GLENWOOD High School held its annual Delville Wood memorial service and wreath laying ceremony on Wednesday, 23 July.
Guests from NMR, the Moths and other private institutions joined the memorial service.
Delville Wood (in French, Bois Delville) is a small forest adjacent to the village of Longeuval in the Somme department of northern France. Delville Wood possessed a wedge of high ground with which the formidable German defences could be prized open. The wood was duly stormed and held for several days by the SA Infantry brigade and so this battle became synonymous with South African involvement in World War 1.
The South Africans were relieved on the night of 19 July, having lost 766 dead among the four battalions alone.
Delville Wood remained the most costly action the South African Brigade fought on the Western Front.
The fighting for Delville Wood started on 14 July 1916 during the Battle of Bazentin Ridge. Glenwood old boys paid the highest price during this battle.
Arthur Basil MacCabe died on Saturday 15 July 1916 at the age of 19. George Edward Thorpe was reported missing, presumed dead on 18 July 1916.
When the South Africans withdrew from the wood on 20 July they had no option but to leave their dead behind, unburied. It was not until 25 August 1916, that Delville Wood was finally cleared of all enemy resistance, and burial parties could start identifying and burying the dead.
