New member Jan Engelbrecht
Welcome aboard to new member Jan Engelbrecht.
SAMHSEC’s 20th Anniversary
SAMHSEC first met on 9 September 2004. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to SAMHSEC being here for us to share our interest in military history.
SAMHSEC meeting 12 August 2024
Barbara Ann Kinghorn told us about Jeanne d’Arc (c 1412-1431), the French girl soldier of the Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453), who was both condemned and canonised by the Catholic Church, in 1431 and 1920 respectively. The mystic visions she claimed that she was to be instrumental in evicting the English from France were not dismissed in an age where prophets and seers were influential. In the spring of 1429, she accompanied the army to relieve the Siege of Orleans. In July she accompanied the Dauphin to Reims for his coronation. French knights resented her influence over the common soldiers. The clergy felt threatened by her usurpation of ecclesiastic prerogatives. She received no support when she was captured and sold to the English in 1430. She was tried by French clerics and burnt as a heretic at Rouen in May 1431. The SAMHS Zoom Library holds the talk.
SAMHSEC RPC 26 August 2024
In session 1, Dylan Fourie told us about Job Maseko, MM.
Lance Corporal Job Maseko was a stretcher bearer in the South African Native Military Corps (NMC) who was captured following the fall of Tobruk on 21 June 1942. White POWs were sent to Europe. Black POWs were kept in Africa under horrific conditions as labourers.
Part of the prisoners' forced labour was as stevedores in the port of Tobruk. Using experience with explosives gained on South African mines before the war, Maseko made an improvised explosive device which he set among drums of petrol in a ship's hold. The ship was destroyed in the subsequent explosion and fire.
Maseko later escaped from the POW camp in Tobruk and walked for three weeks through the desert and enemy lines to El Alamein to rejoin the South African forces.
Maseko was awarded the Military Medal for sinking the ship. The citation reads:
“For meritorious and courageous action in that on or about the 21st July 1942, while a Prisoner of War, he, Job Masego (sic) sank a fully laden enemy steamer probably an "F" boat - while moored in Tobruk Harbour.
This he did by placing a small tin filled with gunpowder in among drums of petrol in the hold, leading a fuse therefrom to the hatch and lighting the fuse upon closing the hatch.
In carrying out this deliberately planned action, Job Masego (sic) displayed ingenuity, determination and complete disregard of personal safety from punishment by the enemy or from the ensuing explosion which set the vessel alight.”
Maseko was killed in a rail accident in 1952. A primary school in Springs, a South African warship and a South African Army Reserve Force unit have been named after him.
Assertions that Maseko should have received a higher award for his exploit are discussed in the article “Was the Victoria Cross really denied to the South African soldier Corporal Job Maseko?” by Deon F.S. Fourie in the Vol 19 No 4 June 2022 edition of the Military History Journal, which can be accessed in the Journal section of the website.
In session 2, Jaco Pretorius reviewed Beverly Roos-Muller’s book “Bullet in the heart – four brothers ride to war 1899-1902”. Three of the brothers kept diaries – the only known instance of this happening in the Boer War. The book records the thoughts and emotions expressed in the diaries of Michael, Chris and Lool Muller. It includes notes written on the evening after the Battle of Magersfontein, during operations in the Colesberg district and anger about treatment at Surrender Hill. One brother was sent to Bermuda, two to Ceylon and the fourth died in the Greenpoint POW Camp. The book also records the brothers’ difficult return after the war and examines the consequences for South Africa of the bitterness caused by this strife.
SAMHSEC meeting 9 September 2024
Stephen Bowker is to tell us about 24 Squadron SAAF.
SAMHSEC RPC 30 September 2024
SAMHSEC Requests the Pleasure of your Company to talk about military history on 30 September 2024.
RPC meetings are opportunities for you to share your knowledge of a military history subject or book with fellow military historians. 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. Please contact André at andrecrozier@gmail.com if you want to share your knowledge.
Springs Mine and Military Museum
In response to the mention of the Springs Mine and Military Museum in the August newsletter:
“I drove past the Springs museum in March. My intention had been to stop at the museum, but I can’t say it enticed me in – rather small in all, and isolated amongst farmlands with no indication as to the place being open.”
Restoration of the Delville Wood Memorial in the Company's Garden
The Heritage Portal Newsletter of 22 August 2024 included a report on the restoration sponsored by the Delville Wood Trust, of the Delville Wood Memorial in the Company's Garden in Cape Town. This is welcome news given the all too common vandalisation of our memorials.
Series of books on the Great War and World War 2 for sale
Alan Montgomery has “a series of volumes on The Great War and a further series on the Second World War. In good condition and in great detail. Price negotiable.” Please contact Alan on 084 981 8491 if you are interested.
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