Delville Wood

by Ian Uys

  The regiment’s losses during the day were heavy. The officers killed were Capt G J Miller, Lieut C B Parsons, Sec-Lieuts E A L Hahn, A E Brown, A C Haarhoff and J Hollingsworth; those wounded were Capt and Adj T O Priday, Lieut A W Craig, Sec-Lieuts H G Chapman and U Tempany.

  The war diary continued, “It was impossible to ascertain the casualties of other ranks owing to the killed being left out and it being impossible to get in the severely wounded until after dark; also some joined other units, the numbers of them it being impossible to verify for some days. At 10 pm the CO returned to battalion HQ issuing orders that the two companies of the 4th SAI were to occupy the trenches previously occupied by C Coy.”

  *

  Padre Eustace Hill continued to succour the wounded, oblivious of shells and bullets. When asking for volunteers to act as stretcher-bearers he would shout “Do you believe in God? If you do, follow me!” There were always those who did. One of the more reluctant men is believed to have replied “It’s all very well for you, father, if hit you know where you’d go!”

  Second-Lieutenant Arthur E Brown, the fifth son of the late Mr J Brown of Sea Point, who had once represented Cape Town in the old Cape House of Assembly, was killed during the attack.

  When the adjutant, Lieut Thomas Priday, was wounded, Lieut Sydney Style of King William’s Town took over his duties. During the following days he was to cross ground many times which was swept by hostile enemy rifle and machine-gun fire to give orders or to ascertain the situation. He also organised the supply of rations, water and ammunition to exposed positions.

  *

  That night L/Cpl George Arthur Hort displayed utter fearlessness in removing wounded men from in front of the front-line trenches. Very lights lit up the wood and severe rifle and machine-gun fire made the rescues extremely hazardous. Thereafter Hort assisted in evacuating the wounded from the front dressing-station under heavy shell fire.

  *

  Captain Percy Jowett led his company “over the top” in the attack on the north-west corner. The men charged through the brambles, leaping over broken branches and shattered tree trunks, — then dived for cover and hurriedly searched about for camouflaged and hidden German snipers. The momentum of the attack flagged in the face of heavy machine-gun fire.

  Shells dropped among them and bullets whistled past. Private Charles Dunn was hit by shrapnel in the chest and knocked over. Fortunately his left breast pocket contained a small bible which absorbed the impact of a jagged piece of metal. It cut through the pages and stopped over a celluloid cross bookmark.

  He rose shakily to continue the advance. A sniper’s bullet then bowled him over. The bullet tore through his pocket watch, sending pieces into his left chest. He lay dazed for a while as blood saturated his uniform, then lurched to his feet and headed back for the starting line.

  “… I staggered towards a trench with blood pouring from my mouth and wound. The feeling was terrible. I can see myself now as I staggered along shouting for help. Some of the men kept telling me to lie down. On my reaching the trench I collapsed from weakness and loss of blood. This happened about half an hour after going over the top. I lay in that trench for twelve hours — I was bleeding most of the time and really thought my last day had come. It was awful lying helpless with shells bursting all round.

  “The Cameron Scottish took over the trench I lay in and were really very kind to me. They did everything in their power to make me comfortable. At about 7 pm that same evening, it commenced to rain and all that I had over me was a waterproof. It was not very long before I got wet through to the skin. The fighting that night was terrible. The Germans continually made counter-attacks on all sides. If I thought once that I was going to be blown up, I must have thought it a dozen times over. Some of the shells would explode so near that stones and mud would keep on falling in the trench.”

  *

  Private Frederick Edward Dromgoole, a storeman from Wynberg, Cape Town, later wrote to his wife, Frances, from a London hospital: “I had rather a rough time on that never-to-be-forgotten Sunday morning of July 16, and will now tell you how I was hit. It was 10 o’clock in the morning when we went over the parapet to charge the Germans.

  “A corporal, myself and another chap went in advance as a bombing party to try and find their machine-guns and, if possible, put them out of action. Everything was going fine. We were dishing out bombs to the Huns all right when suddenly a sniper caught me in the arm with an explosive bullet.

