The battle of Delville Wood

In writing to my South African audience i wonder who knows of the Battle of Delville Wood. 

An epic story of courage and perseverance from the annals of the First Word War when a Brigade of South Africans took and held, under tremendous odds an important strategic position which although terribly exposed they held under not only continuous sniper fire but a bombardment which registered 400 shells a minute, minute after minute hour on end. It's hard for us these days to comprehend the conditions under which the men, many of them conscripts  with little or no experience, ordinary working men one day, the next fodder for the machine gun.

The call to arms on the British side reflected her role in the Empire and its a strange thing to reflect that in these days of condemnation and remorse towards the Empire and the supposed wrongs of exploration and mistreatment, people in there thousands volunteered to fight for Britain in her hour of need.

The South African Brigade, which composed 15% Afrikaners of whom many had fought fairly recently for the Boars against the British and the rest, the bulk, English speaking South Africans who were described as "men of the right kind of experience, troops of a high physical standard plus a high level of education and breeding". For 6 days and 5 nights this shell shocked, ever reducing group of brave men held one of the most pivotal positions on the Western Front. 

Of a total of 121 officers and 3045 men only 147 marched out. It's hard for us to understand in this age of questioning and evaluating how that generation gave of themselves unquestioningly.