The Devil's Wood

The first day of the Battle of the Somme in 1916, 1 July, was so grim that many people forget that it went on until 18 November, and that it comprised a number of smaller battles during the five months duration.

One of those battles was the one for Delville Wood, or Devils Wood, which sits just east of the village of Longueval and which, at the time, was 156 acres of mostly beech and hornbeam and a very dense undergrowth. Difficult fighting territory.

The Battle of Delville Wood is now largely associated with the South Africans, thanks to the very moving memorial to them at the actual site, and the tremendous bravery they showed over a five day period. Some now even believe that their heroic stand in the face of overwhelming odds saved the entire southern part of the British line on the Somme.

 While the battle to take the woods took over a month, it was the first five days, from 15^th and 20^th July that saw their stubborn stand in the face of unrelenting violence – such ferocity that the wood itself disappeared under the artillery bombardment of the adversaries.

Hand-to-hand combat featured, when depleted ammunition couldn’t be replaced due to supply lines not working and at the end, only 780 finally emerged from the 3150 that went in.

By the 14^th of July, the allies had fought past Montauban, south west of Delville Wood, and to continue to their goal of Flers they had to capture the woods and the village.

At 5am on 15^th the first South African soldiers managed to penetrate the wood; progress was slow because of the tangle of trees destroyed by battle. By noon, the whole wood, beside the north-western part, was in South African hands, but from then on, they were entrenched, and overnight, amongst fierce fighting they were digging trenches to get some protection and save their lives.

Supply lines weren’t working and as well as being unable to be replenished or reinforced, they couldn’t evacuate the wounded. Despite this, they were ordered to hold the woods at all costs.

An attack in the early hours of 16^th didn’t succeed; the troops were tired – they had been in battle for many hours and had endured continuous machine-gun and artillery fire, and still, there was no hope of relief or reinforcements.

On the 18^th, the Germans having lost Bazentine ridges to the west, turned their full focus of their troops and guns to the east: Delville Wood.

The bombardment that followed began at 8am and was to last for another 7.5 hours. The South Africans’ perimeter trenches, along with their occupants, had been annihilated and survivors had to fall back. Later that day the Germans received reinforcements, and the Sough African were now fighting at both front and rear. Some survivors were compelled to surrender, but in one area a surviving party fought back, and against overwhelming odds, threw the attacking enemy back.

Finally, on the afternoon of 20^th July, the South Africans were relieved.

John Buchan, the author, summed up the Battle of Delville Wood as such:

‘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.’