1st Battalion - The Cape, the 2nd Free State, joined up with Natal.
The 3rd Battalion - Rhodesian, with their comrades from Transvaal.
4th Battalion - Scottish, though they were colonial.
Machine gunners, mortar men, medics,
and Engineers as well.
• Lyrics from ‘Streets of Delville Wood’ by John Edmond
The battle of Delville Wood was part of the larger WW1 Somme offensive, in which British Empire and French forces attempted to break the German lines.
Made up of men from all over the country, the South African brigade at Delville wood were going to be the first fully South African force to see combat in Europe. The South Africans initially achieved success in their objectives, taking much of the wood and the nearby town of Longeauval, but the Germans soon counterattacked with a significantly larger force, and pushed the South Africans to the very edge of the town and the wood itself, leaving the men of the South African Brigade surrounded on 3 and sometimes 4 sides.
The South Africans were ordered to hold the wood ‘At all costs’, and this is what they did.
Refusing to surrender, the 3400 odd South Africans honored their orders and continuously fought off wave after wave of German artillery and men, resulting in brutal close quarters fighting.
After 6 days and 5 nights of holding the Wood without food, water, ammunition, or rest, the South Africans were relieved by a British contingent. Only 750 soldiers remained of the Brigade’s 3 433 soldiers, the rest having been killed or captured. The tiny group of South African survivors were led out of Delville Wood in honour to the shrill of the relieving Black Watch’s bagpipes. When General Lukin took the salute as the men filed past, he didn’t only return the salute; he removed his cap and wept.
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u/IlikeGeekyHistoryRSA 5d ago
1st Battalion - The Cape, the 2nd Free State, joined up with Natal.
The 3rd Battalion - Rhodesian, with their comrades from Transvaal.
4th Battalion - Scottish, though they were colonial.
Machine gunners, mortar men, medics,
and Engineers as well.
• Lyrics from ‘Streets of Delville Wood’ by John Edmond
The battle of Delville Wood was part of the larger WW1 Somme offensive, in which British Empire and French forces attempted to break the German lines.
Made up of men from all over the country, the South African brigade at Delville wood were going to be the first fully South African force to see combat in Europe. The South Africans initially achieved success in their objectives, taking much of the wood and the nearby town of Longeauval, but the Germans soon counterattacked with a significantly larger force, and pushed the South Africans to the very edge of the town and the wood itself, leaving the men of the South African Brigade surrounded on 3 and sometimes 4 sides.
The South Africans were ordered to hold the wood ‘At all costs’, and this is what they did.
Refusing to surrender, the 3400 odd South Africans honored their orders and continuously fought off wave after wave of German artillery and men, resulting in brutal close quarters fighting.
After 6 days and 5 nights of holding the Wood without food, water, ammunition, or rest, the South Africans were relieved by a British contingent. Only 750 soldiers remained of the Brigade’s 3 433 soldiers, the rest having been killed or captured. The tiny group of South African survivors were led out of Delville Wood in honour to the shrill of the relieving Black Watch’s bagpipes. When General Lukin took the salute as the men filed past, he didn’t only return the salute; he removed his cap and wept.