The South African Fife Family Melting Pot

Notes


Angelo Joseph Dania

The wood was a very strong defensive position, held by the Germans, and
the "British" spent several days fighting their way into the wood,
starting on 14th July, 1916, when they attacked the German-held village
of Longueval, which is practically inside the wood. The 1st SA Infantry
were involved in this, fighting from house to house. The rest of the SA
Brigade attacked the Germans in the wood and the Ist SA Infantry joined
them later.

Over the next few days, Delville Wood became a place of utter terror.
The South Africans succeeded in capturing all the wood but for a small
corner, and held on waiting for reinforcements.

On 18th July, the day your relative was killed, the Germans launched a
massive counter-attack which began with a heavy bombardment starting at
8.00 a.m. and continuing until 7.00 p.m. Just before 2.00 p.m. there
was an increase in the intensity of the shelling and the Germans
attacked.

The result was hand-to-hand fighting of the most savage kind among the
fallen tree-trunks, branches and shell-holes.

To cut a long story short - when the South Africans entered the wood on
14th July they had 121 officers and 3032 men. When they were relieved on
the 20th there were 29 officers and 751 men left.

Delville Wood is now the site of the South African Nation Memorial,
which was built (if I remember correctly) in the early 30s and which was
added to in the 80s when a museum was built. The wood has been
partially cleared - all the old rides which ran through the wood have
been re-instated, making pleasant walks, but the rest of the wood is
still a mass of overgrown shell-holes and remnants of trenches.

Your relative's body was never recovered and identified after the
fighting in the wood - the Thiepval Memorial is a Memorial to the
Missing on the Somme.


1