City joins Cape Town in remembering South Africans who made sacrifices at Delville Wood
The City of Cape Town today, 17 July 2017, joins military veterans organisations, city regiments, historians and Cape Town residents in commemorating the centenary of the Battle of Delville Wood.
The centenary commemoration has been driven by the City, military veterans organisations, and the civic initiative Cape Town Remembers World War I, as part of the efforts to mark the vital role played by nearly 9 500 South Africans during The Great War.
Today, the great sacrifice and contributions made by all South Africans and especially those who formed part of the South African Native Labour Contingent and the South African Infantry Brigade have been highlighted during the commemoration and wreath-laying service.
This battle, which occurred in France, is regarded as the most iconic military engagement by South Africans in World War I and took place between 14 and 19 July 1916. Only five officers and 750 men of the First Brigade survived the action which initially saw 121 officers and just over 3 000 men enter Delville Wood, which they were ordered to capture and hold for the British against the Germans.
In addition, 1 100 stretcher bearers and trench diggers of the South African Native Labour Contingent also died in the battle.
This battle formed part of the great Battle of the Somme which lasted for 142 days and resulted in over 1,2 million dead and wounded from all sides.
The Battle of Delville Wood was the scene of sacrifice for many South Africans. Cape Town paid a particularly heavy price as young men from her older schools, such as Bishops, SACS, Rondebosch, Wynberg Boys High School and St George’s Grammar School, from faith communities and professions such as bankers, municipal employees, and university students were killed.
The Delville Wood Memorial is a replica of the massive monument designed by Sir Herbert Baker and unveiled in France in 1926.The memorial in France now commemorates South Africans who have fallen in all conflicts.
There are two versions of the memorial in South Africa. One, as massive as its French counterpart, is on a terrace at the centre of Baker’s iconic Union Buildings in Pretoria and the other in the Company’s Garden in Cape Town, which was designed by Baker in 1929.
Reports of a 100 years ago can only begin to help us perceive the horror faced by our countrymen during those fateful few days. We are eternally grateful for their sacrifice.
Our world is what it is today because so many people stepped forward in so many places to confront threats to our safety and freedom. In so doing, they laid the foundations of those rights that we enjoy today.
We did not know them, nor did those who fell at Delville Wood know us, but we owe them the duty of memory.
May their souls know our gratitude and may they be at peace.
For more information on the initiative Cape Town Remembers World War I please visitwww.capetownremembersww1.co.za
Statement issued by Alderman Ian Neilson, Executive Deputy Mayor, City of Cape Town, 17 July 2016
