Delville Wood

Major General Furse ordered the 1st South African Brigade to attack Delville Wood, and to take it at all costs. This advance was to proceed, even if the 26th and 27th Brigades had not captured the north of Lougueval. The …

1916-07-15

23

Major General Furse ordered the 1st South African Brigade to attack Delville Wood, and to take it at all costs. This advance was to proceed, even if the 26th and 27th Brigades had not captured the north of Lougueval. The attack was to be launched from the southwest corner of the woods on a battalion front, with the 2nd Battalion forward. The attack met little resistance and by 7:00 am the South Africans had captured the woods south of Plince's Street. Later during the morning, the 3rd Battalion advanced towards the east and northeast of the wood and by 2:40 am they had secured the woods except for a strong German position in the northwestern corner adjoining Lougueval. The South African Brigade began to dig in around the fringe of the woods, in groups forming strongpoints supported by machine guns. The troops carried spades but digging through roots and remnants of tree trunks, made it impossible to dig proper trenehes and only shallow shell scrapes could be prepared before German troops began to counterattack the woods.

Bois Delville, France

The Battle of Delville Wood (15 July – 3 September 1916) was a series of engagements in the 1916 Battle of the Somme in the First World War, between the armies of the German Empire and the British Empire. Delville Wood (Bois d'Elville), was a thick tangle of trees, chiefly beech and hornbeam (the wood has been replanted with oak and birch by the South African government), with dense hazel thickets, intersected by grassy rides, to the east of Longueval. As part of a general offensive starting on 14 July, which became known as the Battle of Bazentin Ridge (14–17 July), General Douglas Haig, Commander of the British Expeditionary Force, intended to capture the German second position between Delville Wood and Bazentin le Petit.

Wikipedia: Battle of Delville Wood

German

British