I am glad to report that the troops under my command carried out your instructions to hold

Delville Wood at all costs, and that not a single detachment of this regiment retired from their

position, either on the perimeter of the wood or from the support trenches.

I regret they were not strong enough to drive back the enemy on the perimeter, where they were all

wiped out. But trust that by holding the support trenches in princes and Buchanan Street, with the aid of the few men left of the First, Second, and Fourth Regiments, and Trenchmortar Company, our losses were not in vain.

Lieutenant Colonel E. F. Thackeray. Third, South African Infantry Regiment.

First South African Infantry Brigade.

The Psalm, July 1916. Hey folks, welcome to the Battles of the First World War podcast episode 14, Psalm Devil's Wood.

Before we get started, I just want to say thank you to everyone who has submitted

a review to iTunes recently and to everyone who has donated recently as well. Your generosity

is as always humbling and I am thankful for both the kind words and gifts.

On the 15th of July, the Germans were reeling from the crushing blow they'd been dealt on

Basin-Don Ridge the day before, where the British Fourth Army had seized much of the

high ground needed for the

next push.

On this day, under rain, mist, and unrelenting artillery fire, the fight for Longuval village

went on.

Bedraggled and exhausted tommies of the ninth Scottish division had clawed their way into controlling

the southern half of the village, and today the men of the South African brigade were going

to assault and seize the conjoined Delville Wood. Longuval is not as well remembered as the wood

connected to it, but one hardly speaks of the Battle of the Psalm without mentioning Delville Wood.

There is a photograph of Delville Wood that makes its rounds through most histories of the Psalm.

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