Military Heritage

This month it was my pleasure to visit Sappersrus. The occasion was a gathering of the tourism association of the Hartbeestpoort Dam/Magaliesberg area to meet and learn about Sappersrus and its history and attend a small memorial ceremony. We enjoyed excellent hospitality and a lunch in the well-designed lapa close to the water. I was asked to deliver a short talk on the Battle of the Somme, Delville Wood and memorialization. Our hosts were Irene Small and Ashley Williams, who run the Sappers facility and Foundation. They keep the faith of past traditions, recruit new members and educate people about the Sappers and their role in World War II and other South African military engagements. Their task is to continue the charitable work of the Sappers Foundation (as the older Sappers Association is now known) and promote the Heritage Centre. Sappersrus also offers weekend accommodation to anyone wanting a break in pleasant country surroundings.

Sappersrus is located on the road from Hartbeestpoort Dam to Magaliesberg on the north bank of the Magalies River. It is at this point that the river flows into Hartebeespoort Dam. It is about 42 kms from Pretoria and about 1 hour 15 minutes drive from Randburg. It is very accessible and the roads from all directions are excellent.

The history of Sappersrus dates back to the Second World War and the comradeship among the South African Engineers Corp. The Sappers were the engineers of the army and South African Sappers saw service in East Africa, North Africa and in Italy...

The following article on the history and restoration of the landmark Martello tower in Simon's Town appeared in the September 1973 edition of Bulletin. Thank you to David Erickson from the Simon's Town Historical Society for providing many of the museum photographs. See comments section for more recent details on the Tower.

In the year 1794, during the Napoleonic War, the British Fleet was engaged in blockading the French port of Toulon. A requirement arose to establish a safe anchorage in the Bay of Fiorenzo, Corsica, for use by the Fleet. However, the shores of the Bay were well fortified. On the 8th February two British ships, Fortitude (74 guns) and Juno (32 guns) arrived at the entrance of the Bay intent on destroying these fortifications. On the Western extremity of the Bay, on Cape Mortella stood a large circular tower armed with two guns and a garrison of two grenadiers and twenty seamen.

During the attack of some two and a half hours the garrison put up such a spirited defence that the ships had to withdraw, having suffered 6 dead, and 56 wounded, as well as being severely damaged. That same evening a body of troops under the command of Major General David Dundas was landed and the following morning an attack was launched from the landward side and victory was only gained when the attacking troops contrived to smoke out the gallant defenders by setting fire to faggots piled against the tower.

This remarkable achievement of such a small...

We are honoured to publish this in depth article by Dr Robin Lee on the history of radar in the Overstrand area during World War II. Robin is a retired academic and founder member of the Hermanus History Society which is dedicated to the identification and preservation of heritage sites in the area.

At the beginning of World War II British anti-aircraft guns struggled to bring down even one aircraft each day in the waves of German bombers pounding their cities.  In 1940 it was calculated that the gunners, using conventional metal sights on their guns, had such difficulty in hitting their targets that, on average, 75 000 shells were fired to bring down a single enemy bomber. Each shell contained valuable material that could not be retrieved for use again and manufacturing the shells took the time of hundreds of workers, mainly women.

However, by 1943, aided by a new technology, gunners were expending an average of only 2 000 shells per plane downed. By 1945 this number had dropped into the hundreds. The new technology was RAdio Detection and Ranging, known to everyone as RADAR. It was also very effective in detecting ships and submarines (near or on the surface) and later in the war, became an offensive weapon, when it was mounted on aircraft or ships to focus firepower on targets.

Painting: flak...