Welcome to the Delville Wood Commemorative Museum Trust website
Their ideal is our legacy, their sacrifice our inspiration…
At the end of the Great War, there was a strong popular demand in countries of the Commonwealth for the commemoration of the fallen troops. So, during the twenty years following the War, the Commonwealth countries erected National Memorials on the sites where their troops distinguished themselves.
Tasked with finding a fitting site, Colonel Helbert, the South African military attaché in London, travelled to France and Belgium. Visiting the Somme which had been devastated by the War, he was struck by the atmosphere of Delville Wood, the site of the first major engagement of the South African Infantry Brigade in July 1916.
The wood, thick and dense in the past, was now a desolated wasteland covered with shell holes, broken trees and the remains of trenches.
A hornbeam is the only surviving tree of the original wood. Today, it is the only living witness of the battle. A silent but touching testimony to the several thousand men who lie here for eternity.
With the motivation of Sir Percy Fitzpatrick and the support of General Smuts, the South African Government purchased Delville Wood in 1920. Flanked by two double rows of oaks, a wide avenue leads solemnly to the Memorial. Its arch bears the following dedicatory inscription in both English and Afrikaans:
To the Immortal Dead from South Africa, who at the call of Duty made the Great Sacrifice on the battlefields of Africa, Asia and Europe and on the Sea, this memorial is dedicated in proud and graceful recognition by their countrymen
THE battle of delville wood
“The six days and five nights during which the South Africans held the most difficult position on the British front, a corner of death on which the enemy fire was concentrated at all hours from all sides … constitute an epoch of terror and glory scarcely equalled in the campaign”
– John Buchan, The South African Forces in France
THE SINKING OF THE SS MENDI
The loss of 616 South African lives following the sinking of the SS Mendi into the icy waters of the English Channel was one of our country’s darkest moments of World War I. There are many legends of the men’s bravery and dignity as they faced death, boots off and stamping the death dance on the deck of the sinking troopship.
THE battle of square hill
During the First Wold War, two battalions of the Cape Corps were mobilised to counter the German Forces in German East Africa [Tanzania]. At the conclusion of this campaign, the Cape Corps was moved to North Africa with the rest of the South African forces. They saw action at Square Hill in current day Palestine.