Delville Wood

by Ian Uys

  “The papers will tell you all that, but what they can’t tell you is that at a moderate estimate the staff say that in that small area of about 1,000 yards square the Germans poured shells at the rate of 400 a minute between six and eight hours — work that out, and it’s nearly a quarter of a million shells — but they couldn’t turn our boys out.

  “At another place where our transport was, they poured in 10,000 lachrymatory and gas shells in hours. Do you wonder some were gassed?

  “Our poor old brigade is nearly gone; but we have others coming in, and they will do well, but they are not the old crowd — they never will be until they have passed through their Delville and proved themselves.

  “I have been in command of the (2nd) Regiment (Natal) — they had no one else left — but have just returned to the old lot again. What a gap! There only seems to be myself and the colonel left — as a matter of fact, there are only Nicholson, Davis and Isaacs left besides us two. Nicholson now commands ‘D.’”

  *

  General Lukin concluded his interim report by drawing attention to the services rendered by his officers.

  “Major J Mitchell Baker DSO, brigade major, rendered me most valuable assistance throughout the operation. He is a tireless and thoroughly capable staff officer.

  “Captain A L Pepper, staff captain, carried out his responsible duties to my entire satisfaction. This officer has for a long period rendered excellent service and I recommend him for special recognition.

  “Lieutenant P R Roseby, intelligence officer (died of wounds). This officer on all occasions showed ability and courage in the performance of his duties.

  “Lieutenant F W S Burton, signal officer, is a capable officer with an intimate knowledge of his work, which he carries out wholeheartedly.

  “Captain T V Ward, brigade transport officer, proved himself to be thoroughly capable and efficient in the performance of his responsible duties.

  “Lieut-Colonel F S Dawson CMG (commanding 1st SAI), commanded detachments of the 1st and 4th SAI with ability during the arduous and difficult street fighting which took place in Longueval from 14 to 19 July.

  “Lieut-Colonel W E C Tanner CMG (commanding 2nd SAI), was in command of his battalion in the attack on Delville Wood, and after the capture of the wood was, until wounded on 17 July, in command of the troops holding it. He carried out his duties in an able manner.

  “Lieut-Colonel E F Thackeray CMG (commanding 3rd SAI), commanded his battalion at the capture of Delville Wood and. after Lieut-Col Tanner was wounded, took over the command of the troops in the wood, with orders that it was to be held at all costs. On the morning of 18 July the enemy commenced a hurricane bombardment and attacked the wood with 9½ battalions. The troops holding the perimeter of the wood were practically decimated — all officers being either killed or wounded.

  “Lieut-Colonel Thackeray’s Headquarters had been established in a narrow trench in the south-west portion of the wood known as Buchanan Street. Here this gallant officer, in spite of heavy bombardment and constant fierce attacks by the enemy, held on with his few remaining men.

  “During the night 18/19 several hot bombing fights took place during which Lieut-Col Thackeray’s fine work stimulated his much exhausted men to fight on.

  “Lieut-Colonel Thackeray with the remnants of his force held the south-west portion of Delville Wood until 20 July when he was relieved.

  “I have no hesitation in stating that in my opinion it was the splendid gallantry, fine example and devotion to duty of this officer that enabled the British troops to retain a footing in Delville Wood. I recommend that he be awarded the Victoria Cross.

  “Major D Macleod took over the command of the 4th SAI after the death of Lieut-Colonel Jones. This officer has proved himself to be a gallant and capable battalion commander. In the fighting in Delville Wood he continued to command his men until he was wounded a second time.

  “Major R N Pringle. This officer was in command of the bearer section, SA Field Ambulance, attached to my brigade. The evacuation of the wounded was a most difficult task but this officer by his untiring efforts did everything to overcome it with the means at his disposal.

  “Major G R Hearn. This officer commanded the 64th Field Company, RE, attached to my brigade, and rendered valuable service.

  “Captain J Patterson, commanding 28th Brigade Machine-gun Company, and Captain P J Baily, commanding the SALTM Battery both carried out their duties to my satisfaction.

