Delville wood - a First World War Battlefield

Ghosts from the past. Delvelle Wood war cemetery. Altered Reality photo. All my photos except the origional war photos. I did the altered reality work. 

I have a bit of an obsession about the First World War and I am very interested in this time in history. I am also pretty interested in the Second World War, but WWI interests me more. This might be due to the fact that my Grandfather, on my Father's side, took part in WWI with the South African Infantry. What I can remember from my father was that my grandfather took part in the battle of Arras, where he was gassed by the Germans. He did survive the war, but died when my father was still at school. When my Grandfather was discharged from the army after he returned to South Africa, he took the pay which he received and bought shares in Samancor, which was later bought out by BHP Billiton. This was in 1917. Some of these shears are still in the family.

Trenches at the Newfoundland memorial

My father took part in WWII and was with the South African Engineers in Egypt. He had a very nasty scare on his arm, which he was adamant he got playing soccer and he had also lost the hearing in one of his ears. My Great Uncle Ted was also in WWII and he was taken prisoner at Tobruk and he spent most of the war as a POW (prisoner of war).

Then and now. Altered reality photo

The South African Defence force has an excellent archives section.When I was planning a trip to France (yet again to attend a congress with some students) I thought I would like to go to Arras. I wanted to find out more about the South African Infantry at Arras. When looking on line I got information to contact the Archives of the Department of Defence. As I have in my passion the military medals of all three, which are engraved with their name and service number, I had the key to getting information, their service numbers! So I duly sent off a request asking if I could get the military records of my grandfather, father and great uncle. I really did not think I would ever get anything back. After about three months (and I was convinced that I would not hear from them, there was a rather large envelope in my post box with the complete military history of all three! Much of information is in military "code" which will take some sorting out. What I mean by military code, is that terms like military hospital has a code and the specific military hospital also has a number. It should be possible to find out more details on this, but it will take some work. A very nice project for when I retire!

Thiepval Memorial with the names of the Missing in action

This is a travel blog, and here I am telling you about the family military history. So back to the travel. One of the battles in WWI which I am most interested in is the Battle of the Somme. This was probably the biggest blunder ever made by the British military top brass, which cost the lives of millions of men. Part of the Battle of the Somme was the battle of Delville Wood. This is widely regarded as the finest "hour" in South African  military history. The wood was bought by the South African government in 1920 (just 2 years after the war) and a South African military memorial has been erected in the wood. This is a "must visit" for anyone interested in South African military history.

Some of 72 462 names of the missing in action

So off I went to Arras. There is a TGV (that is a rapid train) from Paris to Arras, so it is only about a 2 hour train ride from Paris. I found a tour guide on line and my tour of the Somme battle fields started. This tour included a stop at Delville Wood as well as a few other major sites. One of these sites was the Newfoundland memorial site, where the Newfoundland regiment, just like the South African regiment at Delville Wood were just about wiped out. We also visited various other sites include the massive Lochnagar crater left when one of the mines was exploded. We stopped at the site of the battle of Mouquet farm where the Australians lost some 6000 men. We were on our way to the very impressive and sad memorial at Thiepval were the names of 72 246 allied soldiers who were listed as missing during the battle of the Somme.

We also stopped at the Irish memorial. There was a couple from Ireland with me on this trip. Their great uncle was listed as one of the missing of the Somme. The tour guide is a real history buff. If you supply him with some basic information, he can find the location of the unit of a relative. We stopped along the road, and he pointed out that the Irish regiment attacked along a particular route. The Germans, as always held the high ground, and in the field between where the Irish trenches were and the German machine post, would have been where there great uncle met his end.

This post is about Delville Wood, but I have run out of space, so look out for the next post.