Delville Wood South African National Memorial

The South African National Memorial at Delville Wood is a First World War memorial located on the territory of the municipality of Longueval, in the Somme department. It commemorates the engagement of South African troops during the Great War. A commemorative museum traces the history of South Africa's participation in World War I, World War II and the various conflicts of the Cold War. The British Military Cemetery at Delville Wood is located opposite the memorial.Delville Wood represents, for South Africans, the place where South African Union soldiers were first engaged on the Western Front. On July 14, 1916, the South African brigade, made up of four battalions, about 3,150 men, had been ordered to hold its positions "at all costs". Under the incessant fire of the enemy artillery, they had resisted and known a true hell (Delville wood will be renamed Devil wood, the wood of the Devil). When they were relieved on July 20, they left 1,080 of theirs, killed or missing, and 1,735 wounded. Wikipedia