  “A number of officers and other ranks have been recommended by me already for immediate reward for special acts of gallantry and good work performed by them in the course of the operations and I attach a schedule of these.

  “Owing to the heavy casualties amongst officers it has been impossible to obtain all recommendations of regimental officers — this is particularly the case as regards the 2nd SAI, as all officers of that unit who were in Delville Wood became casualties.

  “As I do not wish to delay submitting this despatch I propose to submit my further recommendations at a later date.”

  *

  Major Hunt’s recollection of the following four days concerned reinforcements, newspapermen — and rest.

  “July 21st — Moved to Happy Valley. Draft of 88 joined. Harris acting adjutant.

  “July 22nd — Happy Valley. Draft of 59 joined. Mitchell rejoined from Highland Brigade staff.

  “July 23rd — Moved via Meaulté to Maricourt. Set upon by a plague of war correspondents, but found myself somewhat at a loss as they wanted ‘incidents’ and at the moment I could think of none to tell them. Entrained at night for Hengest.

  “July 24 — Marched to Moufflers and lay down in afternoon and rested in long grass.”

  *

  When Lieut-Col Frederic Tatham heard that his son, Lieut Errol Tatham, was reported as “wounded and missing” he immediately went to Delville Wood to personally search for him. He had just been informed that his youngest son, Midshipman William Tatham, 19, was presumed killed when his submarine hit a mine in the Adriatic.

  On 18 August Col Tatham wrote a letter in which he resigned himself to Errol’s death.

  “The dead lying in Delville Wood were still unburied when I was there (because burial was impossible under the fire going on). Men lie in layers. The South African heroes lie underneath.

  “I wonder whether history will do them justice. Will it tell how, ordered to take and hold the wood at all costs, they took it — and then began one of the most heroic defences known in the history of war? For three days (July 15-18) they were subjected to continuous bombardment by guns of all calibre. They held on with very little food or water. Over and over again they were attacked by overwhelming enemy forces. The gallant fellows fell fast under the terrific bombardment and attacks, but not a man wavered.

  “Finding them immovable, the Germans, at last, on the 18th, concentrated a terrific bombardment for seven hours on what was left of these splendid men, and then, about 5 or 6 pm launched an attack by three regiments on the survivors. The front trench was attacked in front and on each flank. My son’s trench was attacked from back and front.

  “Our gallant, splendid men, reduced to a mere skeleton of what they were, beat back the Brandenburgers. It was during this awful time that my dear boy fell. They died, our noble South Africans, but they held the wood! Thank God, they held the wood! and thank God, they kept up the traditions of our race! And my splendid boy helped. He took no inconsiderable part either.

  “I want our South Africans to get the credit they deserve. If you have any friends who can spread the news of what they did, let it be told. I resign my dear son, who was very, very dear to me, into the safe keeping of my Maker, who gave him to me. It is very hard to part with him, but I glory in his glorious end, my splendid, chivalrous boy: and if his example inspires others, he will not have died in vain.

  “Use this letter as you like, in order to let the world know what the South Africans did. I want these heroes to have some (they can nev
er have all) of the honour due to their glorious memories. What a theme for some painter’s brush or some poet’s inspiration!”

  *

  Reports reaching South Africa of the Delville Wood battle and casualties were at first unconfirmed and gave rise to rumours of terrific losses sweeping the country. The “South Africa” newspaper repudiated such rumours in order to allay unnecessary alarm.

  “Rumour has been busy this week with tales of how the South Africans have suffered in the Great Sweep. As the very circumstantial report went, out of a force of 4,000, only 400 were left. This was too much to go unchallenged, and ‘South Africa’ took the matter up with the Records Office in Victoria Street. Colonel Herbert condemned the statement unhesitatingly, and said that the circulators of such alarms ought to be punished.

  “The South African casualties are no higher than those of any other troops, and 20 per cent would be a liberal estimate. Further, the proportion of wounded to killed in the lists is very large. The truth of this is shown by a typical list issued one day this week, wherein there were 60 of the former to six of the latter.

