Having feasted on cathedral architecture, Somme area vistas and precious little else, we left Amiens (for how we got to the north of France, please refer to the previous posts on our trip listed at the bottom of this article) mid-afternoon that Tuesday in August, relying on Waze to get us through the winding, single-lane country roads to Longueval. There we intended to visit Delville Wood and the South African War Memorial.

The South African War Memorial Museum at Delville Wood

We had particularly wanted to go to the centennial of the Battle of Delville Wood in 2016, but factors (mostly money, but also time) got in the way of our planning the trip. Thank goodness ma nièce was getting married nearby the next day, so we made the journey from South Africa only a year later!

You can see the thin blue line in the map above, just south of our route most of the way that day - the Somme River. The dotted line running roughly west-northwest is the boundary line between the regions of Pas-de-Calais (north of the dotted line) and the Somme.

Why South Africans care about Delville Wood

Delville Wood, or le bois d'Elville, as it was known locally at the time, was the scene of one of South Africa's most heartbreaking and inspiring contributions to World War I. Around 2500 South Africans died there during a few days in 2016, fighting the Germans in the Great War.

Image source

This site provides an excellent summary of the battle from 14-20 July. While the fighting continued until 3 September, the first seven days were probably the bloodiest. The site notes that "Out of the 121 officers and 3032 other ranks who formed the Brigade on 14th July in morning, only 29 officers and 751 other ranks were present at roll call when the unit was gathered some days after the battle. The heroic resistance of the South African Brigade, against the flower of the German Army, had saved the southern part of the British line." That implies some 2281 soldiers and 92 officers perished in that first week. In the end the only stats I've been able to find cite some 2500 South African deaths, although the 12 July 2016 address cited below counts some 3011 as having died (142 survivors out of 3153 who entered the wood - a maddening statistic as it isn't specific about whether those were all South Africans).

What we saw

The Memorial

Approaching the gate, we didn't know what to expect. There were a only a few other people there, and the quiet was somehow deeply reassuring. In the photo below, the entrance to the Memorial is on the left and the cemetery is across the road to the right. Have another look at the aerial view above to give yourself an idea of orientation.

Approaching the gate to the Memorial

The geometric perfection of the site also somehow contributes to its tranquility.

The gate to the Memorial

Stepping through the gate, we became conscious of the wide avenue ahead of us and the two double rows of oak trees, continuously raining acorns in the light breeze, running alongside the main path to the memorial.

It gave me a different perspective to walk through the oak side lanes.

Approaching the Memorial

The Memorial was designed by Sir Herbert Baker and the sculpture atop the cupola by Alfred Turner. The Memorial was unveiled in 1926. The Museum behind it was unveiled 11 November 1986, and is built around the centrepiece of the Cross of Consecration. The star shape, which you can only really see on the aerial view at the beginning of this post, was intended to replicate the design of the Castle of Good Hope, a stone fort with five bastions built in Cape Town in the 17th century.

The geometric precision of the site layout, along with the choice of cool off-white stone flanked by a flint and stone screen enhanced that sense of rest permeating the site. The Museum cupola "fits" neatly within the arch of the Memorial.

In the Memorial

Inside the Memorial

It's being maintained as a National Heritage Site

The Museum

Roads with signposts in the woods

Trenches still there after a century

Emma standing in one of the trenches down Bond Street

The cemetery across the road

We slowly made our way back through the central grass path towards the cemetery, visible in the distance.

Just inside the cemetery wall, facing the memorial entry and with the arch in the distance, two stone engravings (one in French, this one in English), confirm the perpetual and international nature of this cemetery.

We probably spent an hour wandering amongst the gravestones, soaking in the enormity of what had happened and the extent of sacrifice for our freedom.

So many graves and gravestones, alike yet different, lovingly maintained and each telling a story of gaping, irretrievable loss. Sons, brothers, fathers (some graves were of men in their forties), nephews, uncles, friends lost forever to their families and loved ones.

And it didn't matter what their religion was.

Another sobering moment....

Here Tim and Emma are consulting an information plaque at the back of the cemetery.

How can anyone not be moved by this?

What we should have seen

One - ONE - tree survived the battle

The wood originally consisted of hornbeam and beech trees. Only one hornbeam survived out of the entire wood. You can see its location down the main "road" from the South African Memorial on the aerial view. We didn't realise it was there so didn't go to see it.

The story of the replanting of Delville Wood is fascinating

The South African Department of Forestry began replanting work in the 1920s, and a century later it looks like it's always been there. What's remarkable about the replanting is the story of the two double rows of oaks is its circularity (you can read a bit more detail here) - in 1688 the French Huguenot Jean Gardiol had brought six acorns to what became the La Cotte farm near Franschoek. Acorns from the trees on that farm were used to germinate trees to replant the wood.

The Museum

We didn't see it, and weren't able to. It was closed for the public holiday - Assumption Day, on a Tuesday. Well, at least South Africans can relate to a lot of miscellaneous public holidays. What was baffling was why such an attraction would be closed on a public holiday. We chalked that up to the "it is what it is" factor with some lingering disgruntlement.

That there sign says "closed".

And what the heck were those roads?

We were most confused by what these roads were. Why did they have British-sounding names? Why were they such straight lines? You can easily see them in the aerial view at the beginning of this article.

These were originally bridle paths in the pre-war woods. During the war, they were given names familiar to the British soldiers. When the woods were replanted, the rides were widened and marker posts installed.

Some references

There are many, many references available on both the battle for Delville Wood and the Memorial site and its own checkered history. Here's a brief selection.

This page probably best summarises the story of the Delville Wood memorial.

This page tells the story of the eventual purchase of the Wood in 1920 by the South African government. It's worth reading if only for the fascinating tale of the acorns used for replanting the trees.

This site includes a Roll of Honour. The South African Delville Wood roll call can be found here. Every soldier is listed there. Where their war grave is known, a photo is included. I couldn't help but cry when I read it.

This site provides an excellent overview of the history of the site post World War I.

South Africa's President Zuma gave this tribute during a state visit to the French Republic in July 2016.

And what did we eat for lunch, you ask?

Rien. For those waiting for pictures of delectable French dishes - tant pis, as it was for us. No lunch, and by the time we left Delville Wood it was getting on for 5:30pm. Stay tuned for Part 3, for we were off to pre-nuptual celebrations....

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Images by @kiligirl, @tim-beck and Emma Beck except where otherwise credited.

Other posts to date on our trip:

https://steemit.com/travel/@kiligirl/day-6-the-beck-trek-hits-the-north-of-france-amiens
https://steemit.com/travel/@kiligirl/day-5-team-beck-moves-from-paris-to-pas-de-calais-in-the-north-of-france-and-nobody-dies
https://steemit.com/travel/@kiligirl/day-4-in-paris-for-team-beck-notre-dame-the-musee-d-orsay-and-le-marais
https://steemit.com/travel/@kiligirl/day-3-in-paris-for-team-beck-hop-on-hop-off-bus-tour
https://steemit.com/travel/@kiligirl/day-2-in-paris-for-team-beck-boat-cruise-down-the-seine
https://steemit.com/travel/@kiligirl/day-2-in-paris-for-team-beck-a-visit-to-the-louvre
https://steemit.com/travel/@kiligirl/two-weeks-ago-yesterday-we-were-wandering-around-the-centre-pompidou-in-paris
https://steemit.com/travel/@kiligirl/paris-day-1-part-2-of-several-posts-on-our-trip-to-paris-pas-de-calais-bruges-and-amsterdam
https://steemit.com/travel/@kiligirl/whirlwind-tour-of-paris-pas-de-calais-bruges-and-amsterdam

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