Battle of Rorke's Drift: How 150 English Troops Fought 4,000 Zulu | History of Warfare | Timeline

[Music] the action at Rock's drift fought on the night of January the 22nd 1879 holds an enduring place in the annals of Warfare on both sides brave men fought to the last courage and Valor are the Hallmarks of a small incident which has become the symbol of heroism and Duty in the face of overwhelming odds ironically a different ways the odds could be said to have been stacked against Victory by either side in the end the issue lay in the balance and only Brave men's blood could decide the this is the story of walks [Applause] [Music] drift [Music] for in the history of warfare the Zulu War of 1879 ranks neither as one of the longest or the bloodiest in many respects it was a small and unimportant Affair fought out in an obscure corner of the Empire by men who in truth need not have fought at all the driving force behind the war was Sir Henry Bartle Freer the British governor of the cape he feared that the continued independ dependence of the Zulu Nation would prove a threat to British expansion in the region Bartle frer therefore set out to go the proud Zulu nation into a position where their only option was to fight he knew full well that in such a war there could only be one winner despite the expressed wishes of the foreign office he issued a series of increasingly humiliating demands by doing so he first intimidated then angered the Zulus to the point where war was inevitable the situation reached a peak in January 1879 with the delivery of freya's final ultimatum to tetuo the Zulu Chief tetuo was a proud Man Who Saw himself as a peaceful neighbor to the British he could not begin to understand the hostility which he and his people faced Henry freyer knew full well that the hot-headed young Zulu warriors could be relied upon to give him the war he sought the king's frustration was later summed up by one of his Warriors who recall teto's address to his army our King addressed us saying I have not gone overseas to look for the white men yet they have come into my country and I would not be surprised if they took away our wives and cattle and crops and land what shall I do I have nothing against white men and I cannot tell why they come to me you want to take me what shall I do give the matter to us we replied we will go and eat all the white men and finish them off they are not going to take you while we are here they must take us first so in December 1878 on the banks of the toila river the British delegation gave notice to tetuo that he was to disband his army forth with it was impossible ultimatum nonetheless the British insisted it had to be obeyed by Friday the 10th of January 1879 tetw did not submit Freya had his way war was declared and the British Invasion of zululand was underway in the 1870s southern Africa was a very problematic part of the world for the British Empire uh the British had two colonies there the cape colony and Nal and they' had all sorts of problems with the various Bor republics Inland and various African groups scattered between them now in the 1870s they adopted a new forward policy which was attempting to sort out something of this political mess and to pave the way for future economic expansion in the region and they sent out a new proconsul Sir Henry Edward Bartle frer who was sent out specifically with the intention of implementing a new policy called Confederation and the whole idea behind Confederation was to bring these various groups under British control whether they wanted to or not now FR very soon after arriving in southern Africa decided that um one of the quickest ways to bring this about was to force a war on the zudu kingdom the Zulu kingdom was probably the largest independent black group left in southern Africa and it maintained the largest army and fr took one look at this and decided that it would be very good to break the power of the Zulus to draw them within the kind of economic framework that he was trying to develop and also it would be useful to demonstrate a little British muscle militarily in southern Africa to make sure that everybody else towed the line and fr began something of a propaganda War if you like um to prepare both southern Africa and the British government at home uh for the onset of a campaign to break the Zulu power despite the fact that London would send him no further reinforcements to precipitate a War the British government did not want Henry freyer Zulu War had in fact been long planned and anticipated the last regular troops to reach him were the second Battalion of the 20 4 second warshire regiment the first Battalion of the 24th had been at the cape since 1874 both battalions together were to play a major role in these historic events the arrival of the second Battalion 24th brought the British regular army in the cape up to 5,400 men they were reinforced by various native troops and some volunteer formations making some 10,000 into tortal Lord chelsford the British commander organized his army into five columns three columns would to enter Zulu land at three different points while two would remain behind to guard against Zulu incursions Lord chelsford himself would accompany the third column making straight to lundi the Zulu Capital with this fateful decision he would enter the pages of History [Music] by today's standards the British army of 1879 needed comparatively little logistical backup nonetheless the task of feeding and supplying 15,000 men for a campaign of up to 6 months duration required a massive effort some 30,000 oxen were requisitioned to move supplies and ammunition most of the British supplies were transported into huge Cape wagons 18 ft long and nearly 300 weight unladen these wagons needed up to 20 oxen to pull them because of this it was necessary for the troops to establish Supply camps on often these Supply bases also doubled as Hospital posts one such post was at Rock drift the British had major practical problems when campaigning in southern Africa in the 1870s uh they had to cart all their supplies with them there was very little in the way of an organized commissariat Department to back them up they had to hire a lot of Civilian transport uh an infantry battalion