PAST EVENTS
When one has a lady guest-speaker one does not expect a formal lecture on some specialised military subject. So, when Iris Coombes addressed us at our June get-together, she came up to expectation by presenting an interesting travelogue on Poland which she and her husband, Peter, visited last year. This talk was profusely illustrated by beautiful colour transparencies. They enjoyed complete freedom of movement and noted everywhere free commercial enterprise, but poor agricultural practices; a flourishing black market, especially in currency and petrol, but poorly stocked departmental stores, yet fashions were very modern, as are Polish art forms. War-damaged towns, such as Warsaw have been re-built, but many towns still contain attractive examples of earlier architecture. Krakow, for instance, is basically still a 12th century town. In certain areas, such as the Caucasus mountains, new buildings must blend in with the environment and older traditional styles. At Wielizcka, the oldest salt mine in the world, three chapels sculpted out of salt and many other salt sculptures are a great tourist attraction, and so is the festival of the 'Black Madonna' at the Czestochowa monastery, developed as a fortress, but never besieged.
Iris then touched on the traumatic events of the war years, the establishment of concentration camps, especially the one at Auschwitz-Birkenau, and finally the Warsaw uprising during August and September, 1944. She actually attended the 42nd anniversary memorial service on Airforce Hill where a monument commemorates the participation of South African pilots in airlifting supplies, flying from Italy over a distance of more than 3 000 km. At this particular hill one of the South African airforce Liberators crashed. An honoured South African flag bravely flutters in the breeze next to the Polish national flag. The Poles have not forgotten the South African contribution in their greatest hour of need. The Warsaw Rising, the greatest action in Poland since the 1939 campaign, was an expression of the will of the Polish nation to restore independence. It was an expression of the will to fight any oppressor who threatened the country's freedom. - Even though the point was not stressed in this talk, it must be remembered that Britain and America, in stark contrast to Russia, also took up an honourable and creditable stand and did what they could to support the Warsaw Rising. But the Russian refusal to come to the aid of Warsaw, until it was too late, finally unmasked Soviet intentions towards Poland. Poles took it for a vile betrayal of an ally while the civilised world saw its duplicity and was shocked by it.
After a lively question time Victor Conrad extended a warm word of thanks to the speaker.
WELCOME
A warm welcome is extended to new members to the Durban Branch, Major General and Mrs W. Black of Manaba Beach and Mr. H. Pickles of Kloof.
FUTURE EVENTS
Militaria Expo 87 - 18 and 19 July 1987
The Society for the Preservation of Militaria has once again arranged for a militaria exhibition, the "Militaria Expo 87" to be held from 09h00 to 19h00 on the 18 and 19 July at the DLI Hall, Epsom Rd, Greyville. Numerous items of military memorabilia will be displayed by members as well as by the S.A. POlice, S.A. Navy, S.A.D.F. and S.A. Air Force.
PROGRAMME OF MONTHLY GET-TOGETHERS
JULY 16TH MAJOR DARRELL HALL is coming all the way from Johannesburg to give us a talk entitled "PEGASUS BRIDGE" (The airborne attack preceding D-Day). N.B. THIRD THURSDAY IN JULY.
August 13th Cmdt 'SB' Bourquin - "Shaka's Heritage"
September l0th To be announced.
October 8th Fellow-member Ian Sutherland - "The Battle of Culloden".,
November 12th Major Darrell Hall - 1820 Settler families of the Eastern Cape. (The Corey family in particular).
The venue for all meetings, will be the 'Bourq Inn' - lower ground floor, 'SB' Bourquin Building, (NPA Community Services Building) on the corner of Jan Smuts Highway and Buro Crescent, Mayville, on the second, or as in this month's case, the third Thursday in the month, commencing at 7.30p.m. Water and ice will be supplied but please bring your OWN GLASS and canned or bottled refreshments. There is ample parking, under guard, in the grounds. 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