SAMHSEC 21 MILITARY HISTORY IN 21 WORDS COMPETITION
In celebration of SAMHSEC’s 21st Anniversary, you are invited to
For example:
When the Kat River rebels occupied Fort Armstrong, the British Army had to attack their own fort to get it back (count those words too!)
You may enter as many stories as you wish.
The invitation is open to anyone, anywhere, who is interested in participating.
Please submit your entries by WhatsApp to Anne Irwin at 072 522 8485 with the subject SAMHSEC 21.
Anne and a panel of independent judges will select a winner to be announced at SAMHSEC’s AGM on 30 March 2026. The winner will receive a prize. The judges’ decision will be final. A selection of stories will be featured after the competition has closed.
Please contact Anne if you have any questions or suggestions.
Thanks for doing the honours, Anne!
SAMHSEC meeting 8 September 2025: Fighting Talk: How Wars and the Military have influenced Language by Anne Irwin.
Anne discussed how the development of words to suit military operations and situations find their way into everyday language used by civilians long after the cessation of conflicts.
She described how the English language has absorbed words, such as 'war', 'bayonet', 'deadline', 'kamikaze' and 'blitz'.
Anne’s presentation is in the SAMHS Zoom library.
SAMHSEC RPC meeting 29 September 2025
In session 1, Franco Cilliers told us about a remarkable and controversial event in 1943, namely the shooting down of a Japanese fighter plane by a man using a pistol while descending by parachute.
The man credited with this feat was Owen Baggett, a crew member aboard a B24 Liberator that was attacked by Japanese Oscar fighters over the Burma theatre.
On 31 March 1943, Baggett’s plane was severely damaged during the attack, caught fire and the crew was forced to bail out. While descending, Baggett reportedly saw two of his fellow crew members being strafed and killed by Japanese aircraft. As one of the Oscar fighters passed him at a slow speed with its canopy open — apparently to check if he was still alive — Baggett allegedly drew his .45 calibre M1911 pistol and fired four shots at the aircraft. According to the story, one of the bullets struck the pilot, causing the plane to spin out of control and crash. This account was reportedly supported by eyewitness testimony from Colonel Harry Melton, whose fighters were escorting the bombers.
Baggett spent two years in a POW camp before escaping. He survived the war and passed away in 2006, having retired from the U.S. Air Force in 1973.
The accuracy and plausibility of this story remain open to debate. A Japanese Oscar fighter’s stall speed is approximately 109 km/h, and hitting a moving aircraft from a descending parachute with a pistol seems highly improbable. It’s possible the Japanese plane was already damaged, and Baggett fired shots, saw the plane crash, and the legend grew from there.
As we know, combat situations are chaotic, and claims can be difficult to verify. Japanese records show no aircraft losses in that theatre on that date, though the reliability of wartime records is always uncertain.
One personal observation: if there were fighters escorting the Liberator bombers who witnessed Baggett shooting down a plane with a pistol, why weren’t they protecting the bombers from the Japanese fighters instead? That would seem a more effective use of their presence than observing someone firing a sidearm mid-air. But again, that’s just this author’s opinion.
The recording of Franco’s presentation is in the Society's video library on the website.
In session 2, Pat Irwin addressed the meeting on the topic of Black South African writers who had written and published in the field of military history. He introduced two individuals who were pioneers of the genre: Msebenzi kaMacingwane, generally known as Msebenzi, and Magema Fuze.
Msebenzi was born c1840 and died c1930. We know little about him other than that he was an imbongi – a traditional praise-singer and recorder of the history of the amaNgwana, a Zulu-speaking tribe. Part of his task was to pass on his knowledge to younger generations, – something which he took very seriously and why he wanted his memories transcribed into written form.
In writing of the history of the amaNgwana, Msebenzi inter alia gives us one of the best accounts we have of the Mfecane, a period in the second and third decades of the 19th century of heightened military conflict, forced migrations and disastrously disrupted food supplies and famine, in which dislocated groups often depended for their survival on plundering neighbouring groups. Msebenzi describes how the amaNgwana were attacked by Shaka and fled, first to the Drakensberg, where they in turn routed the amaHlubi living there, then crossed over the mountains and attacked the South Sotho tribes who in turn attacked others, resulting in a domino effect. The amaNgwana then crossed the Orange River and were eventually brought to battle, defeated and ‘scattered’ by a combined force of British, Burghers, Khoi and amaXhosa. The consequences of the Mfecane were widespread and profound.
Msebenzi’s book entitled History of Matiwana and the amaNgwana Tribe, was not only one of the first Zulu historical narratives to be transcribed from oral records to the printed word, it was also the first book to be published by a Zulu writer. In it he referred to some 70 military engagements, some in more detail than others.
Magema Fuze was born near Pietermaritzburg in about 1844 and, after a missionary education, became a printer and compositor before starting his own printing business. He also started writing for newspapers and magazines. In 1896 he travelled to the Island of St Helena to be secretary to the exiled King Cetchwayo. Sometime after 1900 he wrote Abantu Abamnyama Lapa Bavela Ngakona at the request of his readers, which was published privately in 1922.
Fuze was the first Zulu speaker to publish a book that language. It was a substantial work of 200 pages and was only published in English in 1979 under the title The Black People and whence they came: A Zulu view. In this work, which marked the transition from an oral tradition to a literate culture, Fuze documented over 40 military encounters of one kind or another. He died in 1922.
The recording of Pat’s presentation is in the video library.
SAMHSEC meeting 13 October 2025
Stephen Bowker is to tell us about the Pattison brothers who were killed in World War 1.
SAMHSEC Requests the Pleasure of your Company to talk about military history on 27 October 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 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
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