The Military History Society of NSW

This is the "From the Editor" column of the Spring 2019 issue of the Society's quarterly magazine, RECONNAISSANCE. The full magazine is available to Society members. Welcome to the Spring 2019 issue of Reconnaissance. We have seen many wartime centenaries and anniversaries over recent times and this year is no exception. 2019 marks the 75 th  anniversary of events during that pivotal Second World War year of 1944. For the English speaking world at least, no event of that period was bigger than D-Day. Operation Overlord may not have been as devastating for the Third Reich as the unstoppable Soviet juggernaut. But that success on the Normandy beaches was more than an indispensable condition for Nazi defeat, it was a crucial determinant of post-war history in Europe and across the world. So it is worth commemorating, even here in Australia. In that vein the Society dedicated its July lecture to a D-Day related subject. Our President stepped forward with a capt...

The world’s first military railway  was built in 1855 during the invasion of Crimea by Great Britain  and France, known subsequently as ‘Grand Central Crimean Railway’. Growing to 17 miles of track, its purpose was to supply ammunition and provisions to Allied soldiers engaged in the highly engineered siege of Sevastopol . While the invasion of Crimea is widely regarded as a disaster, this was a case of logistics undertaken by experts who knew exactly what they were doing and how to do it. Colin Kay DCM is a member of our Society and has a Bachelor of Arts degree in modern history. He served as a warrant officer class 2 in the Royal Australian Engineers of the Australian Army, during which time he was awarded the DCM. Time & Venue: Saturday, 2 November 2019, 2:00pm – 3:00pm, Goulburn Room, Level 4, City of Sydney RSL, 561-567 George Street, Sydney CBD. Admission is free of charge but a gold coin donation would be appreciated. For further information call...

Military History Society of NSW group visit to the Australian Army Infantry Museum, Singleton, 29 September 2019 The latest event in the Society’s excursion program was a group visit on Sunday, 29 September 2019 to the Australian Army Infantry Museum at Singleton, 200 kilometres north-west of Sydney. A sizeable party of Society members climbed aboard the private bus driven by our President in York Street, Sydney CBD at 8:00 am. The chilly morning turned into a beautiful spring day as we proceeded up the Pacific Highway and other routes to arrive at Singleton just before 11:00 am. The museum is located alongside Lone Pine Barracks, an Australian Army base hosting the Australian Army School of Infantry and other army support services. On arrival we were treated to a warm reception from the AAIM’s assistant manager Warrant Officer Warren Barnes, who led us on an informative and entertaining tour of the facility.  The museum has a long history. Starting ...

The Somme campaign between July and November 1916 is widely regarded as one of the greatest tragedies in British and Imperial military history, costing a total of 420,000 casualties, around 57,470 of those on the first day alone. The causes of the disaster have been examined and re-examined ever since, but a few myths persist in the popular imagination. Having studied the offensive closely, Major John Hitchen (Australian Army Reserve) will challenge some of the common misconceptions. Amongst other things, he will discuss governance of the British Empire’s defences, omissions of political and military leaders, foibles of some officers at General Headquarters (GHQ), lost opportunities to monopolise the acquisition of Maxim machine guns, techniques to clear barbed wire obstacles, recruitment and training of personnel in the use of artillery, and British training in general, particularly of officers. Time & Venue: Saturday, 5 October ...

Captain Albert Poland of the Royal Navy recorded his Second World War service in daily notebooks from mid-April 1941 until January 1943. During this critical time he saw action during the whole dramatic eight-month Siege of Tobruk by Rommel’s Afrika Korps, from April to November 1941.  As an Officer Inshore Squadron, Albert was responsible for all ships supplying the besieged garrison, including units of the 9th Australian   Division, with food, ammunition, fuel etc.  Afterwards he continued to support the army in opening up ports along the Mediterranean coast as they advanced.  In March 1942 he was appointed a Captain of the 14th Destroyer Flotilla, commanding HMS Jervis and escorting convoys to Malta, confronting the Italian Navy at the Battle of Sirte, and rescuing crew of flotilla vessels sunk by the Luftwaffe outside Alexandria. Albert’s notebooks were transcribed by his son Peter and, along with other primary source material, were published...

Editor's comments from the Winter 2019 issue of the Society's quarterly magazine Reconnaissance , which is available to Society members. Welcome to the Winter 2019 edition of Reconnaissance . This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of that eventful year 1969, which some regard as climactic in the history of the Vietnam War. In honour of the occasion we present a special Vietnam themed issue of Reconnaissance .   Our cover article is by Lieutenant-Colonel (retd) Steve Hart, who served in every commissioned rank at 101 Wireless/7 Signal Regiment of the Australian Army in Cabarlah between 1962 and 1976 and completed a two year attachment to British Army of the Rhine (BOAR) in Germany for Electronic Warfare (EW) training in 1964 to 19 66. He was Commanding Officer of the Regiment when it undertook the first Army EW Courses at Cabarlah   in 1975 and he raised the first EW   Unit, 72 EW Squadron, in 1976. He also undertook a posting to Washington and left the ...

Denis Smith’s talk could also be sub-titled ‘the story of a RAAF fighter pilot with RAF 151 Wing’. It tells the largely unknown story of HMS Argus, the aircraft carrier which transported 24 RAF Hurricane fighter planes to Russia in 1941. Around 3,000 Hurricanes followed in subsequent convoys, promised by Churchill to Stalin. One of the pilots was an Australian RAAF fighter pilot, Denis’s close friend ‘Nat’ Gould. His other nickname was ‘Natski’ after his time flying in Russia. Conditions in the Russian winter were very harsh but when the Japanese came into the war, Nat returned to Australia and flew Kittyhawks at Milne Bay, as well as Spitfires, Seafires, Mustangs, SeaFuries, Fireflies, Vampires and Hellcats to name a few. Denis will be presenting with the assistance of a documentary special film made for prime time Russian TV in 2016 called "Arctic Brotherhood" for the 75th Anniversary of the first Arctic Convoy to Russia. The documentary is dubbed into English. He...