CWGC marks South Africa's national day

The Commission commemorates more than 23,000 members of South African forces who died during the First and Second world wars. Here are 6 facts about their contribution, and some of the CWGC cemeteries and memorials where they are commemorated.

• South Africans served all over the world in many roles during both conflicts. They fought with the infantry and artillery, in the air and at sea, joined nursing and medical services, served as engineers, in railway and signal companies, and in labour corps. Many died far from their homes.
• During the First World War, South African forces played a key role in German South West Africa (Namibia) and East Africa (including modern-day Tanzania). They served on the Western Front in France and Belgium, and took part in several significant battles including at Arras, Passchendaele, and Mont Kemmel.
• During the Second World War, troops from South Africa fought in East and North Africa, including the famous battle of El Alamein in 1942, as well as in Italy.
• The sinking of the SS Mendi in February 1917 was one of the worst maritime disasters in British waters, and South Africa’s war. The number of lives lost was second only to the casualties suffered by the South African Brigade at Delville Wood during the Battle of the Somme in 1916.
• The South African Native Labour Corps (SANLC) made an important contribution to the British Empire’s war effort during the First World War. Among their ranks were respected warriors and tribal leaders, yet its personnel were not permitted to serve as combat troops, to carry weapons, or mix with white communities. A total of 25,000 South Africans joined the SANLC, of whom 21,000 left South Africa for France.
• The CWGC commemorates more than 11,300 members of the South African forces who died during the First World War and 12,000 in the Second World War.

Remembering South African forces

CWGC Delville Wood Cemetery, France

During the Battle of the Somme in 1916, much of the fiercest fighting took place in and around several woods which had been fortified by the Germans. Perhaps the most notorious was Delville Wood. After British Empire forces reached the wood in mid-July, its capture was to be the task of the South African Brigade.

Some 3,100 officers and men entered the wood but found themselves exposed on three sides, and forced to hold on amid almost constant fire from German machine-guns, snipers, mortars and artillery. When they were relieved six days later, barely 750 men of the brigade were still fighting.

Delville Wood Cemetery was begun after the Armistice, when the remains of those who had died fighting nearby were brought here. Today, it is the final resting place of more than 5,500 servicemen, most of whom died in 1916. At the heart of Delville Wood is the South African National Memorial, which honours all those South Africans who served and died in the First World War, as well as subsequent conflicts.

CWGC Arques-la-Bataille British Cemetery, France

Located near the French coastal town of Dieppe is Arques-la-Bataille British Cemetery. It contains the graves of nearly 400 servicemen of the First World War, many of whom were members of the South African Native Labour Corps (SANLC).

By the autumn of 1916, the demand for labour to carry out vital logistical work behind the Allied lines on the Western Front was becoming critical. The SANLC came to France early in 1917 and No.1 General Labour Hospital was established at its camp at Arques-la-Bataille. Most of the burials in the cemetery are of men of the SANLC, many of whom died at the hospital.

A memorial to all members of the SANLC who died in France was built at the centre of the cemetery.

CWGC Castiglione South African Cemetery, Italy

This Second World War cemetery was started in November 1944 by the 6th South African Armoured Division, which had entered Castiglione at the end of September and remained in the area until the following April. Many of the burials were made direct from the battlefields of the Apennines, where South African troops held the line against German forces during the winter.

The majority of those buried in this cemetery were South Africans, the remainder belonging mostly to the 24th Guards Brigade, which fought alongside them. Within the cemetery stands a memorial building originally erected by South African troops. It contains two tablets unveiled by Field-Marshal Smuts, prime minister of South Africa during the conflict, with an inscription in English and Afrikaans: "To save mankind yourselves you scorned to save".

Reverend Isaac Wauchope Dyobha

Reverend Isaac Wauchope Dyobha was one of the men of the SANLC who died when the Mendi sank.

Eyewitness stories of the bravery exhibited by the men aboard the Mendi have become legendary. The most famous story perhaps is that of the death dance that the men performed as the ship went down. They were led by the chaplain, the Reverend Isaac Wauchope Dyobha, with the words “let us die like brothers”.

His name is one of those inscribed on the CWGC Hollybrook Memorial, alongside that of Lord Kitchener – perhaps the British Empire’s most famous soldier when he died in 1916.