required something like 17 wagons to keep it in the field for any length of time they had to carry all their equipment with them all of their food even fodder for the horses and mules that kind of thing so throughout the Zulu War in particular it was necessary for the British to establish a chain of Supply going up to the front and on into zululand and the reason why Lord chelsford chose Rock drift as the kickoff point for the uh invasion of his Center column was simply that there were two useful buildings there which he could use to stockpile supplies and stores and there was a very handy road across the amenti river into zulul land at that point so here was an Ideal Supply Depot where he could stockpile all his supplies ready for the kickoff into zululand and onto the invasion towards wundi and beond on the 9th of January Lord chelsford and leftenant Colonel Glen with the third column approached the Buffalo River which formed the border with zululand they pitched camp at the small settlement near the river known as rocks drift it was considered a useful spot today Rock's drift is very much unchanged it is now a peaceful Monument of great deep seeds but the buildings have been modernized since the battle in 1879 the settlement at the drift consisted of two small Stone buildings with thatched roofs and beside them a crawl this was the property of a Swedish missionary named Otto wit having sent his family to safety wit who spoke Zulu had stayed behind to act as an interpreter he did this in the hope that his small action might prevent the needless shedding of blood as a man of God he knew and respected the Zulus but in his hope for a peaceful accommodation he was to be disappointed Ro drift was selected as an ideal position for Supply base in due course a small military post was established by assistant commissariat officer Walter Dunn along with James Dalton and storekeeper Louie burn wit had used one of the two buildings at Rock drift as his home the other as a church and school the church now became a store room to supply the post it was stacked with boxes of biscuits and sacks of corn with the arrival of surgeon James Reynolds wit's home was itself converted this time into a hospital to serve the needs of liutenant Colonel Glenn's column as they moved into Zulan land by January the 12th only 2 days after the expiring of the ultimatum there had been a few skirmishes with the zul by the second day of the campaign proper they were already badly wounded men to take care of the journalist and adventurer Duncan Moody later collected the accounts of many of those present at Rock's drift during the engagement one soldier later described the transformation of wit's home to a hospital the dwelling house was over 80 ft in length the side wall on the left running back nearly 60 ft it had been fitted up by the medical authorities as a base hospital for the column and nearly all rooms as well as the large veranda in front were occupied by patients 36 in number including some who had already been wounded at a taking of serial's cwls on January the 12th the large Storehouse was occupied by the commissariat department and was full of provisions of all kinds on the 11th of January the time limit on the governor's ultimatum had run out and the main body of the column moved on from Rock's drift into zululand Teto was now at war with the might of the Bri British Empire and they intended to carry the war to him in the 1870s the Zulu Army was the most powerful and sophisticated independent black Force left in southern Africa there were fundamental differences with the European Army uh it was primarily a national service Army if you like it was a citizen Army um all the men of the Zulu Kingdom were required to put in a period of service for the Zulu King and they were organized along the uh the grounds of their common age the king would call up regiments called amabo every few years of all the young men who' attained a certain age since the last call up and then they would be placed into various regimental Barracks called amaka around the country and they would be required to serve the king in a number of ways they were the local police force for example they took part in his hunts they took part in the great National ceremonies but also of course they were his military machine um they were very highly trained uh they had a somewhat conservative military ethic they were still primarily armed with shields and stabbing Spears as they had been since the creation of the Zulu Kingdom in the 1820s under King Shaka but they were very aggressive they were very highly motivated and certainly the British realized that uh there was an awful lot to admire in the Zulu Army and that was actually one of the reasons why Sir Henry Bartle FR was Keen to break the power of the Zulus in the first place discover the past with exclusive history documentaries and adree podcasts presented by world-renowned historians all from history hit watch them on your smart TV or on Theo with your mobile device download the app now to explore everything from the wonders of ancient Pompei and the Mystery of the princes in the tower to the life of Anne bin and D-Day sign up via the link in the description with the departure of the column for the interior of zululand a Detachment of about 300 men of the natal native contingent remained behind at the drift other than than the red bands which marked them apart from the Zulus they were armed and equipped identically however their will to fight was considerably less than their fearsome adversary this dubious Force came under the command of one Captain William Stevenson also present with the 80 men of be company of the second Battalion 24th regiment who took up guard Duty under leftenant gonville bromhead by the river leftenant John chard a suton in the Royal Engineers was working with a small Detachment to maintain the Pont Bridge which had been used to make the crossing Rock drift was under the overall command of major Spalding the chief Supply officer with the main column gone there was little of note to report on the 22nd of January after an uneventful 10 days Spalding decided decided to ride back to help MAA to see why promised reinforcements had not arrived before leaving