Delville Wood

by Ian Uys

  Kirby served with the Transvaal Scottish in the 1922 Rand Revolt and was wounded. He was a man devoid of fear of any kind. He trained a company of the TS during peacetime and during the Second World War commanded the 3rd TS, raised mainly from the East Rand. They trained at Barberton then went to the Middle East. On 22 November 1941 the battalion was destroyed at Sidi Rezegh and its commander, Walter Kirby, died with it.

  *

  Geoffrey Lawrence was evacuated to Southampton. After recovering he returned to France, however missed the Butte de Warlencourt through German measles. He rejoined the brigade at Arras in December 1916 where he became a company runner. Lawrence was commissioned in May 1917 and transferred to A Coy under Capt C W Reid. He fought in the Third Battle of Ypres, where he was responsible for laying the tapes. After the Armistice Lawrence went farming at Groot Drakenstein. His reminiscences Echoes of War were published in “Militaria” in 1978. He died at Somerset West on 27 February 1978, aged 82.

  *

  Captain Lawrie was awarded the MC for Delville Wood. His brilliant work in evacuating the wounded at Arras was also noted. Lawrie was wounded at Ypres on 21 September 1917. During hostilities he won the MC and bar.

  *

  John Lawson was evacuated to Etaples and then to London. In April 1917 he was posted to a cavalry command and in October commissioned in the SA Native Labour Corps. In July 1918 Lieut Lawson transferred to the 1st West Yorkshire Regt. From December 1918 to April 1919 he was a town major in the 18th Bde in Germany.

  He retired as an Hon-Major and joined the National Bank at Johannesburg. On his discharge form Lawson entered opposite Honours and Awards, “The pleasure of doing my duty.” In 1922 he was treated at Roberts Heights for the effects of gassing.

  *

  Kenneth Willoughby Lee was evacuated to the Etaples Hospital. His mother and wife, Alfreda, were en route to visit him when they were told at the War Office in London that he had died of tetanus infection on 27 September 1916. He is buried in the Etaples cemetery.

  *

  Dr Stephen Liebson attended to the wounded of the 1st SAI on the 15th and 16th July with nothing but a small shelter trench. Although wounded on the 16th he continued attending to the wounded at Longueval until the 19th. He was awarded the MC. Liebson was killed on 22 March 1918.

  *

  Aubrey Liefeldt was evacuated to the 4th London General Hospital where he remained until January 1917, meanwhile being promoted to captain. He visited his parents in South Africa, then rejoined the brigade and was given command of B Coy. Capt Liefeldt was wounded and taken prisoner at Marrieres Wood.

  After the armistice he returned to his position as court interpreter at Cape Town. In November 1919 he married Dorothy Dent of East London, having met her while she nursed in London. Her brother, Lieut Dent, had lost an arm at Delville Wood.

  Liefeldt transferred to Grahamstown where he became assistant magistrate, and magistrate of various districts. On the outbreak of the Second World War he did a major’s course, however the department would not allow him to proceed on active service. As Liefeldt was living at Witbank at the time, he formed the Witbank Commando.

  After the war Liefeldt served as chief magistrate of Cape Town for six years and retired in 1952. He succeeded the late Gen Frank Theron as president of the Cape Town branch of the SA Infantry (Overseas) Brigade. He lives at Kenilworth, Cape Town.

  *

  Albert Loubser was awarded the DCM for Delville Wood. In January 1917 he was given 14 days’ field punishment for imbibing too heavily! On 16 October he was promoted to corporal and on the 12th was wounded in the back. He died of wounds eight days later. He is buried at Dozingham British Cemetery, 2½ miles north of Poperinghe.

  *

  Oswald Lovegrove returned to the front where he was gassed on 17 October 1918, however survived and was discharged in October 1919.

  *

  Brigadier Lukin commanded the brigade at the Butte de Warlencourt. On 2 December 1916, he was promoted to command the 9th (Scottish) Division with the rank of major-general. He led the division in the Third Battle of Ypres, Arras, Paschendaele and Cambrai. He relinquished command of the division in March 1918 to take home leave, then because of the grave illness of his wife he accepted a tour of duty in England, and was given command of the 64th (Highland) Division. He was awarded a CB and created a KCB (1917) for his brilliant war service.

