Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The South African National Wood Memorial Delville, located in Longueval, Somme, commemorates the sacrifice of the soldiers of the 1st South African Infantry Brigade during the Battle of the Somme in July 1916. For five days, these troops, commanded by Brigadier-General Henry Timson Lukin, suffered intense artillery fire in the area known as Devil Wood. Of the 3,200 men hired, only 143 left unharmed, leaving 1,080 killed or missing and 1,735 injured. This wood, bought by the South African Union in 1920, was replanted with oaks from South Africa, symbolizing the reconquest of memory.

Inaugurated on 10 October 1926 in the presence of South African and British dignitaries, the memorial was designed by architect Herbert Baker. It includes a triumphal arch surmounted by a bronze sculpture by Alfred Turner, representing Castor and Pollux holding a horse, an allegory of the union of English settlers and Boers. A cenotaph and a memory stone, added in 1952, also honour the soldiers who had fallen in the two world wars. The site includes a British military cemetery with 5,523 bodies, including 152 South Africans identified.

The Memorial Museum, inaugurated in 1986 by President Pieter Botha, traces South Africa's participation in the conflicts of the 20th century, including the two world wars and the Korean War. However, its inauguration was challenged by anti-apartheid associations, denouncing the lack of recognition of South African black soldiers, then buried in mass graves or scattered cemeteries. In 2014, a symbolic ceremony buried Beleza Miengoua, the first South African black soldier reburied in Longueval, marking a post-apartheid reconciliation.

Delville Wood, listed as a historic monument in 2017, preserves traces of fighting, such as the Last Tree, a charm that survived the bombings. The site, with its central aisle lined with South African oaks and commemorative landmarks, is a major memorial site for South Africa and the Commonwealth nations. In 2016, a wall of memory was added, clogging the names of 14,000 South African soldiers who died in the 20th century, from all ethnic groups.

The memorial and military cemetery, located face to face, illustrate both the heroism of the soldiers and the historical tensions related to racial segregation in South Africa. Today, the site symbolizes the rainbow nation, uniting in memory the struggles and sacrifices of all South Africans, regardless of their ethnic origin.

External links