NEWSLETTER No. 22.

P.O. Box 52090
SAXONWOLD, Transvaal.
Telephone: 41.4703

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Notice is hereby given that the Annual General Meeting of the S.A. Military History Society will take place at the War Museum, Saxonwold, Johannesburg, on Thursday the 9th April, 1970, at 7.30 p.m.

The ordinary monthly meeting will take place at 8.00 p.m. or as soon thereafter as possible if the Annual General Meeting proceeds beyond the time of 8.00 p.m.

NEWS LETTER

Dear Fellow-members,

PAST EVENTS

As I was away in Cape Town on a business trip and unable to attend the February Meeting, our Vice-Chairman, Mr. Pat Rice took the chair and told me that the attendance was really something to be proud of and remember. Apparently some 80 people packed our large room including a large number of visitors, many of whom we hope will become members.

Mr. Terry Tolhurst addressed the capacity audience on "THE BATTLE OF JUTLAND", discussing the different strategic considerations governing the German High Seas and the British Grand Fleets, the differing capabilities of their respective ships and finally the battle itself. Shortage of time did not permit him to deal with the vital night action following the battle during which the High Seas fleet slipped away and returned to port. The failure of either side to achieve a clear- cut result led to consequences that ranged far beyond the purely military aspects of the Battle itself.

MEMBERSHIP LIST

We must apologise for not including this list in January's News Letter but there was more work entailed than we at first thought and it was not ready in time. However, we have pleasure in now enclosing it and hope that you will derive much benefit from it.

Study it carefully and inform the Secretary of any omissions or errors so that the records can be corrected.

LONG WEEK-END TRIP LADYSMITH 3-6 APRIL 1970

We regret to advise that this will NOT take place during the long week-end of April as planned. Due to the War Museum's personnel not being available to either compose the necessary precis or to be on the tour with us to give valuable guidance, members at the February meeting were asked to vote and by far the greater majority voted to postpone the trip till the long week-end in September, 5th. to the 7th., both days inclusive. By that time all the necessary documents will be ready and the vital personnel available.

J0URNAL

We regret that the last issue of the journal reached the members so late and I, your Chairman, take the full responsibility for this being so.

I thought it would be a good idea, for easing administration work, to send it out with the January News Letter and also the Membership List which was not available in the end and I did not foresee that some members would be upset. I apologise and will see that future numbers are forwarded immediately they are available.

Once again we ask for contributions in all forms in order to keep the Journal to its present size.

ITALY - 1971

This proposed tour is still a real possibility and, as mentioned in our January News Letter; we will keep you informed of details as these become available.

CONSTITUTION This will be available shortly and will be sent to you at the earliest opportunity.

LECTURE PROGRAMME FOR 1970

For the benefit of those members whose news-letter for January might have gone astray and therefore not received, we give hereunder the programme for the remainder of the year and will do so each month so that new members will know what our future programmes are:-

Date	Topic	Speaker
February 12th	"THE BATTLE OF JUTLAND."	Mr. T. Tolhurst
March 12th	"GENERAL DE VILLEBOIS-MAREUIL"	Mr. R. McNab
April 9th	"THE 1914 REBELLION"	Mr. V. Solomon
May 14th	"THE QUALITY OF THE LEADERSHIP OF THE BOER GENERALS 1899-1902"	Col. G.K. Roodt
June 11th	"THE CAUSES OF WORLD WAR I"	Mr. Stewart Jones
July 9th	"THE GREAT WAR - THE WESTERN FRONT"	Col. K. Pitts.
August 13th	"THE GREAT WAR - OTHER FRONTS"	Col. K. Pitts.
September 10th	"THE POETS AND POETRY OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR"	Mr. Jacques van Oortmerssen
October 8th	"THE EAST AFRICA CAMPAIGN 1914-1917"	Col. Lunn-Rockliffe
November 12th	"THE JAMESON RAID - NEW THOUGHTS"	Mr. P. Cartwright
December 3rd	"THE GREAT WAR - THE AIRFORCES"	Sqn-Leader D. Tidy

"ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTIONS"

Annual subscriptions were due on the 1st. January, 1970, and if you have not already paid them, please do so as promptly as possible. The Annual subs. are R3 (three Rand).

BATTLEFIELDS WILL BE RESTORED

The restoration of four battlefields, Blood River, Isandhlwana, Bergendal and Majuba, as the start of a R1½-million progremme to restore and preserve South Africa's most important historical battlefields was announced by the Prime Minister, Mr. Vorster, at a Day of the Covenant service in Durban.

Work at Blood River would start soon and every battlefield would he restored as closely as possible to its original state, he said. Historical presentations, markers and other audio-visual aids would be employed to recall the events of each battle.

The scheme would not include the erection of monuments, and the choice of battlefields would be determined solely by historical importance. Sectional interests would not be taken into account.

GARDEN FOR S.A. WAR DEAD

Magersfontein, near Kimberley, would become a major "Garden of Remembrance" site for those killed in the South African War, the Chairman of the War Graves Commission, Dr. Kieser, said recently. Dr. Kieser said that South Africans buried in Simonstown and the North-Eestern Free State would be reinterred in Magersfontein. The Simonstown dead were South African prisoners-of-war. City of Cape Town contributed to the costs of maintaining graves throughout South Africa, he said. The remains of burghers who died between the Vaal River and the railway line would be moved to Magersfontein.

REMEMBRANCE

Dr. Kieser announced that work on a Garden of Remembrance for British soldiers killed in the War would soon be started at Kroonstad.

The project was begun by the British Soldiers' Graves Committee, part of the South African War Graves Commission.

LECTURE - MARCH.

Venue	War Museum Saxonwold
Date	Thursday March 12th
Time	8 p.m.
Topic	GENERAL DE VILLEBOIS-MAREUIL
Lecturer	Mr. Roy McNab

N.B.
General De Villebois-Mareuil, a Frenchman, was made a General by the Boer Leaders, with whom he fought. He was killed in an engagement at Boshoff where he is buried.

COMMITTEE MEETING

A Committee meeting will be held on the same date and venue as stated above : time 7.10 p.m.

MEMBERS "WANTED" COLUMN

MR JONES is interested in all aspects of the world's forces engaged in SERVICE POLiCE dut i CG, that is Naval, Air Force, Regimental & MiIitary Police. He is after information/ photos of any unit which comes under this heading and would appreciate help from any member on this subject.

To date the only details he has on the S.A. Corps of Military Police during WW2 are (a) A photo he obtained from the S.A. War Museum and b) a copy of "MEMORIES OF CAPT C.H. BUTT, C.M.P." in which the author gives his views on the S.A. MP officers he net during WW2 in Italy. The author states that he thought the SACMP were about the best Provost types in Ita1y during WW2. His name and address are :-
James L Jones, P. O. Box ---, Choma, Zambia

Wanted : Old or entique fire-arms, powder flasks, bullet moulds, etc .. Also commemorative medallions. DR. L. HILLMAN, 10 ---, Houghton, Johannesburg. Phone (Res.) 728-4040

Wanted : Military medals and Militaria: wanted to swop for S .A. military issue assegais. T. BARBER, 60, -----, Nigel) Transvaal

Wanted : South African bi-lingual Victory Medals of the First World War. T.E. SOLE, 17, -----, Hurleyvale, Edenvale, Transvaal.

BERTIE SIMPKINS

CHAIRMAN.