  Brigadier Lukin retired from the army in 1919. On his retirement the French Government conferred on him the Commander of the Legion of Honour. His health deteriorated, as he never fully recovered from the effects of the gas he inhaled at Delville Wood. In July 1924 Lukin was appointed as a member of the Council of Defence.

  He died on 15 December 1925, aged 65, and was buried with full military honours at the Plumstead cemetery. His biography, Ulundi to Delville Wood, was written by R E Johnston.

  *

  Albert MacDonald was recommended for the DSO by Thackeray but received an MC. He was wounded by shrapnel in the abdomen at the Third Battle of Ypres on 20 September 1917, and died the following day.

  *

  Donald MacLeod was severely wounded at Delville Wood and awarded the DSO. He again commanded the regiment in the Third Battle of Ypres and was wounded in the Somme Retreat on 24 March 1918. In the advance on Le Cateau he was once again wounded, losing the use of his right arm. He carried on until the armistice.

  Lieut-Col MacLeod then went to North Russia to join General Sir Edmund Ironside’s staff. During the Archangel relief operation he was in charge of the British Military Mission and was given command of a Russian Regiment which had mutinied. For his service he was awarded the Order of St Anne (2nd Class). After Lieut-Col J Sherwood-Kelly VC left, MacLeod was given command of the 2nd Hampshire Regiment and he returned to England with them. He embarked for Cape Town on the Kenilworth Castle in February 1920.

  On 21 May, 1920, Lieut-Col D M MacLeod DSO, MC, DCM was appointed OC of the Transvaal Scottish on its re-formation after the war. MacLeod was in command of the regiment at Dunswart during the 1922 Revolt. On 4 November 1923, he resigned his commission on account of family reasons. He left Johannesburg early in 1930 to go coffee planting in Kenya. He was honoured by a great reception given by the mayor and various ex-servicemen associations at which he bade farewell to hundreds of the men and fellow officers he had commanded in France.

  At the age of 69, he was appointed as assistant to the chief welfare officer to the South African Forces in Kenya during the Second World War. Macleod spent his 70th birthday in Addis Ababa. His one aim was to get as near to the fighting line as possible — by hook or by crook he would get to his beloved troops. Released from wholetime service in January 1942, he was stricken with malaria and passed away two months later.

  Thus died the gay-hearted, gallant Donald MacLeod of the Transvaal Scottish … the regiment’s most famous colonel.

  *

  Roy Makepeace emerged from the wood relatively unscathed. He was awarded the MM for bravery in the field. In January 1917 he was found to be under age so transferred to the reserve battalion as a signaller. On 8 October he joined No 1 Wing of the Royal Flying Corps. After training as a pilot he was commissioned in January 1918 and served in France from September until well after the armistice.

  *

  Albert Marr and “Jackie” served until the armistice. Jackie had his right leg amputated from a wound received at the Battle of Messines in April 1918. Marr returned to live on his Cheshire Farm near Villeria, Pretoria. Jackie died there on 22 May 1921, the day after Marr’s farmhouse burnt down. He retired from the SA Railways in 1948 and lived in Pretoria until his death in August 1973, aged 84 years.

  *

  George Marshall was evacuated to Rouen and then to Shepherds Bush hospital. The award of his DCM was gazetted on 14 November 1916. On 9 December he was promoted to sergeant and on 9 February 1917 to second-lieutenant in B Coy. He was taken prisoner at Marrieres Wood on 24 March 1918 and sent to the POW camp at Karlsruhe and late
r Mainz. Marshall was demobbed in April 1919, then went to work at the Standard Bank in King Williams Town.

  *

  Emile Mathis fought at the Butte de Warlencourt and Arras. He was wounded in the left forearm at Ypres on 20 September 1917. In March 1961 he was living in Kensington, Johannesburg, when he wrote his account of Delville Wood for The Springbok.

  *

  Ivan McCusker was evacuated to the military hospital at Tooting. He wrote of his experiences to his father on 25 July, concluding with:

  “Of course, I am still in bed, but hope to be OK as soon as I have had the piece of shell out of my side. Best regards to all. — Your loving son, Ivan M McCusker.

  I had been recommended, some few days before the advance, by General Lukin, for a commission in the Machine-Gun Corps. I don’t know what will come of it now that I am wounded. — Ivan.”

  He died as a result of his wound on 5 August and is buried at Wandsworth cemetery.

