PAST EVENTS
Dr. Fred Clarke M.E.C. took the trouble to motor all the way down from Pietermaritzburg to address our February meeting on "The Grenadiers". Although he trained as a pilot with the SAAF and served as an air-gunner with 34 Squadron Liberator Heavy Bombers during WWII he remained for the purpose of his talk on "terra firma" having harboured since his boyhood a special liking and admiration for the early grenadiers.
The hand grenade, a typical explosive weapon used by the infantry in the two great wars of this century had its first period of glory in the late seventeenth - early eighteenth century. The military employment of grenades necessitated the recruitment of men of exceptional physique to hurl them, but at the outset the troops were not organised in special units.
The mid 17th century witnessed the formation within the battalion of special companies of powerfully built men to serve as grenadiers; they wore a mitre-shaped headdress of cloth or fur, this being more appropriate to the action of throwing the grenade than was the contemporary broad-brimmed hat. Grenadiers were more particularly employed in siege and trench warfare, and were armed with a heavy hatchet with which to cleave their way through barricades and other obstructions. After the gradual decline in the employment of the grenade in the 18th century, grenadiers were retained as storm troops, proudly taking the right of the battalion line on parade. Despite the depressive effect on the morale of the remainder of their units, the grenadiers from several line regiments - like the light companies - were frequently formed into special service battalions; this process was eventually rationalised by Napoleon, who recruited whole formations of these exponents of a specialised type of fighting.
In the British army the brigading of grenadier and light companies as special task forces remained common practice until about 1858. The gradual adoption throughout Europe of the four-company battalion progressively encouraged the recruitment of separate grenadier formations, but their duties had come to differ little from those of the ordinary regiments of the line. Mention was made of the Grenadier Guards, who together, with the Coldstreamers, the Scots, the Irish and the Welsh make up the Foot Guards. The Grenadier Guards are descendants of the First Regiment of Foot Guards. At the battle of Waterloo, it was they who had to repulse and counter-attack Napoleon's Vieille Garde. Having defeated the Old Guard, they received the prestigious title of Grenadier Guards from the Crown.
Having dealt with some of the colourful details of grenadier insignia and uniforms, Dr. Clarke then displayed some exhibits from his extensive collection of military headdresses, the pieèce de résistance being a German "Pickelhaube" with goldplated insignia. In addition there were two beautifully tailored tunics, all showing exquisite workmanship, and the use a the costliest materials.
After a brief question time Dr. Jaap Earle proposed a unanimous vote of thanks to our guest speaker.
FUTURE EVENTS
Programme of Monthly Get-togethers
March 14th Mrs. Carol Smale will talk about her grandfather,Mr. S.B. Jones, a Natal Pioneer who took part in the Anglo/Zulu War of 1879 and the Anglo/Boer War.
April 11th Fellow-member Colonel Freddie Hodgson will present a slide talk entitled "Mons and Le Cateau 70 years later". Colonel Hodgson, author of "From Hell to the Himalayas", recently returned from a pilgrimage to WWI battlefields in France.
May 9th Fellow-member Midge Carter will give a talk on "The Battle of Agincourt - England's greatest victory".
June 13th Mr. George Ponsford will give us a talk on his war experiences with the 1st Canadian Division in Italy, 1943/44.
July 11th Fellow-member Commandant Justin Hulme JCD will talk on "The Irregular Soldiers of the 8th Kaffir War".
August 15th Please note that this meeting will be held on
the 3rd Thursday in August.
Our National Chairman Major Darrell Hall will address us on the subject of "The Secret War 1939-1945".
September 5th Please note - 1st Thursday in September.
To be announced.
The venue for all meetings will be the Lecture Room, lower ground floor, 'S.B' Bourquin Building (Natalia Administration Board) on the corner of Jan Smuts Highway and Buro Crescent, Mayville, on the second Thursday in the month (unless otherwise announced) commencing at 8 p.m. Glasses and ice will be supplied so please bring your own bottled or canned refreshments.
Friends and interested persons are welcome to come along.
(Mrs) Tania van der Watt,
Secretary, Durban Branch,
S.A. Military History Society,
Box 870, HILLCREST, 3650.
Tel. (031) vvvvvv