he handed over command to leftenant chard with what must possibly rank as the most misguided intelligence briefing in military history I see you are senior so you will be in charge although of course nothing will happen and I shall be back again this evening his advice was to prove spectacularly wrong major Spalding had not been gone for more than a few hours when two Riders brought news from the third column's camp at isand laana in one of the greatest reverses suffered by the British Army in the entire Victorian era the camp at isand laana had been attacked and overrun 1,300 British troops and their African allies were killed worse still a fresh Zulu Army was headed towards Rock's drift intent on dealing the same hard lesson to the small band of Defenders at the former Mission Station DCF Moody recorded the shock of the arrival of the news bearers other mounted men arrived from the late camp and told of the horrors they' escaped and the dangers that were about to overwhelm us doubtless the poor fellows had seen teras enough for one day and were possessed by an earnest desire to warn the people in El marar in time and so like so many before and several after and they galloped to carry out their laudable intention liutenant bromed at once struck his camp and sent down for lieutenant chard who was engaged with some half dozen men at the points on the river to come up and direct the preparations for defense liutenant chard consulted both br romad and commissary Dalton who was an ex quartermaster Sergeant Dalton's advice was particularly sound he urged chard to stay and fight rather than try to outrun the oncoming enemy he argued that they would stand no chance in the open he also suggested using the stores as part of the defenses against the advice of Dalton an attempt was made to at least remove the most badly injured patient in the hospital to safety but even as wagons were brought up to take them away the Zulus were cited there was to be no escape the wagons which were to carry the wounded were now added to the barricades hurriedly being built between the hospital and Storehouse quickly and effectively the defense was erected even though it was hastily constructed from stacks of meal biscuit boxes and overturned wagons the barricade was to prove its deadly efficiency later the day of course as soon as the Garrison at Rock drift heard that they were about to be attacked by the Zulus their immediate reaction naturally enough was that they were stuck in this awful position uh with no preparations for defense whatsoever uh I think it was Henry hook who said we were trapped like rats in a hole um but in fact when you look at it uh with the cold sort of an analytical mind of hindsight as it were it's actually not a bad defensive position given the sort of attack that it could expect from the Zulus uh there were the two buildings they had thatched Roose which which was a major disadvantage of course but they were only about 30 yards apart um in front of them there was a a patch of flat flat ground which dropped away in a rocky ledge about 4T high now some of the barricades were built on the top of that ledge which actually made a barricade about 7 ft High which is quite a formidable obstacle for anybody attacking it the buildings themselves particularly at the back um had very little in the way of doors and windows uh the Garrison were able to knock Loop holes through so that effectively they were firing from behind um solid walls with just little gaps to fire through and uh all in all there wasn't an awful lot of room for the Zulus to maneuver um there was some ground in front which had um trees and other bush in it which was a bit awkward for the Defenders but in fact there was a bit of a Killing Zone generally all around the buildings within sort of 30 or 40 yards in most cases so on the whole given that uh the Zulus would have to get close to be able to use their Spears and shields to good Advantage The Defenders actually had decidedly the advantage with all hope of Escape gone the wounded and sick men were taken back to their places inside and the patience brought in from the verander it was a move that would Sav some lives but at a cost although it was not good the situation did not yet look desperate for chard and his men they were after all some 300 men to defend the perimeter but as final preparations were made there was a new and desperate turn of events work on the barricade had been proceeding a pace and the men of the 24th labored alongside the native troops of the nnc as soon as news arrived that the Zulus were on their way the native troops at the Nal contingent bolted from their post leaving their regular comrades to their fate it is described here with typically clinical Detachment in the Contemporary record of field operations kept by the British intelligence service soon after 400 p.m. firing Was Heard to the South and the enemy were reported to be close at hand upon which the Detachment of the Native contingent who were within the post quitted it with their officer The Garrison was now reduced to the company of the second Battalion 24th regiment about 80 strong and some men of other core the total number within the post being 139 of whom 35 were sick in hospital by attacking even a lightly held Mission Station the Zulu regiments who attacked Rock's drift were ignoring the only really valuable piece of tactical advice their King had given them he advised them not to attack the British in defended positions ignoring this advice was to prove a grave [Music] error the matter is in your hands he told us but if you come near to the white man and find that he has made trenches and built fors that are full of loopholes do not attack him for it will be of no use but if you can see him out in the open then you can attack him because you will be able to eat him up the ULU regiments that went on to attack drift had actually been held in reserve earlier that day at hisana uh there were four Zulu regiments theana the Theo in the indu yenu they were pretty much senior men they'd been held in reserve partly through accident but possibly partly because they were uh more elderly men most of them were in their late 40s most of them were married they played a very minor