The South African
Military History Society

---

Die Suid-Afrikaanse Krygshistoriese Vereniging

Military History Zoom Library

Lectures on Zoom from May 2020

Biological terrorism

Zoomlecture by Malcolm Kinghorn on 11 May 2020,hosted by SAMHSEC Malcolm Kinghorn

Biological terrorism is the deliberate release by non-state entities of biological agents such as viruses, bacteria or toxins to cause illness or deaths in target populations. In spite of international efforts to eliminate such weapons though the Biological Weapons Convention, some states are suspected of being likely to have offensive biological weapons, which could target animals and crops in addition to humans. There is growing international concern that some terrorist groups are recruiting the expertise required to develop biological weapons.

Link to video file:Biologicalterrorism.mp4

File size:11.3 MBytes

File type:mp4

DETECTIVE CONSTABLE JOHN CHRISTIAN HOEHLER, KPM, SAP

Zoomlecture by Mac Alexander on 18 May 2020,hosted by SAMHSEC Malcolm Kinghorn

History of how Christie Hoehler,a policeman on the East Rand for 14 years between the First and the Second World Wars, was awarded the King's Police Medal, highest medal for police bravery, for saving a person from being crushed by a train in April 1927. Later he left the SAP and established with his brother an asbestos mine in what is now Mpumalanga, did very well from it and he was able to retire early. He then devoted himself in his passion, which was breeding racing pigeons and competing with them.

Link to video file:Christie Hoehler KPM.mp4

File size:10.3 MBytes

File type:mp4

Visit to Gothenberg Air Force Museum,Sweden

Zoomlecture by Franco Cilliers on 18 May 2020,hosted by SAMHSEC Malcolm Kinghorn

Visit to the ..... museum which highlighted cold war era Swedish underground air force base. Aircraft included Viggen,

Link to video file:Gothenburg Air Force Museum.mp4

File size:19.5 Mbytes

File type:mp4

The Military Service of the Wiggill 1820 Settler Family by direct descendant, Mac Alexander

Zoomlecture by Mac Alexander on 8 June 2020,hosted by SAMHSEC Malcolm Kinghorn

McGill Alexander is a direct descendant of an 1820 Settler, Isaac Wiggill. The year 2020 marks the Bi-centennial of the arrival of the British 1820 Settlers in South Africa.

The 1820 Settlers arrived almost halfway through the Cape Frontier Wars, which lasted from 1779 to 1878 along the Eastern Frontier of the Cape Colony.

The Wiggill family were involved in the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Frontier Wars between 1834 and 1853 in the Bathurst and Fort Beaufort areas and were besieged in Bathurst in the Sixth and Seventh Wars and Post Retief in the Seventh and Eighth. During each of these wars, their farms were destroyed and they lost all their possessions.

The talk is filled with illustrations showing structures built by the settlers to provide protection and support their farming. Structures such as Bradshaw's Mill (the first wool mill built in South Africa), the Wiggill house in Bathurst and Wiggill's kraal and horizontal windmill, Post Retief fort and barracks in the Winterberg. Includes views of the landscape in the area and views from where Khoi rebels shelled Post Retief with a cannon.

Link to video file:Wiggills in the wars.mp4

File size:29.1 MBytes (26 minutes)

File type:mp4

The Hydroger Bomb - Peace or Annhilation by Gil Jacobs

Zoomlecture by Gil Jacobs on 11 June 2020,hosted by MHS Jhbg

Gil started by explaining the differences between the Atomic Bomb used in WW2 and the Hydrogen Bomb which increased the yield by 1000 times. The hydrogen or "thermo-nuclear" bomb comes from the fusion of hydrogen nuclei into helium nuclei.

Edward Teller, one of the team which developed the first atomic bombs, started agitating for the development of the H-Bomb during the A-Bomb build. The other scientists strongly opposed this emphasizing that a development path should be observed. However, in August 1949 the Soviet Union exploded an atomic bomb causing President Harry S Truman to give the go-ahead for developing the H-Bomb 1n 1950. In November of 1952 the first hydrogen bomb was detonated on Eniwetok Atoll. With a yield of 10 megatons, the island of Elugelab was wiped away. Testing took place at Bikini Atoll, the "Castle Bravo" test being on 1st March 1954. No fewer than 23 Atom and Hydrogen bomb tests were conducted at Bikini Atoll between 1956 and 1958. The H-Bomb is deliverable several ways; by air with Bombers such as the B-52; Submarine launched missiles such as Polaris and by Minuteman missiles, ground-launched from deep silos.

Notable amongst the people who were opposed to thermonuclear weapons were Robert Oppenheimer - "Father of the Atomic Bomb", Joseph Rotblatt - the only scientist who left the A-Bomb project after Germany's surrender, Albert Einstein who deeply regretted the part he played in initiating the bomb's development, and the great controversial philosopher Bertrand Russell who was nuclear's most vociferous opponent.

Gil discussed how when many countries have such technology (currently 9), the possibility of an unplanned war increases.

Link to video file:Hydrogen Bomb - Peace or Annhilation

File size:54 MBytes (21 minutes)

File type:avi

Kitchener's Ladies by Dr Anne Samsom

Zoomlecture by Dr Anne Samsom given from Sussex,UK on 25 June 2020,hosted by MHS Jhbg

Presentation on the women who influenced Lord Kitchener in his later years

Link to video file:Kitchener's Ladies

Link to pdf file:Kitchener's Ladies (script)

File size:21 MBytes (18 minutes)

File type:mp4

Military History - one heavy metal song at a time by AL du Pisani

Zoomlecture by AL du Pisani given from Johannesburg on 9 July 2020,hosted by MHS Jhbg

Lecture about the popular Swedish band Sabaton, who sing about war and heroes and other things relating to military history

Link to video file:Sabaton

File size:74 MBytes (35 minutes)

File type:mp4

Additional reading for lecture on Sabaton