Location 13 – Delville Wood

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Directions – Leaving Guillemont Road Cemetery, continue into Guillemont village and turn left at the junction onto the D20 to Longueval. Just before reaching the village take the right hand turn signposted to Ginchy and Delville Wood CWGC Cemetery. There is a new car park on the left for visitors to the memorial, museum and the cemetery. Park here.

Practical Information – There are a number of interesting sites at Delville Wood for the battlefield visitor. They include a small museum that focuses on the events that took place here in 1916 together with a café and bookshop located next to the car park. Further along the road on the right is the Delville Wood CWGC Cemetery – one of the largest in this sector. Opposite the cemetery the path enters the wood and leads up to the impressive South African National Memorial and associated Museum. Behind the museum one can glimpse amongst the trees the trenches and shell-holes that once filled this sector.

Historical Notes – If the battles for Mametz and Trônes Woods were fierce, the fighting in and around Delville Wood was on a different scale. Initially reached in the Night Attack of 14th July, which took the British through the German second line, the wood was not secured until 3rd September, over six weeks later. During this time the original trees of the pre-war wood were shredded into splinters by artillery fire and thousands of men were killed and wounded as they fought to gain control.

Delville Wood lies on the ridge, which ran across the battlefield from Morval in the east via Pozières to Thiepval in the west. As such, the fighting here was intrinsically linked with the capture of other high ground on the ridgeline at High Wood to the north-west and Guillemont to the south-west. It was only when these positions were taken that the German centres of resistance in the northern part of Longueval village and along the northern edge of the wood could be outflanked and neutralised.

As might be expected the wood was the scene of several Victoria Cross actions including that of Private Albert Hill of the 10th Battalion, Royal Welch Fusiliers who, during an attack at Delville Wood on 20th July:

"...dashed forward and bayoneted two Germans. Finding himself suddenly surrounded by twenty of the enemy he attacked them with bombs, killing and wounding many and scattering the rest. He then fought his way back to his lines, accompanied by a sergeant, before going straight out again to bring in a wounded officer. His final act on this astonishing day was to capture two Germans and bring them in as prisoners."

After the war the South African government decided to locate its main war memorial here. It is an apposite spot. The 1st South African Brigade was attached to the 9th Scottish Division and, following the Night Attack of 14th July, was tasked with taking Delville Wood. The 3,150 men of the brigade were in the wood for five days, during which time they were shelled incessantly at rates which occasionally exceeded 400 per minute. When the 26th Brigade eventually relieved them on 20th July, only 143 unwounded men returned. Corporal Herman Bloom, one of the South Africans, wrote of the fighting at Delville:

"...we had only started when we were deluged with gas and tear shells, whizz-bangs, Jack Johnsons, and all the diabolical stuff that Krupps ever invented. We got orders to advance. It absolutely rained lead…we still went on until we came to close quarters…it was terrible; there was no quarter given.

When we went into the wood the growth was so dense you could hardly see ten yards in front of you, but before long there was neither a bough nor a leaf left; the bare trees stood out riddled with lead, and the wood was a mass of dead and wounded – it was awful!"