South African National Memorial

The Delville Wood South African National Memorial, located in Longueval, in the Somme department of France, is a World War I memorial that was subsequently dedicated to all South Africans who fell in the various conflicts of the 20^th century.

On 31^st May 1910, the Union of South Africa came into existence as a British Dominion, with the unification of the Cape, Natal, Transvaal, and Orange River colonies. The Union had a diverse population that included Black Africans, White European settlers, those of mixed origins - referred to as 'Coloureds' - and Indians. They were separated into a hierarchy of 'races', which gave rise to a segregated society in which those of European descent - the white minority of English and Afrikaners - held political and economic power.

To complicate matters further, the Treaty of Vereeniging, which had ended the Second Boer War in 1902, had led to political tensions due to residual animosity between the Dutch and English-speaking former combatants, and the fact that the Black population had been ignored in the settlement. In short, the majority of South Africa’s population had little reason to assist Britain when the First World War broke out.

Nonetheless, following the start of the war, the fledgling Union Defence Force was mobilised. This consisted of a small Permanent Force of career soldiers, an Active Citizen Force of temporary conscripts, a Coast Garrison Force, and the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (South African Division). The South African Defence Act of 1914 mandated military service for white males between the ages of 17 and 60, but prohibited their deployment outside South Africa and its immediate neighbouring territories. To overcome this limitation, the South African Overseas Expeditionary Force (SAOEF), made up of volunteers, was specifically raised for service in other theatres of war.

In September 1914, the Union Defence Force embarked on the South West Africa campaign under the command of General Louis Botha, the first prime minister of the Union of South Africa. The campaign concluded in July 1915, when the governor of German South West Africa capitulated. South African losses amounted to 241 killed and 263 wounded.

South African forces were also heavily involved in the East Africa campaign, with South African General Jan Smuts being appointed to command British forces in early 1916. Although the South Africans suffered relatively few casualties from enemy action, they were ravaged by tropical diseases. Of 43,477 men they sent to German East Africa, around 75 per cent were evacuated, suffering from malaria, dysentery, and the more virulent forms of tick fever.

In the summer of 1915, the 1^st South African Infantry Brigade was formed to support the British Empire’s war effort on the Western Front. Placed under the command of Brigadier General Henry Lukin, it comprised four regiments and numbered 160 officers and 5,468 other ranks when it arrived in England in November 1915. Although the brigade was trained for service on the Western Front, in December, the decision was taken to send it to Egypt to fight against the Senussi. After the campaign had been successfully concluded, the brigade was transferred to France in April 1916.

On 1^st July 1916, the Battle of the Somme got underway. The 1^st South African Infantry Brigade, as part of the 9^th (Scottish) Division, was soon involved in actions at Glatz Redoubt, Bernafay Wood, and Trône Wood. Within the first week, the brigade had suffered 537 casualties. On 15^th July, the South Africans were tasked with the capture and defence of Delville Wood, on the outskirts of Longueval, where the brigade would be engaged in one of the bloodiest battles ever fought by South Africans. Subjected to heavy shelling and unrelenting German counterattacks, the outnumbered South Africans doggedly held on until they were relieved on 20^th July, walking out of the wood with just two officers and 140 men out of the 121 officers and 3,032 other ranks who had entered it.

After having been reinforced, the brigade was involved in operations at the Butte de Warlencourt in October 1916, and later fought on the Arras front and in the Battle of Passchendaele. In March 1918, during the German spring offensive, the South Africans fought a rearguard action at Gauche Wood and Marrières Wood, where the brigade was virtually annihilated. In April, it was deployed to the Messines sector, where it saw further fighting near Wytschaete and Mont Kemmel.  Having been reduced to battalion strength, it assisted in the capture of Meteren in July. After reforming in England, the brigade was involved in the Hundred Days Offensive, holding the distinction of being the "furthest East of all the British troops in France" when the Armistice was declared.

While the contribution of white South Africans is well recorded, that of other racial groups is perhaps less so. The racial attitudes of South African society dictated how each group was treated when war broke out in 1914. Many whites were opposed to blacks being armed, resulting in non-white personnel being excluded from combatant roles, only serving in auxiliary, transport, and labour roles. The only exception was the Cape Corps, an infantry unit composed of Cape Coloured men who were armed and permitted to serve as combatants. The 1^st Battalion fought in East Africa, then in Palestine, distinguishing itself at the Battle of Square Hill in September 1918, while the 2^nd Battalion served in German East Africa. Total losses for the two battalions amounted to 545 men.

