Description of problem:
In some cases systemd perhaps kill bash process, so that isn't able save it's history file. This may occur randomly perhaps when machine is rebooted too (but i'm not able simulate it now, it's only speculation).
But below described sequence give me 100% results.

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):
systemd-37-17.fc16.i686
bash-4.2.24-1.fc16.i686
mc-4.8.1-2.fc16.i686
kernel-PAE-3.3.1-3.fc16.i686

Steps to Reproduce:
1. from console shell run mc (Midnight Commander)
2. with CTRL/O hide mc panels and in subshell type several commands
3. then retrieve mc panels pressing CTRL/O again, and with F10 leave mc
4. history file (~/.bash_history) should contain entered commands appended, but these not there.
  
Additional info:
what is slightly interesting, when before point 3) above I tell systemd do debugging (by "/bin/kill -s SIGRTMIN+22 1" command), then bash suffice to save its history. In /var/log/messages however are no systemd messages (with the exception of "systemd[1]: Setting log level to debug." line).
And when I then will send "/bin/kill -s SIGRTMIN+23 1" command), and then repeate steps 1-4 above, then in messages is only "systemd[1]: Setting log level to info." line, and in history file are omitted subshell commands.