Delville Wood

by Ian Uys

  Private Robert Douthwaite assisted them and Col Tanner was extremely impressed by the threesome. “For two days and nights in Bernafay Wood three men, L/Cpl Mitchell, Pte Fitz and Pte Douthwaite carried out their duties as signallers and linesmen under heavy fire without rest. Many of their fellows were killed or wounded and these three men remained constantly at their work going forward under heavy fire time after time to repair the telephone lines and by their courageous devotion to duty I was able to successfully keep in touch with my companies at a critical time.”

  Private Eddie Fitz knew that although Bernafay lay behind them, the shelling did not.

  “When we were finished there, we were simply pulled out on to the veld on the other side of the hill and parked there for one night or two. On one occasion Jerry shelled the area with very heavy stuff which we called Jack Johnsons. We were dispersed on the ground there when one of these things landed near one of our signallers. He was flat on the ground and was put out of action for the rest of the war by a hell of a clod of earth which went up in the air and landed smack on the middle of his back and knocked all the wind out of him and displaced his heart. The diaphragm was moved. No blood spilt! Nothing! That was our pre-entry into Delville Wood.”

  *

  That night Lieut Robert Beverley was accompanied by an excellent scout, L/Cpl John Dinnes. During their reconnaissance of Trones Wood Dinnes took back several messages through a heavy barrage. Lieutenant Beverley lay for two hours under heavy shell fire until he was blown up and lost consciousness. Dinnes then assisted him to regain their lines. Beverley was to be awarded the MC and Dinnes the MM.

  Private William Holdsworth showed conspicuous gallantry as a stretcher-bearer. He dressed a number of wounded under fire and assisted to convey them to safety. At times he was seen to cover the wounded men with his own body when shells fell near. He continued tirelessly at his duty until himself wounded.

  *

  Private Duggie Brice-Bruce was with a supply party taking rations to Bernafay Wood. “The Germans were pounding the lines of communication to try and stop supplies from getting through. I accompanied Lieut Mulcahy and Sgt Turner with rations. All we could do was lie flat and hope for the best. It was a rather terrifying experience; every shell that burst made one feel as if one was being torn in half. Our chaps stuck it out well, however our officer was struck in the back by a piece of shrapnel and did not live long.”

  *

  The stoicism of the wounded men was exemplified by two of them. Private Douglas William Sampson, 25, was a chemist from East London. He had served in SWA as a sergeant of The Kaffrarian Rifles and was mentioned in despatches. At Bernafay Wood he was shot in the face, chest and back, yet miraculously survived.

  Private Harold Montague Tayler had served as a sergeant in SWA with the 2nd Field Ambulance, SAMC. In Egypt he was wounded at Mersa Matruh. At Bernafay Wood he acted as an orderly, carrying despatches to all parts of the line. He was wounded and shell-shocked, however continued in his duties.

  *

  Sergeant Wilfred Brink, 22, of the SA Medical Corps was in charge of the 3rd SAI stretcher-bearers. He was born at Jagersfontein, OFS, in 1893 and attended school at Marist Brothers, Johannesburg. He intended to be a doctor so joined the medical corps for service in SWA.

  After serving in Egypt Brink was attached to the 3rd SAI and given two teams of stretcher-bearers. As this was insufficient, he had no qualms about using German prisoners.

  “We were using German prisoners to carry. They carry differently from our people. The Jerries put them on their shoulders.”

  *

  The company’s Wesleyan chaplain, Capt George Cook, asked Brink if he could help. As he was supervising a party at the time, Brink asked Cook to take some Germans and assist some men nearby.

  George Thornhill Cook from King William’s Town had once worked at Peacock Brothers in Queenstown. He joined the ministry in 1904 and spent two years training at Grahamstown where he became chaplain to Kingswood College. As he spoke Xhosa and Dutch he transferred to East Pondoland. After two years he visited England and then returned to Matatiele.

  During the initial shelling at Bernafay Chaplain Cook confided in Padre Eustace Hill that he had overcome all fear. Shortly afterwards a shell killed Cook and all in his rescue party. His brother, H. Thornhill Cook, was wounded later in the fighting.

  Padre Hill was privy to Cook’s last moments. “We were together till a shell by Bernafay pierced his tin hat. I commended his soul to God. His last request was, ‘Go to Longueval wounded.’”

