Diary of war horror
Soldier’s account of World War I battle in the trenches
THE diary of the late World War 1 soldier, Walter Giddy, has given readers a little glimpse into the real-life horrors that war can put a man through. Giddy’s writings come from the Battle of Delville Wood during World War 1 and were compiled by the South African Legion Facebook page.
He served in the 2nd SA Infantry Regiment. Giddy did not die during the battle of Delville Wood but would never again set foot in King William’s Town or even South Africa, as he was killed on April 12 1917 near Fampoux in France.
We now go deeper into his writings, copied by his younger sister, Kate Muriel Giddy/Morris: July 10 Still hanging on, and the shells flying round, three more of our fellows wounded, out of our platoon. Took Fatty Roe’s valuables off him and handed them over to Sergeant Restall . . . We have no dug-outs, just in an open trench. Of course we’ve dug in a bit, but it’s no protection against those big German shells. Harold Alger has been badly knocked about. I'm afraid he won’t pull through, arm and leg shattered by shrapnel. I had a lucky escape while talking to Lieutenant Davis, a piece of shrapnel hit me on my steel helmet, and glanced past his head. He remarked, “That saved you from a nasty wound”, (referring to the helmet). The SA lads in our platoon have stuck it splendidly, it has been a tough trial this.
We heard cries from the wood further down, and Geoghan and Edkins went to investigate, finding three wounded men lying down in the open. They had been lying there three days among their own dead, and had been buried a couple of times by their own shells, and the one brought in had been wounded again. They asked for four volunteers to bring in the other two, so off we went. It was an awful half hour, but we were well repaid by the grateful looks on their haggard faces. Poor old Geoghan was hit, his head was split off by shrapnel. Four of us buried him this morning. July 11 We are back at our former camping ground, but I do feel so lonely, out of our mess of 5, only 2 of us left and my half section gone as well. A Yorkshire man brought a prisoner over this morning, while we were still in the trenches, and he halted to have a chat. Our corporal could speak German, so he gave the prisoner a cig. and he told us all we wanted to know. He was a Saxon and was heartily sick of the war, and our artillery was playing up havoc with their infantry, since the beginning of the Battle of the Somme. July 12 1916 About 2 miles back and still the Huns had the neck to put a shell into us, killing one man and wounding another. The Rev. Cook was killed while helping to carry in wounded. I have just been watching the Huns shelling the wood we came out of yesterday. It looks as though the wood is on fire, the smoke rising from the bursting shells. The Scottish (ours) relieved us too, and we lost 16 out of our platoon in it. It was a cruel three days, especially when Manchester were driven out of the woods. Then the Bedfords retook the wood, the full morning, which strengthened our position.