  “There are also a great number of trivial wounds which heal quickly … It is interesting to observe, by the way, that the rank and file casualty lists are published approximately a fortnight after the casualties occur. Officers’ names are telegraphed and get through more quickly.

  “Colonel Herbert entirely denies the story of the 400 survivors, and characterises it as a pure invention. ‘There might be an excuse for it if it came straight from the front,’ he said. ‘Wounded, and with men falling all around, one gets a highly exaggerated idea of the number of deaths occurring.’”

  *

  The “glamour” of war is lost on the dead, wounded, blinded and maimed. The South African wounded walked or were carried on stretchers to the regimental aid posts (RAPs) then to advanced dressing-stations (ADS) where they were given anti-tetanus injections. From there they were conveyed at night in ambulances or wagons to a casualty clearing-station (CCS) near Corbie then to a field hospital.

  Transport was then by barge to Abbeville (No 1 SA General Hospital) or by hospital train to Rouen or to the large military hospital at Etaples on the coast. If the patient qualified for a Blighty he was taken by hospital ship to England. The large London hospitals were at Shepherd’s Bush, Tooting, Clapton, Wandsworth (No 3 General Hospital), Denmark Hill (No 4 General Hospital) and Richmond, the latter being later reserved largely for Springbok patients and staffed by South African doctors and nurses.

  *

  Arthur Stanley of the 1st Battalion D Coy was gassed at Delville Wood. Despite this he was impressed by London’s reception to our wounded.

  “The reception London gave us when the ambulance train arrived was marvellous. The crowd stopped the ambulances and nearly smothered us with roses and pinks, and all the old men (no young now) raised their hats when we passed, and all ladies waved. As for us we mostly wiped our eyes.

  “The wounded who are able, go driving every day and have a grand time. I am on a water-bed, not allowed to move, worse luck. Each morning about nine they carry my bed out into the grounds and there I stay till eight at night reading and writing a little, and thinking lots; not what you would call a stirring life perhaps, but there are no shells or land mines and it suits me for a while.

  “The English papers say great things of the South African Infantry, and I’m very bucked by it; as many of my pals are dead and I’m glad it’s not in vain.

  “The doctor does not tell me much, but I overhear I’ve got to go on getting worse for six weeks and then either take up land (6 ft x 2 ft) or more or less get well. The pain is not bad, only a tired feeling and suffocation, alternating with violent fits of coughing that do not remove the obstruction.”

  *

  Arthur Betteridge of the 4th SAI C Coy was one of the wounded men sent to England.

  “I must have done a lot of sleeping because the next thing I recalled was waking up in a hospital ship filled with all manner of officers and men who had an astonishing variety of wounds. We were bedded down in a series of bunks built in tiers.

  “It was so refreshing to feel the unaccustomed cleanliness of sheets and to see the cheerful clean faces of VAD nurses and sisters. Two of the wounded men died on the way across the channel. They were buried in England. On arrival at Southampton we were relabelled for conveyance to various hospitals. I was taken to Chelsea Hospital in London where most of the British regulars who had been blinded a year earlier, were attended to.

  “Next morning an old Boer War veteran sister attended to my wound in the thigh; without moistening the bandage which fitted the hole nicely, tore the bandage off, giving me hell. I objected to this treatment and she was quite shocked that a mere private should dare to complain. When I spoke to the doctor he sent me to the South African Hospital at Richmond.

  “I forgot to mention that while lying in the field before being picked up, I was slightly gassed as well. This seriously affected my eyes; for a few days I was almost blind. Fortunately no serious damage was done by the gas and I quickly regained normal sight. Instead of reaching the South African hospital I landed up at a delightful VAD hospital on Richmond Green where I met several of my pals who had also been wounded a few days before I got my Blighty.