  “Luckily for me it just touched the bone and only splintered it a bit. It was enough to make the bullet expand, and this made a nasty hole in coming out. As soon as I was hit my fingers curled up and my hand became useless. I got one of the boys to bandage it for me, but as the blood was running like a tap it was soon soaked.

  “Our officer, coming up, ordered me to the dressing-station at once. By this time things had become pretty hot. Bullets and shells were flying in all directions. I started for our trenches (to get to the dressing-station) when I got souvenir No 2. A bullet went clean through my steel helmet and gave me a nasty wound in the head.

  “As things were getting too hot for my liking I decided to take cover. I lay flat, thinking to wait for a lull in the entertainment, but my luck was out. I had hardly lain there five minutes when I got No 3. A piece of shrapnel hit me in the back. This, however, was not much, although it was a bit painful.

  “I also got some small pieces in my left shoulder, and was hit in the right thigh, when I made another attempt at leaving the wood. So, taking it all round, I had a pretty hot time, and think myself lucky in getting out alive. It was at first thought that I would have to lose my arm, but fortunately for me, it is healing quite nicely now.”

  *

  Private Emile Mathis, 17, was in No 3 platoon (the Yiddisher platoon) under Sec-Lieut Jack Hollingsworth to whom he acted as batman. Mathis was later to write of the attack that morning.

  “When we attacked on the morning of July 16, 1916, from the waist-high trench we had dug in the wood we were almost immediately pinned down by heavy machine-gun and rifle fire.

  “It swept in purposefully from the front and the flanks and took its toll. A slight rise in the ground gave some cover to a few of us.

  “Behind this six of us were lying — they were Lieut Isaacs (B Coy), Cpl Healy (D Coy — Lewis guns), myself, Johnny Grimes, ‘Daddy’ Neilson and Lange, four of us out of A Coy.

  “Corporal Healy was later awarded the DCM. I brought up ammunition for him as the rest of his gun-crew were put out of action as soon as we attacked.

  “Lieutenant Isaacs asked me to take a despatch back to headquarters asking for reinforcements. I managed to get back and found men of C Company of the 4th Regiment (the Scottish) occupying the trench we had hastily dug and from which our attack had been made.

  “I told the officer in charge that Isaacs and Healey would try to get back under cover of darkness that night. Their withdrawal was successful; Grimes and Neilson managed to crawl back during a heavy shower of rain. Lange, in the same attempt, was killed.”

  Lieutenant Hollingsworth never returned from the attack and was posted as missing, assumed killed.

  *

  This company was in the centre of the attack on the north-west corner. Casualties were heavy as the South Africans advanced in the face of heavy machine-gun and rifle fire. Captain George Miller was killed while leading the company.

  One of the runners in action was William Frederick Faulds, 21. He came from Cradock, Cape, where he had attended school. “Mannie” as he was known to all, was of a shy and retiring disposition, yet full of fun among his friends. He worked for the Midland Motor Garage until the Rebellion, when he joined the Cradock Commando for service in SWA.

  Faulds re-enlisted in B Company of the 1st SAI and had his baptism of fire in Egypt. His mother, Wilhelmina, was a widow with seven children, two of whom served in the 1st SAI; his brother, Paisley, being with him at Delville Wood.

  Faulds’ platoon commander,
Lieut Arthur Craig, used him as a messenger and said of Faulds: “He did not know the meaning of fear. Day after day he would carry messages through the hottest corners, run the gauntlet of snipers and machine-guns and then push through a galling barrage fire. Delivering the message he would have to return by the same route with probably intensified efforts of the enemy to prevent his rejoining us. In this work Faulds was of inestimable service to me and his platoon.”

  Lieutenant Arthur Craig, originally from County Donegal, Ireland, led a bombing party which came under heavy machine-gun and rifle fire. He was to be thankful that his runner, Mannie Faulds, was nearby.

  Craig later reported: “It was on July 16, near Delville Wood. We were ordered to attack a section of German trench strongly held and supported at either end by machine-guns. Rushing across 40 yards of no-man’s-land under a heavy enfilading fire from the machine-guns we got held up. Our trench ran at right angles to the German trench; between the two was about 15 yards clear with barricades at each end.

