SAMHSEC
Chairman: Malcolm Kinghorn culturev@lantic.net
Secretary: Stephen Bowker stephen@stephenbowker.co.za
Speaker coordinator: André Crozier andrecrozier@gmail.com
Scribe: vacant
Field trip coordinator: vacant
New Members
Welcome aboard to new members Charon & Philip Cronjé from East London.
SAMHSEC meeting 10 February 2025
Alan Mantle discussed the WW2 Mediterranean Theatre conflicts with coalition politics. Alan’s presentation followed the path of the Alliance history in the decisions for operations in the Mediterranean Theatre in the critical period from 1942 to 1945.
The coalition of Britain, the US and Soviet Russia was the key to victory in WW2. It was an alliance forged in war of nations with differing traditions, politics and leadership styles. Their different geography, logistics and resources, however, would often lead to competing political interests that undermined the military strategy of this Alliance. This aspect is often ignored when analysing the conduct of the war and, in particular, the operational choices that were made.
A high-level management structure for the Alliance was formed in the Arcadia conference in Washington within weeks of the US and Britain being at war with both the Axis Forces and Japan. A Board of the Combined Chiefs of Staff (CCS) was formed to be the supreme military entity for the US and Britain for the conduct of the War, subject to the approvals of Churchill and Roosevelt. It was this consultative body of top military leaders that would refine the Allied military strategy and approve all significant military decisions for the duration of the conflict.
The US Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) and the British Chiefs of Staff Committee (CSC) continued in a structured supporting role to the CCS.
Policies and plans, the timing of operations, broad programmes of war requirements and allocations of resources approved against measured objectives were developed. It was a highly competent and successful organisation that ensured the positive outcome of the War.
Notwithstanding the strong cultural and historical relationship between the US and Britain and Churchill and Roosevelt in particular, different visions and concerns regarding post-war Europe caused tensions in the Alliance in the latter stages of the War in Europe. However, in the concluding stage of the war in the Far East, there was a return to total unity in their collaboration.
Alan's presentation is recorded on the Society's website in the Video library.
SAMHSEC RPC 24 February 2025
In session 1, Franco Cilliers discussed the current military situation in Ukraine.
Today marks three years since we woke up to social media flooded with videos of Russian missiles impacting cities in Ukraine. We witnessed the onset of a full-scale conventional conflict. Initially, many expected the Ukrainians would not hold out for long against the Russian forces. However, they proved us wrong and, with Western aid, they continue to stand their ground. Unfortunately, the price has been extremely heavy for the Ukrainian people.
The war has devolved into a conflict reminiscent of World War I, featuring heavy trench lines, creeping barrages and minimal territorial gains in exchange for significant losses. In 2024, Russian forces captured approximately 4,455 square kilometres of Ukrainian territory, while Ukrainians reclaimed about 542 square kilometres.
Equipment losses have been enormous for both sides. The Russians have lost about 20,000 pieces of equipment, while the Ukrainians have lost around 5,000 pieces. Casualty figures are difficult to ascertain, as both sides tend to overestimate the opposition's losses and underestimate their own. According to confirmed reports, the Russians have lost about 90,000 troops and the Ukrainians have lost about 65,000 troops. Russia has deployed around 700,000 troops against Ukraine, while Ukraine has mobilized about 400,000 troops.
This conflict could aptly be named the "Drone War" or the "First Drone War." Drones play various roles, from reconnaissance and attacking soldiers to electronic jamming and bombing. The technological struggle between offensive drones and defensive measures, such as bullets designed to keep drones at bay, has led to the rise of "cope cages"—steel mesh structures surrounding vehicles to protect them from drones. This conflict has also spurred the development of various drone models, including some controlled via fibre optic cable.
Currently, Ukrainians are defending against Russian attacks, while also attempting limited offensives. However, the presence of mines and challenging terrain has made it difficult for them to achieve a breakthrough.
Franco's presentation is recorded on the Society's website in the Video library.
In session 2, Malcolm Kinghorn discussed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which was signed on 3 March 1918. The Treaty marked Russia’s exit from World War 1 and allowed Germany to concentrate its forces on the Western Front.
The Treaty was between the Central Powers, namely Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria, and the Russian Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR), led by the Bolshevik government which had seized power after the November 1917 Russian Revolution. The RSFSR delegation to the negotiations was led by Leon Trotsky.