  “The nurses here were kindness itself. The site of the hospital was right next to the Thames at Richmond Bridge. In this lovely home for the wounded, we had lots of fun. Some of the nurses were rather inexperienced and we pulled their legs, asking why it was necessary when taking or getting a bed bath, for them to wash us down as far as possible, then up as far as possible, leaving the washing of ‘possible’ to the patient himself.

  “When able to get about on crutches we were able to explore the delights of the river, many a happy afternoon was spent in a punt on that lovely part of the river. Eelpie Island was at its best that fine summer in 1916.

  “On 21 July my parents in Klerksdorp received a cable, saying I was missing, presumed killed in France. News of the battle for Delville Wood had appeared in the South African papers which carried news of the battle and heavy casualties.

  “My mother positively disbelieved I had been killed. She explained to my father and sisters that about the time I was wounded on the 18th, not knowing I had been wounded that day, she had a most vivid feeling I had been hurt in the battle then raging, but that I was safe. She had not told the family because she did not want to worry them.

  “Only a week later was the original news amended to say I was seriously wounded but safe in hospital. That night of the 18th my mother dreamed she saw me in a kilt on a stretcher talking to a man in uniform who did not wear a kilt. She was convinced I was safe.

  “Mother must have been psychic because she had a similar feeling about my brother in April the following year when he was wounded at Arras. Only a week later was the news received that my brother had in fact been wounded. Another strange coincidence was that my aunt in Torquay read in the newspaper that a Private Arthur Betteridge had been killed in the Battle of the Somme the same month I was wounded. This was no relative although he came from Birmingham where I was born.

  “There are many cases on record of wives and mothers having these extraordinary telepathic experiences which proved to be correct. It is strange that science has not been able to adequately account for them.

  “I met several pals who had also come to Blighty suffering from wounds. We were not at all surprised to learn that of the 980 officers and men of the SA Scottish who entered the battle, only 49 of them marched out of Delville Wood.

  “Major Hunt was among them and he recorded later that when they marched into Happy Valley, they were plagued by a swarm of war correspondents eager to get personal stories of incidents in the battle. There were so many of them to select what these people wanted. Figures spoke for themselves.

  “Only 137 officers and men came out of the wood while nearly 4,000 of the Brigade went into the battle. Of the famous 9th (Scottish)
Division, of which we South Africans were proud members, only ten per cent were not killed or wounded.

  “Another remarkable incident in the wood must be mentioned. Padre Hill remained in the front line for three days and nights helping the wounded and the dying. He was sometimes able to cook a billycan of hot water in the midst of that holocaust, to make tea or Bovril for the few men holding the line.

  “I saw him twice unconcernedly giving first-aid to the wounded and once giving consolation of the last rites to the dying, irrespective of their religion. He was eventually induced to accept the MC, but no decoration was good enough for the constant bravery of our Padre. He was one of the few men of the cloth who put their beliefs into practice under very trying conditions.

  “Sergeant Vic Hunt and two other signallers were among the few who came out of the wood unscathed although all of them had many escapes from death. Two Military Medals were awarded the section and these three men tossed for them. My pal, Gurrie McGuire, a telegraphist on the railway in Pietermaritzburg was one of the lucky ones, Vic Hunt the other. Vic was killed at Arras in April 1917.

  “Thinking of my own narrow escapes, I came to the conclusion I was born to be hung, not killed in war. Several of us discussed the reason why we had been selected to be among the fortunate ones to be alive after our recent experiences. What was the reason? We came to the conclusion that at early age there was a large element of luck or fate on the battlefield, especially. If a shell or bullet was intended for you, you got it.

  “Even this reasoning was unsatisfactory to most of us. What was totally inexplicable was that we had been taught God was on our side. The enemy had been similarly brainwashed. We decided God had nothing to do with the havoc caused by man himself, right down the pages of history.

  “Only as recently as the battle of Waterloo, the Germans were fighting with us against the French. Man is a terrifying brutal animal, in fact the only animal who kills his kind unnecessarily. I am still trying to understand why so many men who believe in God, deliberately go about killing others who believe in Him also.