Moths from the Endumeni/Isandlwana Shellhole on Friday remembered the brave men from the South African Brigade of around 4 000 men, who 99 years ago, were involved in one of the country’s most fiercest battles – the World War One battle of Delville Wood in northern France.
Hand-to-hand fighting ensued against the German troops until the South Africans were relieved on the night of July 19, having lost 766 dead among the four battalions alone; the dead outnumbered the wounded by four to one. Throughout poor weather and enemy artillery fire, which reached a crescendo of 400 shells a minute, transformed the surrounding landscape into a mess of broken, stumpy tree roots and massive shell holes.