  *

  Second-Lieutenant Abel’s platoon suffered heavily from shell fire and Abel was wounded. Sergeant Robert McIntosh then took command and extricated the platoon. McIntosh later returned with Rev Hill to bury the men who had been killed. At the time the wood was so drenched with shell fire that Father Hill would not permit other members of the burial party to enter.

  *

  Harry Cooper and a friend found refuge from the shells on the 10th.

  “One night we were instructed to bed down where possible and to put in an appearance when the whistle blew in the morning. My pal and I found a German dug-out and down we went. It was very dark night and we had to feel our way.

  “On reaching the bottom we felt around and managed to pile in where some other fellows were lying. The smell of war was all around us but we were tired and, rolling into our greatcoats, we were soon asleep.

  “In the morning when the whistle blew I looked up and saw daylight. The dug-out had no roof and we might as well have been lying in the open. I then noticed the other chaps were not moving, so I gave one a push with my foot. Records must have been broken that day when my pal and I rushed up those steps.

  “The chaps lying there were all dead Germans and we had kept them company all night. To me it appeared that one of our high-explosive shells had hit the roof and killed them all while they were asleep. (Before I go any further I must say that I had just turned 18, so the extra 10 years I appeared to put on can be understood.)

  Cooper was stunned by the events of the following day.

  “Daylight and some breakfast, and the world seemed so peaceful. Everyone must have been eating for there was not a shell or a sound from either side.

  “Suddenly I heard a bird whistling and, on looking up, I saw what must have been a skylark. It was at a great height and appeared to be treading air. The next thing I heard the whine of a Jerry shell coming, bang! The bird, although far from the shell, plummeted to the ground dead. It never had a mark on it.

  “Later I saw a crowd of our fellows gathered around the body of someone, so I went over to see. What I saw stunned me. A colonel of one of the regiments (Jones) was lying dead. To me this was terrible, one of our high-ranking officers, one whom we had treated with the greatest respect and awe, was dead. An ordinary soldier, yes! but not a colonel. This was indeed a great shock to me. I then began to realise that this was not going to be the fun we had expected. This was WAR.

  “I gathered myself together and went off to get a grip on myself. A lot of movement was going on and I did not see what happened to the colonel’s body.

  “Certain men were being sent forward to one of the smaller woods (Trones) where they were lost to sight. Then the works started again. The whole top of the wood appeared to be covered in green and yellow smoke. Jerry was pumping high explosive shrapnel over the wood.

  “Then I saw the first lot of SAI casualties coming out of the wood. They nearly all had head wounds. A drum-major standing next to me remarked to me that there appeared to be a new fashion in headgear starting in the army.

  “What worried me was that there were so many of them coming out that way. A pal of mine, an old school friend, passed by and asked for a light for his cigarette. He was wounded in the chest but was able to walk. He told me what a hell of a time they had had in there and was glad to get out. Sometime later I heard he had died of his wound.”

  *

  The 4th SAI headquarter
s were with B and D companies in Bernafay Wood, whereas A and C companies were in the neighbourhood of Glatz Redoubt. All were to suffer under the heavy barrage the Germans sent over in preparation for their counter-attack.

  *

  Whenever the regiment went into the line, the springbok, Nancy, stayed behind with Petersen and the quartermaster. Bugler Petersen was nicknamed “buck-major”, as looking after Nancy was a full-time occupation and left no time for the bugle.

  *

  The regimental signalling officer, Lieut J L Shenton, instilled a fine spirit and keen sense of duty into the signallers under his command. They never hesitated in exposing themselves while repairing broken wires. Shenton was himself wounded when returning from restoring communications between Trones Wood and Dublin Trench as he came across the open under heavy fire.

  *

  Chaplain Eustace Hill spoke with Lieut-Col Jones of the 4th SAI in Bernafay Wood. In discussing the fighting, Jones pointed to the row of campaign ribbons on his chest and said, “These other campaigns are nothing. This is a Crusade.” Later that evening Jones was killed by an exploding shell. Padre Hill was to write, “The shell that killed him cut those ribbons to bits, and sealed him as a Crusader.”

