The Weeping Cross

On 28 July 1914, the First World War broke out. It was supposed to be the war that would end all wars. Obviously that was not the case but it was the first war in which the Union Defence Force (UDF) of South Africa fought in. The UDF conquered the German forces in German South West Africa (today Namibia) and tangoed with General Von Lettow-Vorbeck in German East Africa (today Tanzania). By 1915, calls for volunteers to fight at the Western Front in Europe (meaning the border between Germany, France and Belgium) were made.

4 South African Infantry Regiments were deployed to the Western Front. Soldiers from Natal served in the 2nd South African Infantry Regiment (2SAI). By July 1916, they saw action in a forest next to the French town of Longueval in Picardy. The forest is known as Bois d'Elville or in English, Delville Wood. The Battle of Delville Wood of July-September 1916 was part of a larger set of battles known as the Battle of the Somme.

Of the 3032 South Africans soldiers with their 121 officers deployed at Delville Wood only 755 survived after six days of fighting. Artillery fire destroyed all of the trees but enough damaged wood was afterwards collected to make 3 wooden crosses. One of these crosses is today at the Allan Wilson Shellhole MOTH Garden of Remembrance in Pietermaritzburg. The abbreviation 2SAI is engraved on the cross.

Every July it is said that the wooden cross "weeps". Folklore has it that the cross weeps for the men who fell during the Battle of Delville Wood and that it would stop "weeping" when the last survivor of Delville Wood had passed away. This did not happen because every July it still "weeps". Logically, it is more probable that the wood oozes sap during July due to climatic conditions. Despite the reason for the discharge of any drops of sap from the cross, it is a sentimental reminder of the sacrifices made by South African soldiers, far away in France, during the First World War.

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