Yet, non-white South Africans' contributions and sacrifices in the war have largely gone unnoticed. The men at the front relied heavily on logistical support. Throughout the war, 90,000 Black and coloured South Africans performed labour and transport duties. Among them, more than 25,000 volunteers served in France with the South African Native Labour Contingent (SANLC), offloading millions of tons of munitions and supplies necessary to sustain the war effort. Total losses for the SANLC in Europe amounted to 980 men, including 607 who were lost when the troopship SS Mendi sank in the English Channel following a collision with another vessel. Many others lost their lives during the German East Africa campaign, mostly due to the awful working and sanitary conditions.

During the First World War, out of a population of roughly 6 million, around 250,000 South Africans of all races volunteered to serve their country, including around 50% of white men of military age. 11,575 South Africans were killed in action, or died of wounds or sickness, and over 12,000 were wounded. The hardships experienced by civilian men, women, and children in numerous African countries where war destroyed entire communities have not been documented in historical accounts. These include the suffering of almost a million porters and carriers who were forcibly recruited to haul crucial supplies and equipment for both sides throughout the war. The true human cost of the war in Africa will never be fully known, as records and grave sites of many who died are lost to history.

Following the end of the war, various nations that had fought on the side of the British Empire erected national memorials to honour their fallen, on the sites where their troops had distinguished themselves. The South Africans chose Delville Wood, where, for five nights and six days, the men of the 1^st South African Infantry Brigade had held out against overwhelming odds in July 1916. As such, it was considered a fitting place to commemorate all South Africans who fought and died during the First World War, in all theatres of operations.

In 1920, the South African Government, with the involvement of the South African politician and author Sir Percy FitzPatrick, purchased Delville Wood from the French landowner. Thick and dense in the past, the wood was now a desolated wasteland covered with shell holes, broken trees, and the remains of trenches. During the battle to capture it, German artillery had shelled the wood to a pulp. The South African Department of Forestry replanted the area, but otherwise left the ground more or less as it was. Even today, shell holes and the remains of trenches are still visible, while for many hundreds of soldiers, the wood remains their final resting place.

Public subscriptions were raised to erect a national memorial within the wood. Its design was entrusted to Sir Herbert Baker, one of the main architects of the Imperial War Graves Commission, and whose cousin, Lance Corporal Clifford Baker, had died of wounds sustained at the Battle of Delville Wood. Sir Herbert’s design incorporates the Delville Wood Cemetery, the National Memorial, and the Cross of Consecration, which replaces the Cross of Sacrifice more commonly found in most Commonwealth war cemeteries.

The National Memorial is located on the highest point of the wood and is approached via a wide avenue flanked by two double rows of oaks. It consists of an arch connected by a curved flint-and-stone screen wall to two sheltered pavilions at each end, which originally contained the Roll of Honour of the South African dead. However, unlike other national memorials on the Western Front, the South African National Memorial does not list the names of those without a known grave. Instead, the names of South African soldiers who were listed as missing, and whose remains were never identified, are listed on British memorials, such as the nearby Thiepval Memorial to the Missing.

The arch is topped by a bronze sculpture of a war horse flanked by two male figures, symbolising Castor and Pollux. These represent the two white races of the Union of South Africa: British and Afrikaner. The arch also bears the French phrase "Aux Morts" (To the Dead) and the inscriptions, in both English and Afrikaans: "Their ideal is our legacy. Their sacrifice our inspiration." On angle panels, in large letters, are graven the names of the eight battle areas where South Africans fought: FRANCE - FLANDERS - WEST AFRICA - CENTRAL AFRICA - EAST AFRICA - EGYPT - PALESTINE - THE SEA.

The memorial was unveiled on 10^th October 1926 by the widow of General Louis Botha. Also present were General J. B. M. Hertzog, the Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa; Field-Marshal Earl Haig, who had commanded the British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front from late 1915 until the end of the war; and the widow of Major General Henry Lukin. Prince Arthur of Connaught, who had previously served as Governor-General of the Union of South Africa, was also there, as were troops, veterans, and representatives of the British Legion and other veteran associations.

Although the memorial was initially dedicated to all those of the South African Overseas Expeditionary Force who died during the First World War, in 1952, an altar stone in the style of a Stone of Remembrance was unveiled in front of the arch to commemorate the South African dead of the Second World War. Today, the memorial is dedicated to all South Africans who fell in the various conflicts of the 20^th century.

In the 1980s, the decision was taken to build a commemorative museum. The first stone was laid down on 7^th June 1984, and the museum was inaugurated on 11^th November 1986 by the State President of South Africa, P. W. Botha. Built around the Cross of Consecration, it is a replica of the Castle of Good Hope in Cape Town. In addition, the centenary of the Battle of Delville Wood saw the inauguration of the Memorial Wall, which lists the names of all South African soldiers who paid the supreme sacrifice during the First World War, regardless of race, colour or creed.