The March meeting of the Society commenced with a short talk by Mr Avram Polinsky on the Khalkim Gol Incident. This fascinating talk illustrated how an obscure military engagement had a major effect on future Japanese policy.
The Japanese military establishment followed two schools of thought prior to World War II. The northern school, comprising mainly army officers, favoured a policy of conquering the territories to the north, whilst the southern school, consisting principally of naval officers, felt that Japan's destiny lay to the south, in the conquest of the Indian Ocean islands.
The thorough beating inflicted on the Japanese by the Russians at Khalkim Gol convinced the Japanese that the Indian Ocean islands were indeed a more viable objective, thus materially altering Japanese strategy during the world war which was to follow.
The main feature of the evening was a talk by Dr Allan Kayle entitled "The Loss of the Birkenhead". Dr Kayle prefaced his talk with a short background to the ship's origins and construction.
The Birkenhead was an iron paddle-steamer which set out in 1851 from Cork to transport troops of 10 different regiments to the Cape, to fight in the 8th Frontier war.
The ship reached the Cape in February 1852 and after taking on provisions, left Simonsbay on 25th February for Algoa Bay. At 02hOO the ship hit a submerged rock off Danger Point. The ship was under steam and not sail at the time, and both paddles continued turning, impaling the ship further on the rock.
The Captain awoke and ordered the anchor to be dropped. The bulkheads were closed and 60 men were put to work on the chain pumps at the lower level.
At this stage, Lieutenant Colonel Seton ordered the troops to gather on deck. The horses were pushed overboard and 5 managed to swim ashore. Of the 8 lifeboats, only 3 were latmched successfully.
The women and children were put into the cutter and rowed away from the sinking ship, to watch as it slid eventually beneath the waves with the massed troops on the poopdeck standing to attention. Of the 638 people on board, 435 perished.
Dr Kayle then provided an immensely interesting insight into the salvage operation which commenced in January 1986, showing how it had been possible to piece together the last moments of the foundering ship. He also provided information on, and showed slides of numerous artefacts discovered during the salvage.
Dr Felix Machanik thanked the speaker on behalf of the Society.
Tour of the Boer War Forts - 26th March
The tour of the Boer War Forts around Pretoria conducted by Mr David Panagos was a resounding success and hopefully this will precipitate more frequent outings of this nature.
The April meeting of the Society will be the Annual General Meeting and will take place on Thursday 11th April 1991.
The AGM will be followed by a talk on "Captain R C Nesbitt V.C. and the Mazoe Patrol, 1896" by Mr T C D Leaver.
Agenda - Annual General Meeting: 11th April 1991
Jennifer Copley
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