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- Mr Charles Sephton MP - South Africa Party. was elected as an MP in 1924,1929 and 1933 for the Aliwal Constituency
SUPPLEMENT TO BARKLY EAST REPORTER. WEDNESDAY, MAY 2, 1973.
Reminiscences of a Soldier of the 1914 - 18 War
Nearly 60 years ago France, Russia and Britain declared war on Germany. Louis Botha, the then Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa, at once put all the resources of the Union at the disposal, of Great Britain, who asked him to under-take the conquest of South West Africa. Within weeks, General Botha had his forces mobilized. Those of us from this part of the country were formed into, the 8th Mounted Rifles, and after a short spell of training at Middleburg, Cape, were sent to Upington.
Pretty raw lads we were then, and . we learnt one of our first lessons there. The Imperial Light Horse, who had been fighting a running battle with the Rebels who were trying to get to South West, arrived at Upington at the same time as we did, on their thin wornout horses, They camped next to us and left before dawn next morning, having pinched our fat, well-groomed horses, and left us their wrecksl
Our Regiment saw very little fighting during this campaign but in that desert country we did learn the value of a good riding horse, and some of us became expert horse thieves! During this period I managed to pinch seven horses from Army Remount Camps and ended up with an ideal mount, tough, cornfortable and tame. Unfortunately, when the campaign ended, we had to hand in all our horses.
We were then sent home on indefinate leave, but were allowed to vo!unteer for Overseas services. There was a great rush to enlist in a Brigade which was to go to Europe; only a limited number were required as men were also needed for service in East Africa. The Brigade, the 1st S.A. Infantry, was composed of four battalions: the 1st, men from the Cape; the 2nd, from the O.F.S. and Natal, the 3rd, from the Transvaal, and the 4th S.A. Scottish were drawn. from all the Provinces. I joined the 4th.
We assembled at Potchefstroom, were given a certain amount of training, then en-trained for Cape Town where we embarked on Troop Carriers. The 4th S.A. Scottish were on the Balrnoral Castle which had been partly converted to a Troop Carrier. The cabins had been removed and the hammocks swung right across the lower decks. We were packed like sardines. If you didnt get seasick it wasnt too bad, I was one of the lucky ones.
Besides physical jerks and submarine drill we did very little on the voyage. Our first thrill was when we were two days sailing south of England. We stood to at dawn on a grey, misty morning for submarine drill and found ourselves in the midst of a convoy, with two Destroyers escorting us. With what a sense of pride we watched dipping between the rollers, the English flag go by. Anyhow, there were no subs about and we landed at Portsmouth to be given a wonderful reception by the citizens.
We then boarded atrain and went straight to camp at Borden. Here we underwent some intensive training under old regular army British instructors. They made us jump to it, and before we left Borden we were pretty smart on the Parade ground. In fact, did quite a creditable march past when the Queen inspected us.
Our next move was Egypt, and we embarked on the Oriana" together with a bunch of Australians. All went well until we got to the Mediterranean when nearly everyone on board got Dysentry; the toilet facilities, to say the least, proved completely inadequate.
We landed at Alexandra and marched up the coast as far as Sollum. There was one scrap with the Arabs at Sidi. Bararii. From Sollum we went back to Alexandra, embarked again on the Oriana" and went to Marseilles. There the 4th S.A. Infantry were put in quarantine for measles, but the rest of the Brigade went straight through the city to the railway station. We were the first kilted batallion to land at Marseilles and the whole street, a couple of miles long, and very wide, was packed with people, mostly women and youngsters leaving just a lane down the centre for us to march along. We started in great form marching like Guardsmen, thinking we were just the lads, but soon the crowd began to press in on us and the whole march became chaotic. Women were hanging round our necks, pushing flowers into tunics, belts and bonnets, even into the muzzles of our rifles. We soon looked more like a botanical garden than the smart regiment we thougtht we were. Yes, the kilts did the trick! The youngsters, however, seemed more interested in what we wore under our kilts? Eventually we were rescued by a company of French Mounted Police using the flat of their sabres to clear a path through for us.