  When Col Jones was killed, command of the battalion passed to Major Donald Macleary MacLeod MC DCM, aged 45. Donald MacLeod had joined the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders in 1888 at the age of 17, giving his age as 18, and was drilling recruits after only six weeks in the service. The Camerons went on foreign service, first to Gibraltar and then to Cairo where MacLeod was promoted to sergeant-major.

  He was in action for the first time at the Battle of Atbara in April 1898, then fought at Omdurman in September, for which he was awarded the DCM. MacLeod then proceeded to South Africa and served with his regiment throughout the South African War. During the war MacLeod was recommended for the Victoria Cross for his gallantry at Lake Chrissie.

  After the war MacLeod joined the permanent staff of the Transvaal Volunteers as instructor. In June 1903 he was appointed Permanent Staff RSM to the Transvaal Scottish Volunteers, a post which he held until 1905 when he left the Permanent Staff to join the regiment as the first Volunteer RSM. At the time he led the Wanderers Gymnastic Club. He married and had two children.

  In 1912 MacLeod became adjutant and on the outbreak of war in 1914 he was a captain. During the SWA Campaign he served with the 1st Bn Transvaal Scottish and was awarded the MC. MacLeod thereafter joined the 4th SAI as second-in-command.

  *

  On the 9th the company evacuated a trench south of Trones Wood. Corporal Macmillan, who had been badly wounded, was overlooked so L/Cpl Arthur Chave remained behind under a heavy fire. Although the enemy advanced their bombing to within 30 yards he carried Cpl Macmillan out, literally retiring from shell-hole to shell-hole and finally got him safely away.

  At 11 pm the company was sent to support the 90th Brigade (30th Division).

  *

  At dawn the company under Capt Russell supported the 30th Division’s attack on Trones Wood.

  Capt S C Russell was well known in Pretoria where he worked for the Central SA Railways. During the South African War he had served in the SA Constabulary and held the Queen’s medal with five bars.

  He was a captain in the Pretoria Regiment of the UDF and served with them in SWA. When he joined the brigade for France his wife returned to her home at Crieff, Scotland, to be closer to him.

  His company advanced through the southern half but reported that because of the enemy artillery positions round about, it could not be held. The Germans counter-attacked that afternoon. When the company returned to its trenches it was heavily shelled and Capt Russell was mortally wounded.

  *

  The officer commanding B Company, Capt Thomas Hesketh Ross, was a handsome man who had enrolled in the Transvaal Scottish Volunteers in 1903. He had been commissioned the following year. Ross served with the Transvaal Scottish Volunteer Company (C Coy of Natal Rangers) in the Zulu Rebellion of 1906, then commanded the 1st Battalion Transvaal Scottish in SWA. This unit was to become B Company, 4th SAI, with which he proceeded overseas.

  On entering Bernafay Wood the company came under shell fire and suffered heavy losses. With great coolness and pluck Coy-Sgt-Major James Wilson assisted Capt Ross in extricating the company. Wilson repeatedly carried messages to detached posts under heavy fire and led stretcher-bearing parties into the wood to look for wounded.

  Lieutenant William Charlton was slightly wounded, however with the assistance of Pte R Quinton, repeatedly went out under heavy shell fire and fire from snipers and machine-guns to bring in wounded men who lay in the open.

  *

  Private Albert Victor Higgins, who had turned 19 nine days before, was born in Dublin, Ireland. He recollected the shelling in Bernafay Wood which killed many of his friends.

  “B Company went to Bernafay. In my platoon alone we lost 19 men in five minutes. When we lost these men in Bernafay Wood Mickey Randall said, ‘Hell, Bert, maar daardie een was naby’ (Hell, Bert, but that one was close). The Germans were looking for the French 75 mm batteries which they thought were in the wood, but which were actually behind the wood, and we had very heavy casualties.”

  *

  Major Hunt noted the move to Trones Wood in his diary.

  “July 9 ‘A’ Company moved to Trones Wood and one ‘C’ Company platoon, No 11, under Lieut A H Brown, to Bricqueterie itself — a bad corner. Walked part of the way with Colonel (Jones) towards Trones, but he sent me back and he went on alone, no orderly!”

  “July 10th — Manchesters smashed at Trones. A Manchester man, mad, came along Bricqueterie Trench shouting, ‘Oh! what a day! What a day!’

