travel

Meet the South Africans

Delville Wood, Picardie, France
Thursday, April 26, 2012

Slow day today - none of us has much energy since yesterday so we got a late start and cruised into the morning.

Just up the road is Delville Wood, the sight of a devastating loss of life for the South African troops. They had been asked to hold the wood "at all costs" - thousands went in - and after 6 days of horrendous fighting, 140 came out.

The memorial and museum were outstanding. A tribute to the men without going overboard on the glorification of war. There were 4 huge reliefs and just a few other displays and photos with good clear information. I had never realised that WWI had been fought on African soil, but the South African troops had attacked German West Africa and later, German East Africa early in the war.

Delville Wood itself is now a quiet, peaceful forest full of bird songs and flowers.

We did a loop around a few other cemeteries and villages and then headed home for a lazy afternoon.



Delville Wood Museum
Delville Wood Museum
Delville Wood Memorial
Delville Wood Memorial
South African Museum
South African Museum
South African Museum
South African Museum
South African Museum
South African Museum
Delville Wood
Delville Wood
The Last Tree - Delville Wood
The Last Tree - Delville Wood
Delville Wood
Delville Wood
New Zealand Unknow Soldier
New Zealand Unknow Soldier
Memorial to Nine Brave Men
Memorial to Nine Brave Men
Farm track
Farm trackThe Slug resists getting his feet dirty
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