The day was destined to be the most critical of the battle. At 8 A.M. the enemy opened a tremendous bombardment on Delville Wood and the village with guns of all calibres, and until 7 P.M. there was no diminution of the cannonade, which was probably the heaviest that the Division ever experienced. The whole earth vibrated and trembled from the impact of thousands of “crumps.” All communications were broken down, and for a long time General Furse was ignorant of what was happening. Officers of his staff, particularly Major MacNamara, took great risks in going up to Longueval to ascertain the situation, but no definite information as to the fate of the South Africans could be gathered. About 2 P.M. the shelling increased in fury. Our front trenches were obliterated, whole sections of their occupants were annihilated, and the Germans launched a terrific attack. For this supreme effort they had brought up picked troops, consisting of the 7th and 8th Divisions of the famous Magdeburg Corps,[46] commanded by Sixt von Armin.
After 2 P.M. the S.O.S. signal was seen in the wood and the village, and some of our men were noticed dribbling back from these places. Practically all the South Africans on the perimeter had perished, and the few survivors, stupefied by the ferocity of the shelling, fell back on Lieut.-Colonel Thackeray’s H.Q. in Princes Street. At 3 P.M. waves of Germans poured through the wood and the northern part of Longueval, but now seizing their opportunity our machine-gunners took heavy toll of the men in field-grey. Lieut.-Colonel Thackeray’s troops performed prodigies of valour, and in a sustained and delirious struggle the heroic defenders baffled every effort of the foe to break their ranks. In this grisly combat the Germans lost much valuable time, and when they pressed on, the gallant South Africans were still holding out.
General Furse was at Montauban when he heard of the counter-attack. It was not a time for hesitation, and he ordered the Argylls to advance at once and reoccupy all the ground north and west of Regent Street that had been evacuated. But the enemy’s barrage along the line of Clarges Street was so thick that it was impossible to take the men through it.
Later, at 3.30 in the afternoon, Lieut.-Colonel Dawson received orders to collect all available men of the 1st and 4th South African Infantry, and take them up to the Strand and northern boundary of the wood. With about 160 men he set off on his desperate errand shortly after 4 P.M. On the way he met some officers, who reported that the whole of the garrison had been virtually annihilated. Accordingly he left his men in the old German trenches south-west of Longueval, and went off to find out how matters stood. Disorganised parties of men, their nerves sorely jangled by the bombardment, were streaming southwards through the village. When Lieut.-Colonel Dawson discovered that some of the South Africans were still holding out near Buchanan Street, he took his men into the village, and put them in trenches just north of Dover Street on the right of the 26th Brigade.
The crisis occurred about 6 P.M. By that time all Longueval north of Clarges Street was lost except for a few keeps garrisoned by Highlanders, but the gallant resistance of these posts proved of the greatest possible value. The enemy held all the wood outside the area occupied by Lieut.-Colonel Thackeray and his men, and the line of Buchanan Street which was held by the Camerons. All day the majority of the troops of the 26th Brigade had sheltered in the trenches south of Clarges Street from the fiendish shelling. During the worst spells, when nothing could be heard above the hideous din of the screaming and crashing shells, the men cowered into the sides of their trenches; but though wearied and exhausted they were full of fight, and when a short lull came they peered eagerly over the parapet hoping for a glimpse of the enemy on whom they might wreak vengeance for the horror of the bombardment. If any man stood out from his fellows that day, it was Lieut.-Colonel Gordon of the Black Watch. By the sheer force of his masterful personality he controlled the situation. After a brief consultation he and Lieut.-Colonel Kennedy of the Seaforths decided that the time was ripe for a counter-attack. A new line had been thrown forward along the railway that ran from Guillemont into Longueval. Shortly before 6 P.M. this line was reinforced by every available man from the Highland Brigade, and the whole pressed forward towards Delville Wood; at the same time, led by Lieut.-Colonel Duff, the Camerons swept westwards from Buchanan Street. On clearing the main square, the Highlanders saw the field-grey ranks of the enemy emerging from the south-west corner of the wood. For all who took part in that attack this was the most thrilling moment of the war. For the space of a single second both sides hesitated, so dramatic was the meeting, and then from the left of the 26th line came the rousing command, “Forward, boys!” and the Highlanders surged on like an irresistible wave. The Germans wavered, fired a few shots, and bolted into the shelter of Delville, refusing to face a force that was less than a fourth of their own strength. Carried away by the impetuosity of this magnificent charge, many of the Highlanders heedlessly followed the enemy far into the thicket, where many a brave man, marked on the casualty lists as “missing,” met his fate in a lonely scuffle with the Germans.
It was then that the quality of control and discipline was most needed. The whole value of the counter-attack would have been lost if the small force had pressed on into the wood; it would have been surrounded and cut off by the overwhelming numbers of the foe. Between them, Lieut.-Colonels Gordon and Kennedy rallied and reformed the men. Already they were in danger of being outflanked and a machine-gun, which had been missed during the rush, was taking heavy toll of their numbers from the rear. The Camerons, whose C.O., Lieut.-Colonel Duff, had been severely wounded during the mêlée, fell back on Buchanan Street, and the remainder was brought back to the line of Clarges Street and a trench to the immediate north of the Church. This position was firmly held, and a supporting line on the railway was formed. The attack so carefully planned by the enemy had been broken, and though the Highlanders had been too few to recapture Delville Wood, their timely charge had certainly maintained our grasp on the village.
All this time the South Africans had maintained their position against prodigious odds at the corner of Princes Street and Buchanan Street. Lieut.-Colonel Dawson did all that was possible to assist them; he sent up reinforcements, ammunition, rations, and stores, and towards midnight he went up to Lieut.-Colonel Thackeray’s H.Q. Every yard of the mangled wood bore plain traces of the desperate fighting that it had witnessed. “Devil’s Wood” it was called by our men, and that was the correct name. The South African H.Q. were full of wounded, and there were no men available to take them away. During the evening the remnants of the South Africans took over Buchanan Street from the Camerons, who were required to reinforce the Clarges Street line. That night was a trying and anxious time for Lieut.-Colonel Thackeray; his forces were small in number and were utterly spent. Three times the Germans came on in force, but were repulsed with heavy losses.
Our hold on southern Longueval was strengthened during the night by battalions of the 27th Brigade. After the relief was complete, the Clarges Street line on the left was held by the 9th Scottish Rifles, a company of the 18th H.L.I., and a company of the 6th K.O.S.B.; three companies of the Borderers formed a flank along Pall Mall, and the 12th Royal Scots occupied the old German front line from Pall Mall to the west.
By the evening of the 18th July, General Furse had drawn up his plans for a counter-attack. The force to be employed consisted of the 53rd Brigade, which had been placed under his command. After 7.30 P.M., as it was clear that the Germans occupied all the wood east of Buchanan Street and north of Princes Street, a barrage was placed on it east and north of these rides. The 19th Durham Light Infantry were placed under the orders of Brig.-General Ritchie, and were instructed to secure the southern portion of the wood at 12.30 A.M. on the 19th July, but owing to the shelling, the darkness, and the unfamiliarity of the D.L.I. with the main features of the village, this operation was postponed until 6.15 in the morning, when the attack was delivered by the 53rd Brigade under a H.E. barrage. Owing to delays, the infantry did not begin to advance until 7.30 A.M., but they succeeded in clearing the wood south of Princes Street. In this operation the 53rd was effectively assisted by Lieut.-Colonel Thackeray’s men, who kept up a destructive fire on the Germans. For some unknown reason the 53rd Brigade failed to relieve the South Africans, though it was asked to do so by the 26th Brigade.