The RSFSR delegation, unusually for the time, included a woman, Anastasia Bitsenko. She was a dedicated revolutionary who had assassinated the Russian War Minister in 1905. She was executed by the Bolsheviks during the purges of the 1930s.
The Treaty was written in German, Hungarian, Bulgarian, Ottoman Turkish and Russian. It forced the RSFSR to cede large parts on the former Russian Empire, including Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Belarus and parts of Poland and the Caucasus Region. The ceded areas were rich in resources such as coal, iron and agricultural land and included 34% of the former empire’s population, 54% of its industrial land, 89% of its coalfields and 26% of its railways. The borders established by the Treaty were similar to the post-1991 borders after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. A heavy fine was also imposed on the RSFSR. The losses severely weakened the RSFSR and had long-lasting consequences for the region.
The Treaty was controversial and heavily criticised in the RSFSR. Many regarded it as a betrayal of revolutionary ideals and a surrender to the imperialist powers. However, the Bolshevik Government held that the Treaty was necessary to allow it to consolidate its power and focus on building a socialist state.
Allied leaders’ opinions on the RSFSR differed:
In January 1918, President Woodrow Wilson of the USA stated in a speech that “The (Bolshevik) spokespersons of the Russian people are sincere and in earnest and speak in the true spirit of modern democracy in stating Russia’s concept of what is right, of what is humane and honourable for them to accept with frankness, a largeness of view, a generosity of spirit and a universal human sympathy which must challenge the admiration of every friend of mankind.”
In Volume 5 of his The World Crisis written in 1929, Winston Churchill, who had been a cabinet minister when the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed, expressed his opinion that “(Bolshevik legacy is) not a wounded Russia only, but a poisoned Russia, an infected Russia, a plague bearing Russia; a Russia of armed hordes smiting not only with bayonet and cannon, but accompanied and preceded by swarms of typhus-bearing vermin which slew the bodies of men and political doctrines which destroyed the health and even the souls of nations.”
Franco's presentation is recorded on the Society's website in the Video library.
Note 1: the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk presentation above can be read in conjunction with André Crozier’s presentation on The Last Seven Days of World War 1 as in SAMHSEC’s newsletter 245 February 2025, and in the video library
Note 2: thanks to Al du Pisani for sharing the link to a webcast on “Making Peace in Europe 1917-1919: Brest-Litovsk and Versailles"
Malcolm’s comment: the webcast speaker is Adam Tooze. I learned a lot from his book “The deluge: the Great War and the remaking of the global order”.
SAMHSEC meeting 10 March 2025
Alan Witherden will talk on 24 Squadron SAAF in World War 2 as a sequel to Stephen Bowker’s presentation on 24 Squadron SAAF in Africa during WW2 (see below).
See the SAMHS Zoom library "24 Squadron SAAF in Africa during WW2" by Stephen Bowker on 9 September 2024
SAMHSEC Requests the Pleasure of your Company to talk about military history on 31 March 2025.
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.
SAMHSEC visit to PE SAAF Museum 22 March 2025
Reminder that SAMHSEC is to visit the PE SAAF Museum on 22 March 2025.
The plan is a guided tour of the Museum between 1000 & 1200, to be followed by a bring your own picnic lunch and kuier for as long as you like or until the Museum closes, whichever comes first.
Correspondence regarding this visit is to be on WhatsApp. Please contact me by e-mail to culturev@lantic.net if you are interested in attending and are not on the SAMHSEC WhatsApp group.
SAMHSEC AGM 31 March 2025 at 1900 Notice
SAMHSEC’s AGM zoomeeting is at 1900 South African time on 31 March 2025
Agenda points and committee nominations are to be submitted to the Secretary by 1 March 2025
Chairman’s appeal: please offer to serve on the committee. The Scribe and Field Trip Coordinator positions have been vacant for years. Committee affairs are conducted online, so all members can participate.
Jon Osscher’s military music series
Starting with “The British Grenadiers” on 22 August 2024 and ending with “Wish me luck as you wave me goodbye” on 13 February 2025, Jon shared his interest in military music in a daily post on the SAMHSEC WhatsApp group. The series, which included a short background to each piece, covered various centuries, many wars and several continents. Thank you, Jon, we appreciate your contribution and learned a lot!