  *

  Richard Medlicott was reported as missing believed killed in action. This was corrected when it was learnt that he had been taken prisoner on the 19th. Medlicott was released to Holland in June 1918 on account of his failing health and thence to a hospital at Marylebone. Medlicott returned to service in October 1918 as CO of C Coy SA contingent concentration camp. He was demobbed in July 1919 and awarded the OBE and the Order of Danils (5th class) by HM the King of Montenegro.

  *

  Dudley Meredith escaped from Dulmen Camp with three Australians, however was recaptured after 11 days when only four kilometres from the Dutch border.

  Meredith returned to study agriculture at Potchefstroom and the U.S.A. He was married in 1924 and had two children before his wife was killed in a motor accident. Meredith entered the ministry and qualified as a D Sc in 1947. He wrote an account of his war experiences while living in Johannesburg. Copies of this manuscript are kept at the McGregor Museum and at the Natal Archives. Meredith died on 3 July 1975 aged 79.

  *

  Allister (Mac) Miller was awarded the DSO for the Somme and promoted to flight commander. At the end of 1916 he returned to South Africa on a recruiting drive, one of his recruits being Andrew Beauchamp-Proctor who was to win the VC. Miller was awarded the OBE (Mil) in June 1919.

  In November 1919 he piloted an Avro biplane on the first internal commercial flight in South Africa. In 1924 Miller was elected to Parliament. During the Second World War Lieut-Col Miller commanded air training schools at Kimberley, Queenstown and Benoni. Miller was rightly regarded as the father of South African Aviation. He died in Port Elizabeth on 14 October 1951, aged 59.

  *

  George Miller survived Delville Wood, however, was wounded by an explosive bullet in the jaw at Arras in April 1917. After many months in hospitals he was returned home. Miller then returned to farming at Fullerton, Cape, ran a store and tried diamond digging. He married and had a son and daughter. In 1945 he bought the Assegaibosch Hotel, which he managed until his death in June 1956.

  *

  Francis McEwan Mitchell had served as a lieutenant with the Cameron Highlanders during the South African War. In 1906 he joined C Company Natal Rangers (Transvaal Scottish) for the Bambata Rebellion. During the Delville Wood fighting he was attached to the 26th Brigade. Mitchell was awarded the MC and the brevet of major. He was twice seriously wounded which caused his premature death on 8 February 1925.

  *

  John Naisby was evacuated to the Wandsworth Hospital in England where he remained until 25 September 1916. After his convalescence he remained medically unfit so was discharged at Bordon and posted to Class W Army Reserve in March 1917. He resided at Newcastle-on-Tyne.

  Naisby was recommended for the VC by Thackeray, however received the DCM and the Montenegran silver medal for merit. Official documents referred to him as “a most valuable NCO of great courage and proved reliability.” Naisby returned to South Africa in October 1919 where he was discharged as medically unfit.

  *

  Coenraad Nelson almost lost his arm through gangrene. He was evacuated on a stretcher to England and hospitalised at Clacton-on-Sea where he remained through several operations during the next eight months. About seven months in Nursing Homes followed before he was taken back to South Africa on a hospital ship, where he was discharged as medically unfit. He was living near Johannesburg in 1978 when he was interviewed about his Delville Wood experiences.

  *

  Hubert Cuthbert Nicholson, 23, of Uitenhage was shot in his hand on 19 July. On 17 October he was buried alive when his trench collapsed. He died of wounds the same day.

  *

  Later in the war Anno Ludwig Noack was awarded the Iron Cross, 1st Class, for leading his unit to safety after they had been surrounded.

  He served as a second-lieutenant of the 5th Garde Feld Artillerie Regiment, then as gas officer with the staff of the 3rd Garde Infanterie Division.

  After the armistice Noack returned to his studies at Dresden. He specialised in mining engineerings at Munich and Berlin and in 1921 received his doctorate. He became a director of a coal mining company in Silesia, then in 1931 emigrated to South Africa. In 1938 Noack married in Germany, then returned to live in Cape Town. In 1966 he recorded his Delville Wood experiences, describing the battle as one of the most heroic meeting of enemies in the history of warfare. Noack died in September 1973, aged 82.

