LONGUEVAL - SOMME - FRANCE
The memorial at Delville Wood is a national memorial dedicated to all South Africans who served in all theatres of war. Delville Wood, as the supreme symbol of South Africa’s Sacrifice and Courage, occupied an eminent place in the country’s military history.
Delville Wood is the only memorial dedicated to the participation of the South African Forces on the 1914-1918 Western Front. 229,000 officers and men served with the South African Forces in the Great War. Their casualties who died in action or who died of wounds numbered approximately 10,000. All those who died in service are named in a book held at the Delville Wood Museum next to the memorial. The original memorial was unveiled in 1926
Behind the memorial is the museum itself. A stone laid on 7th June 1984 marks when building work commenced, and the museum itself was opened on the 11th November 1986. Beyond the memorial and museum is Delville Wood itself, now fully re-grown.
Across the road from Delville Wood itself is Delville Wood Cemetery. This cemetery was created after the Armistice. It was made by the concentration of graves from a number of smaller cemeteries from the area around but mainly from burials of those recovered from the battlefields.
From early February to early April/mid-October to late November
10h00-6h00
From early April to mid-October
10h00-17h30 (17h00 on Sundays)
Annual closure: December and January
The commemorative museum is closed on Mondays
South African National Memorial of Delville Wood
5 route de l’Afrique du Sud
80360 LONGUEVAL
(0033) 03.22.85.02.17
info@delvillewood.com-www.delvillewood.com