  “Captain Russell, OC, A Company, hit at Trones in stomach. Spoke to him as his stretcher was carried past Dublin. Shenton wounded while running telephone wire out from Dublin to Trones, but he ran the wire all right. “When visiting Lieut Brown at Bricqueterie I got knocked over by a heavy shell and lifted yards away but untouched. Lieut Brown excellent. Liverpools relieved us in evening in Dublin and Bricqueterie and we moved to Glatz Redoubt. Sinclair killed by picking up booby-trap in Glatz. (It was a string bomb with the string nailed to a board.)

  “July 11 — Glatz. Sent for by General Lukin. On way passed Padre Hill and Tobias in shell-hole reading Bible. Soon after arriving at Brigade HQ, while talking to general, orderly came in with message on note saying Colonel Jones killed in Bernafay at 6.45 pm.

  “General Lukin sent me up to take over Bernafay. On way up had just passed Corpl Hockly and ration party in open trench when shellfire killed whole ration party and partially buried me. Helped out by two Black Watch men and went on to Bernafay.

  “Heavy shell fire over whole wood. Found Forbes (medical officer) in the wood in midst of many wounded, his bare arms covered with blood, and a large knife in his hand. He directed me to Battalion HQ in wood. Took over. Captain Russell died today of wounds.”

  Major Hunt was impressed by the bravery his men displayed.

  “July 12 — MacLeod came up to Bernafay and took over from me and I returned to Glatz. Artillery dump near Glatz set on fire; fire put out by C Company men, especially Pte Veitch who pulled off the burning camouflage covering, and dump did not go up.

  “July 13th — Middlesex under Kemp — Welch relieved ours in Bernafay and whole battalion concentrated at Talus Boise.”

  *

  Hugh Boustead was particularly impressed by the cavalry on the 9th.

  “At daybreak a regiment of Canadian Cavalry appeared suddenly out of the morning mist and rain in the valley below our bivouac. With them were two squadrons of Bengal Lancers. Steel helmeted, on shining horses with jingling harness, they presented a superb picture as they rode past with a cheer. A stir of rising excitement swept us; we had visions of a break through into the open plains of Picardy.

  “The call came that afternoon. The division moved up to Bernafay and Trones Wood in preparation for the attack on De
lville Wood. Our brigade crossed the scarred fields through the stricken squadrons. Dead and dying horses split by shell-fire, with bursting entrails and torn limbs, lay astride the road that led to battle. Their fallen riders stared into the weeping skies. In front, steady bursts of machine-gun fire vibrated on the air. Caught by a barrage, these brave men and fine horses had been literally swept from the Longueval road.

  “The South African Scottish spent the night in the support lines; I was called by the colonel as a runner to his HQ. The next days we spent in a trench called Dublin Trench after my brother’s regiment, a battalion of which had been in action here, and I had to move about from company to company with messages from HQ.”

  Hugh Boustead narrowly escaped being killed alongside Col Jones. “It was a bad day. Colonel Jones, the kindest of men and the most loved of commanding officers, was killed by a shell in the support trenches that same evening, just after he had sent me down with a message.”

  A fresh draft of recruits had joined the South Africans in Egypt. Boustead was especially struck by a young American.

  “It was about this time that I first met a remarkable lad whose name and memory has lived with me ever since. His name was Veitch, but we naturally called him Yank; he was a young American boy, only seventeen. He came of a wealthy Boston family but was very wild, and had determined to go to the front in France and see the fighting.

  “He had come over to join the French Army first, but he was pushed back on board again and was not allowed to stay with them. I think they thought that he was too young to be a soldier. Anyway, he managed to get into the South African Scottish draft in Cape Town and arrived in Alexandria while we were there.

  “We were in the same section. The first thing that struck me on that march was the extraordinary selflessness of his behaviour. If any man was limping or absolutely whacked, he would immediately take his rifle from him without a word and carry it himself. He would share his rations, and he would share his last drop of water with a comrade.

  “Never had I seen anyone who bore the marks of utter selflessness more unconcernedly and more naturally. He aroused the admiration of all the young South Africans who met him and knew him. And his selflessness was only excelled by his valour in the field later in the Somme Battle.” Pte F E Veitch, who was 5 ft 9 ins tall, became a regimental bomber.