  *

  Will Peggs returned to duty in time for the Butte de Warlencourt where he was shell-shocked on 17 October 1916. He was declared medically unfit and returned to Cape Town where he was discharged on 5 September 1917.

  *

  Edward Phillips was one of the two wounded officers who emerged on the 20th with Col Thackeray. He was awarded the MC in September 1916. On 13 October Phillips was dangerously wounded at the Butte de Warlencourt, from which he died on the 16th of October.

  *

  Willie Pitout was troubled by his right foot, which had four toes amputated, so returned to South Africa and was discharged on 1 April 1917. Two weeks later he re-enlisted in the SASC for the Campaign in Nyasaland, returning in February 1919 suffering from malaria. He returned to Willowmore where he worked in a general dealer’s store.

  The following year he had an uncanny and tragic experience, which began after Delville Wood.

  “Towards the end of 1916 I was in England and it was whilst spending a week-end in London, that something happened to me, that even tonight after eleven years, still makes me go cold.

  “A lady-friend invited me for dinner, and proposed some sightseeing first. After visiting Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament, and a few other places, we went to see the wax figures at Madame Tussauds.

  “Eventually we were in the part called the Chamber of Horrors.

  “It was whilst I was studying one of the figures there, that I caught sight of an envelope on the floor, which I picked up. On looking at it I found my name and regimental number on it. I tore the envelope open, but all I found inside was a clean sheet of paper with the figures 10-12-20 on it.

  “I went cold as I read this. I handed the envelope and piece of paper to the lady, took out my pay book and made the entry 10-12-20 in it. I must admit that the dinner etc was not enjoyed. I was a worried man now, as I was going back to the firing line in a few weeks’ time.

  “However, with the excitement of the next few years this episode had passed out of my mind entirely. I served till the cessation of hostilities, then went back to South Africa to my wife and family to pick up the threads of life after four years’ absence from my kiddies who wanted a father to join in their sports and share their joys.

  “I managed to get a fair billet and soon everything was running smoothly again.

  “In December 1920 my eldest son was writing for his matric, a very clever boy, was 1st in his class, and intended to go to Stellenbosch to study for a Dutch Reformed minister. The Matrics finished writing exams on 9 December, and on the morning of the 10th December, I was walking down the street to m
y business at about 9 o’clock where I came across my son, Lomie. He told me the Matrics were on their way now to a farm 5 miles out of town, to swim. He was excited and happy.

  “At about 11 o’clock a gentleman came into the office and told me that my son was drowned. This was 10-12-20. I had the same feeling I had four years ago at Madame Tussauds. It struck me about the entry in my pay book. I went home, got out my pay book and saw 10-12-20, which I wrote in 1916.

  “Then only everything was made clear to me.”

  Willie Pitout died of pneumonia on 1 June 1938 and is buried at Willowmore.

  *

  Major Mitchell Power was awarded the DSO for Delville Wood. After the armistice he returned to his wife at Kalk Bay, Cape Town, and was discharged at his own request in May 1919.

  *

  Ronald Rawbone was taken to the London General Hospital. He was declared medically unfit and sailed for Cape Town on 26 December 1916.

  *

  Chauncey Reid was promoted to captain. He later joined the RFC and was captured in January 1918.

  *

  Cecil Rice was sent to a hospital in England where his heel cleared up. He was sent on a signal instructor’s course, then on a musketry course at Aldershot. He was promoted to sergeant and became a musketry instructor at Bordon. He returned to France in 1917 to join the 4th SAI, D Coy at Arras. While at the front he was gassed, then evacuated to the brigade hospital at Richmond. The war ended before he could return to France.

  Rice retired in Johannesburg where he died in 1979, aged 82. At the time of his death his nephew had reconstructed a spitfire which flew perfectly and made national headlines.

  *

  Percy Roseby died on 25 July from wounds received during his reconnaissance on 17 July. He is buried at Corbie communal cemetery.

  *

  Hesketh Ross was one of only four 4th SAI officers to emerge from Delville Wood unscathed. He was awarded the MC for his bravery and leadership in the wood. On the night of 18 October Ross led 200 bombers, signallers and Lewis gunners of the SA Scottish at the Butte de Warlencourt. The enemy counter-attacked and he was wounded by a gunshot in the forehead. On 3 April 1917 Ross was allegedly killed by a sniper’s bullet at Arras; Arthur Betteridge says by a whizzbang.