Received from Nick Cowley in appreciation of Jon’s series and as a tribute to Nick’s father, Lt R.W. Cowley, SAAF:
Many of Jon’s choices resonated deeply with me, because they were on an LP record called ‘The Songs They Sang Through Two World Wars’ that my father played constantly while I was growing up. Moreover, he would often burst into one song or other himself, as he had been steeped in them while serving in WW2.
He was especially fond of THE song of WW2, ‘Lili Marleen’, which Jon aired early in the series. My father had been with the SAAF in Egypt and had therefore often been in contact with members of the British 8th Army and RAF units attached to it. This meant that he often heard not only the ‘official’ English translation of the romantic soldier’s ballad that the Allies had ‘liberated’ from the Germans, but several ribald versions to the same melody.
Outstanding among these was one that Jon included: the bitterly ironic ‘D-Day Dodgers’, the 8th Army’s angry refutation of Lady Astor’s reputed speech alleging that they were merely “skiving” amid the vino and signorinas in sunny Italy while others did the real fighting in France. Lady Astor denied ever giving the 8th Army such an unfair and ridiculous label; however, my father heard that some in England swore that she had.
Another WW2 classic chosen by Jon, ‘The White Cliffs of Dover’, is forever associated with Vera Lynn, the Forces’ Sweetheart - whom my father was lucky enough to hear giving a concert for the troops in Cairo. Though he and most other Commonwealth soldiers present had never been to England in their lives, they could easily relate to the deep sentiment that their British colleagues felt when the iconic White Cliffs were evoked - their island’s nearest point to an often hostile continent, the source of planned or actual invasions as recently as 1940 and for two millennia before that.
The United States has, for whatever reason, been a prolific source of songs linked to most of the conflicts it’s been involved in. Jon included many of these, and my father had known most of them from the radio or records in WW2 or later. As an airman, he related in particular to ‘A Wing and a Prayer’, that haunting musical picture of a bomber limping home from a successful sortie over Germany with one engine out of action; but “with a full crew aboard, and our trust in the Lord, coming in on a wing and prayer.”
America’s very national anthem is linked to a war: ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ celebrates how the Stars and Stripes were still flying at dawn over a fort that had been battered by British shellfire all night during the War of 1812. Two other songs covered by Jon have especially vivid backgrounds in US conflicts. ‘John Brown’s Body’ was originally about the death of an abolitionist in the bitter debate over slavery that led to the American Civil War; but its tune was later borrowed for, inter alia, the song about the Para sergeant-major who “jumped from 70 000 feet”, still popular when most SAMHSEC members did their national service. ‘The Yellow Rose of Texas’ has its roots in the iconic Fall of the Alamo, part of the Texan Revolution against Mexican rule; but its jaunty melody was used with many other lyrics, most notably by exhausted Confederate soldiers singing wearily about their generals, especially “the gallant Hood of Texas, he played hell in Tennessee.”
Space doesn’t permit looking at any more of Jon’s selections, but these few samples show clearly how rich in military-historical context many of these songs are. Jon has made a significant contribution to SAMHSEC that we all appreciated hugely.
SAS President Kruger Memorial Service in Cape Town 9 February 2025
SA Legion Wall of Remembrance for the Fallen in Rosebank, Cape Town
9 February 2025 Photo credit: Tony Cole
A Memorial Service for the 16 sailors who died when SAS President Kruger sank on 18 February 1982 was held at the SA Legion premises in Rosebank, Cape Town on 9 February 2025. Wreaths were laid at the Wall of Remembrance for the Fallen.
The Annual Three Ships Memorial Service commemorating the sinking of the SS Mendi on 21 February 1917, HMSAS Southern Floe on 11 February 1941 and SAS President Kruger on 18 February 1982 was held at St Luke’s Church in Port Elizabeth on 23 February 2025.
Another shipwreck of military historical significance was HMS Birkenhead, wrecked at Danger Point near Gansbaai on 26 February 1852 while transporting troops and civilians to Algoa Bay during the 8th Frontier War. Soldiers famously stood fast on deck allowing the women and children to board the boats and giving rise to the “Women and Children First” tradition when abandoning ship.