A BATTLE of the 1st World War, 100 years ago was commemorated by the Fort Pearson MOTH Shellhole in eShowe on Friday evening.
Devotions were led by Ds Loffie Schoeman before the history of the Battle of Delville Wood was read by MOTH Basil Borradaile.
The battle was the the most costly action the South African Brigade fought on the Western Front.
Under orders to take and hold Delville Wood, the South African Brigade of some 3 150 men, attached to the 9th Scottish Division marched on the forest.
At dawn on 15 July 1916 the South African regiment went in following a heavy artillery battle and cleared the southern edge of German forces.
The remainder of the wood remained in German hands. Hand-to-hand combat continued until the South Africans were relieved on the night of 19 July, having lost 766 men from the four battalions alone.
The dead outnumbered the wounded by four to one. It is reported that during the battle, the enemy artillery fire reached 400 shells a minute, leaving the landscape full of broken, stumpy tree roots and massive shell holes.
Mud and rainwater covered bodies of South African and German forces alike.
Many remain in the wood today.
The Germans lost 9 500 men by August.
The wood was never entirely taken by the South African forces, despite huge efforts to do so.
It was not until after another month of fierce fighting had taken place, on 25 August, that the 14th Light Division finally took the wood and overcame German resistance.
During the final great German push of March 1918 the wood was again taken by the Germans on 24 March, but was recaptured by the 38th (Welsh) Division on 28 August.
The Delville Wood Cemetery contains 5 493 burials of which almost two-thirds are unknown.
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