  “It was just short of the German trench that I dropped. Most of my men, too, had fallen. I managed to roll some yards to the intervening ‘trench’ between the opposing barricades. I call it a trench but the ground had been practically levelled by shell fire.

  “Seventy-five yards away the machine-guns were blazing at me. I got hit twice in the left shoulder. It seemed that I hadn’t an earthly hope. Then Faulds in broad daylight — it was about 10.30 am — climbed the barricade and crawled to me. He was accompanied by Private (George F) Baker and another man (Pte Alexander Estment).

  “It took them twenty-five minutes to drag me over the barricade. They pulled me by the left leg. One of my rescuers (Baker) was badly hit and it was a miracle that any of us got out alive.

  “I was particularly impressed with the masterly way Faulds, the leading spirit, handled the situation. While lying on the ground my tunic was torn to shreds by machine-gun bullets, my equipment cut to pieces and my water bottle splintered to pieces.

  “I must say this: Faulds was my only chance — it was a millionth chance, but he pulled it off.” During the episode Baker received two bad wounds.

  *

  During the course of the day Gen Lukin and Gen Scrase-Dickens, the OC of the 27th Brigade, visited “D” trench facing the enemy strong point and came to the conclusion that it could only be taken after artillery preparation. Sec-Lieut Frederick English displayed great courage and resource at trench D, in bombing the enemy and firing on them over the parapet whenever they moved along their trench. It was then possible for his sentries to keep their heads above the parapet without being fired at.

  The enemy undoubtedly suffered a fair number of casualties, for as the trench mortars made them run along their trench from one place to another Lieut English and his men poured a heavy fire into them with Lewis guns and rifles.

  *

  Henry Sherman’s second day in the wood was to be his last.

  “On Sunday morning, July 16, at 10.30 am we had to make our first really big bayonet charge. We went over as a whole unit and that is where we copped it. We were decimated. I was one of the lucky ones. We went over on the blast of a whistle and then our boys fell like flies. As I was going over with two bags of Lewis ammunition a machine-gunner got it in the throat. He fell on me, knocking me right back into the trench.

  “Now I was in a fix. Wounded were crawling back in the trench, but I had to walk over them and to another spot as the original one was marked. I got over safely and wriggled myself along the ground to within ten yards of their trench. Our boys were lying down waiting for the next rush.

  “In the meantime I spotted a German officer, had a shot at him, but missed. He was in their support trench which was lined with machine-guns.

  “A chap in A Company was going to pot at him, but I got my second shot off before him and the officer fell like a log. Some fine language was thrown at me by the A Company man. I knew the Hun by his helmet.

  “We waited for about twenty minutes for the next rush and got tired of it. Word was passed along for any officer, but not one could be found, so I threw off all my pack, rifle as well, a silly thing to do, and crawled along to the right about 25 yards to see if any officer was near, but all were hit, so back I crawled to my kit. As I was buckling it on, Mr Sniper caught me napping.

  “He must have been up a tree as I had good cover behind a stump. He was a good shot. I was wounded in the shoulder by the sniper shooting from a platform in a tree. I managed to wriggle back to my own trench and fall into it.

  “I told an A Company man about the officers being hit, but he advised me to crawl once more. So off goes all my kit again and I crawled in agony. Bullets seemed to fall thicker than ever, but I think it was a delirious imagination.

  “At the back of our irregular trench I came across a dump of bread and water. I ate half a loaf ravenously, had a drink, and then worked my way into an old German dug-out where I found a man of the 2nd battalion who dressed my wound. He had a sprained knee.

  “The Huns spotted us there and sent some gentle reminders. Out I dashed this time and came across one of my mates wounded. A Black Watch stretcher-bearer hurried us along to a dressing-station. In order to get out of the shell-fire as soon as possible, we picked up another wounded mate and the three of us set out on a good pace, being walking patients. We passed through several dressing-stations, had our wounds dressed and, of course, plenty of good things to eat. Those RAMC boys do wonderful work, and at every station there are tons of eatable luxuries.”

