Hoggin' the Howitzer - Delville Wood

Unfortunately, we had a 100 mile journey to make before we got into The Somme Battlefield area, which took up most of the morning. Our first stop was Delville Wood, the scene of a bloody battle in which over 3,000 South African troops went in to 'hold the woods at all costs' and only 143 emerged after 6 days of fighting. So, was indeed nearly 'at all costs'. There is a cemetery and a more recently constructed South African Memorial. We had already passed many other cemeteries in the vicinity, and were to pass many more as evidence of the scale of the battle(s) and the losses. My lasting impression, from a trip here some years ago with a local village group, was the enormous losses for miniscule territorial gain.