On the train we went straight through to just behind the lines near Arrnentieres, and almost at once we took over a sectin of the Front Line. Here our trenches were in places only forty or fifty yards from the German lines; sounds dangerous, but in fact it wasnt as we were too close together for either side to use artillery. So apart from mini wafers and sniping, if you kept your head down during daylight you were pretty safe. At night time, if you happened to be on guard in the front trench, you could pass the time away by taking shots at rifle flashes in Jerrys trench. Our dug-outs were not too bad in fine weather, but when it rained! Well, Bainsfather just about summed it up in a cartoon: A dugout to let; situated in an unhealthy part of France, all modern inconviences including Rats, Mud and Water. Excellent shooting, Snipe and Duck. The last tenant was too slow on the Duck.
After a spell on this sector of the Line we were pulled out for rest and intensive training. From here we moved in easy stages to the valley of the Somme, and as we got nearer it was evident that something big was brewing. Ten or twelve miles behind our front we started passing big gun emplacements dotted at intervals. Infantry everywhere, and as we got nearer smaller emplacements grouped closer together. Then near the crest of the low ridge, field artillery almost wheel to wheel as far as the eye could see, with gaps here and there for the infantry to pass through. Morale was terrific; here was the finest army the Empire had ever assembled. It was the last of the Volunteer armies, the flower of the British Empire. Each regiment thought it was the cream of the Army, and we had quite a good opinion of ourselves. However, I still doubt if the story was true that on the morning the great attack was launched the British Commander-in-Chief, was seen peddling his bike furiously up to the Headquarters of the 4th S.A. Infantry. Is private Macvandermerwe in the ranks? he askd. Yes, Sir was the reply. Good? Then let the battle begin?
At one oclock on tha morning of July 1st 1916 all those thousands of guns opened fire and went on blazing for twenty four hours or more. The roar was heard on the coast of England 150 miles away, and at night the whole sky was lit up by the flashes. Everything within the range was destroyed. When the barrage stopped and the Infantry moved forward in our sector there was very little opposition, and we suffered very few casualties in taking all our objectives. What few Germans were left were stunned and dazed. We were elated and thought nothing could withstand us. How wrong we were. As we penetrated deeper into the German lines we began to meet stiffer resistance and worse still, the rains had began. The whole countryside had been plowed up by the shells and soon became a bog through which it was almost impossible to advance the guns. So as we advanced we began to get into their artillery fire, with little support from our own. Monteben, Burnfray Wood, Train Alley and Trones Wood we occupied but our losses were beginning to mount (At Trones Wood our Colonel Jones was killed).
But then came Langeval and Delville Wood where we really began to catch it in the neck. On about July 16th we went into Delville Wood but were held up on the far edge. Then the Germans started counter attacking and in the end cut in behind us and soon our ammunition began to run out. In the mean time the Germans had got round our flank, and what was left of the Brigade was completely surrounded. The shelling was continous, day and night, and by the 18th the whole wood had been completely flattened, not a tree left standing. During the night of the 18th the Germans closed in on us and early the next morning the Senior remaining, a Captain of the 3rd Battalion, gave the order to surrender.
In those three days the S.A.Infantry had been almost completely wiped out, but by now we had the reserves in Britain to fill in the losses. But that is an.other story. There are one or two survivors of the old Brigade still living in this district, and its over to them to continue the story of the many grim and bloody battles in which the Brigade played its part. How bloody they were is borne out by the fact that it required over 30,000 reinforcements to keep that one Brigade in the field. In those days a Brigade was approximately 4000 men.
I and some of my pals spent the rest of the war in a Prisoner-of-War camp in Bochum, Westphalia, Germany.
C.A. SEPHTON, 5251 S.A.l.
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