4th SAI Events up to Armistice

After Donald left, the 4th SAI was involved in several notable events leading up to the armistice on 11th Nov.

At the armistice the battalion has reached Solre-le-Chateau very close to the Belgian border. The battalion’s pipe band played in the Church square to celebrate the end of the war.

  • 17th Feb
    SOUTH AFRICAN FORCES ON THE WESTERN FRONT 1916-1918 (Q 10671) The South African Brigade’s memorial service at Delville Wood, 17 February 1918. The figure to the right of the vested clergyman is Captain G J A Enslin of the South African Army Chaplains Department.. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205246349


    Memorial service at Delville Wood
  • 18th Feb
    3rd SAI disbanded with all men joining other regiments
  • 24th March
    Marrières Wood. This was a devastating defeat for the whole South African Brigade. The brigade kept the enemy at bay for several hours but were eventually overrun due to lack of ammunition. Many officers and men were casualties or taken prisoner. Including :-

    • Lt.Col. F.S. Dawson (formerly C.O. of the 1st SAI) taken prisoner
    • Lt.Col. E. Christian (sometime C.O. of the 4th SAI) taken prisoner
    • Lt.Col. D.M. MacLeod (C.O. 4th SAI) wounded
    • Lt.Col. F.H. Heal (C.O. 1st SAI) killed
    • Major F.E. Cochran (Brigade Major) killed
    • Rev. E. St.C. Hill (Brigade padre) taken prisoner
  • 25th March 
    Remnants of the South African Brigade’s infantry regiments formed into a single Composite Regiment under Lt.Col. B. Young
  • 7th April to 5th May
    Battle of Lys (4th Battle of Ypres)
    Including

    • 10th to 11th April
      Battle of Messines Ridge
    • 24th April
      28th (South African) Infantry Brigade formed from 

      • 9th Scottish Rifles
      • 2nd Royal Scots Fusiliers
      • South African Composite Regiment
      • South African Light Trench Mortar Battery

In his book “The History of the South African Forces in France”, John Buchan says :-

If we take 5th May [1918] as marking the close of the Battle of the Lys we may pause to reflect upon the marvels of the forty-five preceding days. More history had been crowded into their span than into many a year of campaigning. They had seen Ludendorff’s great thrust for Amiens checked in the very moment of success. They had seen the not less deadly push for the Channel ports held up for days by weak divisions which bent but did not break, and finally die away with its purpose still far from  achievement. In those forty-five days the South African Brigade had been twice destroyed as a unit, and in each case its sacrifice had been the salvation of the British army. At Marrières Wood it delayed the advance which would have made an irreparable breach between Gough and Byng ; on the ridge of Messines it maintained the northern pillar of our defence long enough to permit reserves to come up from the south. On 11th April Haig had issued his famous order, in which he warned his  troops that they were fighting with their backs to the wall, and that every position must be held to the last man. The veterans of Marrières Wood and the new drafts of Messines obeyed this command to the letter. When the Composite Battalion was formed, there were men in it who had been fighting with Dawson or Tanner since the 21st of March. The few survivors of the forty-five days had behind them such a record of fruitful service as the whole history of the War could scarcely parallel.

  • 19th July
    Capture of Méteren
  • 8th August to 11th November 
    100 days offensive. Including
  • 11th September
    Withdrawn from the 9th Division
    Reformed into a brigade of 3 regiments, Signals section, Light Trench mortar battery, field ambulance

      • 1st regiment under Major H.H. Jenkins
      • 2nd regiment under Lt.Col. H.W.M. Bamford
      • 4th regiment under Lt.Col. D.M. MacLeod
  • 22nd September
    Moved to the 66th Division
  • 2nd October
    In passing through the Montauban  area

    Many visits being made by officers and men to Delville Wood.

    • Final advance towards the armistice
    • 5th October
      Nurlu
    • 6th October
      Ronssoy
    • 8th October
      Beaurevoir
    • 21st October
      Serain
    • 2nd November
      Reumont
    • 4th November
      Le Cateau
    • 5th November
      Pommereuil
    • 6th November
      Landrecies
    • 7th November
      Basse-Noyelles
    • 8th November
      Dompierre
    • 9th November
      Solre-le-Château
    • 11th November

      Active operations ceased from 11.00 at which time the armistice came into force & the regiment returned to S.A. Brigade command from its period in Divisional Reserve. Pipe band played on Church Square in afternoon.

    • 16th November
      Beaurieux

      Lt.Col. D.M. MacLeod D.S.O., M.C., D.C.M., the commanding officer was evacuated to C.C.S. (Casualty Clearing Station) this day with neuritis in his wounded arm & Major M.C. Browne  took over command of the battalion with Capt. Tomlinson D.S.O. as second in command.