  Sherman’s greatest praise was for his company’s two stretcher-bearers, Van Loggenberg and Willis, from South End, Port Elizabeth, who had worked in Victoria Park before joining up.

  *

  Another Port Elizabeth man in the thick of it was Pte Jack Clifford Atterbury, 18, who had been a feather-sorter before the war. He was born on New Year’s day 1898. After the fighting in Delville Wood he recalled the bravery of Mannie Faulds, the charmed life Lieut Fred English bore and that Lieut Leonard Isaacs from Kimberley was “a hell of a nice guy!”

  *

  Sergeant John Charles Hurlin, 23, came from Wynberg. His father, Charles Hurlin, was from Bethnal Green, London, and had enlisted in 1886 at the age of 21 in the East Yorkshire Regiment. After serving in Jamaica he was posted to South Africa where he bought himself out of the army to open a grocery and drapers’ shop in Main Road, Wynberg. He married Ann Bridget Clark from Kimberley and they had 13 children.

  One of the sons, Eddie, fell in with bad company so was promptly packed off to Australia. The eldest son, John Charles, generally known as Charlie, was 5 ft 4 ins tall and weighed 130 lbs. He served in the CPR for two years before joining the brigade and was promoted to sergeant in January 1916. He was wounded at Delville Wood and later wrote to his father, who recounted the day’s events.

  “He was hit just below the right knee and fell into a shell-hole, and then another bullet hit him in the helmet. His chum was immediately killed and fell on top of him. He then had to run about 50 yards to get to the dressing-station, with snipers firing at him all the time.

  “He says he does not know how he managed to come out alive. He hopes to be back again in about a month’s time to have another pot at Mr Fritz. He says you must not think the Germans are all boys and old men, because they are not; the men they had up against them were six-footers, and very good shots.”

  *

  Private Harold George Litton Hall, 21, was a clerk from Cradock. He joined the SA Railways in 1910, then served in Prince Alfred’s Guards before joining the brigade. He was extremely ill in Alexandria, suffering from diarrhoea, enteritis and enteric. He survived to suffer a severe gunshot wound in the thigh during the Delville Wood fighting.

  *

  The company left Strand Street to reinforce the north-eastern side of the wood, where they were later shelled.

  *

  Victor Casson was to lose his friend, Jimmy McGregor, in the bombardment.

  “About 7
am an order came along the line to advance and occupy the remaining 30 yards of the wood. There was no shell fire or resistance. About 40 men of C Company reached the edge of the wood and faced the entrenched Germans about 100 yards away.

  “We started to dig ourselves in to consolidate our position when suddenly all hell was let loose. A battery of German artillery raked our position, killing and wounding all but McGregor and I. A chap in my sector was badly wounded and between us we managed to take him with us. The badly wounded and maimed were scattered about calling for help and no help came. What a tragedy to see one’s friends and not be able to help them.

  “McGregor and I retreated to our original funk-hole. At this stage the wood was subjected to a rain of shell fire, the whole wood appeared to be hit by an earthquake. The wood heaved and shook, blowing up trees and men. Mutilated bodies lay everywhere. The dying and the maimed called out for water and help — but there was none to be had. It rained hell-fire and steel; the whole wood was subjected to massive shell fire on the ground and in the air. McGregor and I were safe in our funk-hole unless we received a direct hit from a coalbox, a 100 lb shell.”

  Jimmy McGregor later left their shelter and Casson never saw him again.

  *

  Geoffrey Lawrence would never forget his second day in the wood.

  “At dawn we were ordered to move deeper into the wood. We filed carefully through the dense and beautiful forest to the furthest corner and were told to dig again and to dig quickly as the enemy was very near. Gussie Harrison (Pte G A Harrison from Glasgow, Scotland) and I paired off and dug down about three feet with only just room for us to squat. Lying close to us were two strapping young Bavarians killed during the night and many wounded Germans. I went over and took the water bottles, still full, from the bodies.

  “All was quiet for a short spell and we were able to look about us and admire the beautiful wood of tall trees above us and bracken and brambles below. The sun shone and everywhere great spider webs glistened with dew. The noise in the wood was terrific though in our area no shells were falling at the time.