Once you have the app on your device - computer or cellphone - choose to join a meeting. Either use the link which is provided in the invitation or type in the meeting code and then the password,also from the invitation, as requested. There are usually two Zoom sessions per evening.
You do NOT need to have a camera - unless you are the speaker or a chairman - although it is always interesting to match faces to voices. As in the auditorium, you do not HAVE to ask the speaker any questions, but there are ways in which you can draw the chair's attention so you can do so.
BRANCH CONTACT DETAILS
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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