part in the Battle of isana uh they'd been used to mop up some of the fugitives they'd moved on that day before the start of the fight at Rock drift probably about 15 miles or so across country they'd swung wide of a sandana mountain cross the omati river and then gone on to attack rocks drift most of that they probably covered at a pretty fast jog if not actively a run so most of them were probably beginning to feel the effects of that by the time they arrived at Rock Drift But on the other hand they were boyed up because they'd missed out on the glory at entana and they were Keen to get a bit of the action before the day was over there were probably round about 4,000 of them at a rough estimate and and certainly with their enthusiasm with their discipline um they would be more than a match I think for any British soldiers that they caught in the open that day of course the one thing that they weren't um able to deal with uh was British Firepower particularly when the British were behind a secure barricade because of course the Zulus did need to get close with their Spears and their Shields to inflict any casualties and all the time that the British could keep them at a distance and shoot at them the Zulus would be at a serious disadvantage instead of having 300 men to defend the perimeter leftenant chard now had only the 80 men of the 24th but they were 80 men who by their courage and Valor would write their names in history as the Zulu regiment rushed up to the small for the men of the 24th kept up a military fire which checked the initial Rush of the Zulus against the South Wall of the barricade at char later recall the opening moments of the fight about 4:30 p.m. 500 or 600 of the enemy came Insight around the hill to our South and advanced at a run against the South Wall they were met by a well sustained fire but notwithstanding their heavy loss continued to advance to within 50 yards of the wall where they met with such heavy fire from the wall and Crossfire from the store that they were checked the greater number however without stopping moved to the left around the hospital and made a rush around Northwest wall of mey bags after a short but desperate struggle they were driven back with heavy fire into the bush the main body of the enemy were close behind and had lined the ledge of rock and caves overlooking us about 400 yards to our south from where they kept up a constant fire while the men on the South Wall were protected from the Zulu fire from the hill above them those those on the north wall had their backs exposed to the fire of zulu Riflemen firing from the hill to the rear the Scarlet tunics of the 24th made a perfect Target and soon casualties began to mount even in the face of the less than expert Zulu Marksman it's one of the great myths of the battle of rock drift that the Zulus who fought there had looted large numbers of Martini Henry's from the camper Des sandana earlier that day of course in fact they'd actually been the Reserve at DES sandana they hadn't had time to take part in the Looting before they went on to attack Rock drift most of them nonetheless would have had access to some kind of firearm there had been an illicit gun trade into zululand over the previous 20 or 30 years but they were Antiquated Firearms they were generally obsolete European patn even old brown best muskets now when the Zulus took up their positions on the Oscar BG or Shani Terraces overlooking the post at Rock drift they were in a very good position to fire right down into chard's defensive line but in fact they were firing at ranges of 3 or 400 yards and most of them were using weapons that were really only accurate at about 100 yards or had only been accurate at about 100 yards 20 or 30 years earlier when they were new so they're now old weapons Rusty weapons inadequate powder poor quality ammunition so the Zulus are firing away at a distance really that was um too great for the sort of guns that they had and in fact they put a terrific volume of fire down into the post but it was largely luck if anything hit anybody there although it's nonetheless interesting to note that that most of ch's casualties were still hit by gunfire at some stage during the [Music] battle as the Zulu forces encroached on the barricades of rock drift the fighting grew fiercer and casualties mounted once again Survivor recorded the desperate events of the day whisper passes around amongst the men or Old King Cole is killed he was at the front wall bullet passed through his head and struck the next man on the bridge of the nose Mr Dalton who was a tall man was continually going along the barricades cheering the men using his own rifle most effectively aulu ran up near the barricade Mr dalon calls out pop that fellow and aimed over the parit at another when his rifle dropped he turned around quite pale and said that he'd been shot the doctor was by his side at once found the bullet had passed through above the right shoulder well unable to hold his rifle any longer although he didn't cease to direct the fire of the men who were near him he handed it to Mr burn or used it well presently Corporal scam who was near Mr burn was shot through the shoulder and back while he crawled a short distance and handed the remainder of his cartridges to leftenant chard and then expressed a desire for a drink of water burn fetched it for him and whilst given him to drink poor burn was shot through the head fell dead instantly if the casualties among the regulars were mounting fast they were nothing compared to the appalling losses suffered by the Zulu W when the sun came up on the morning of the 23rd of January the British were appalled at the sight that greeted them Rock drift had been turned into something of a slaughter house there were great heaps of zulu bodies piled up against the barricades particularly in front of the hospital which which had been charged over time and time again now CH says that in the immediate aftermath of the fight they buried something like 350 bodies in front of the post but he admitted later that quite a few more turned up over the subsequent weeks and months and in fact there are some quite reliable statistics which suggest that something like 600 Zulus were actually killed at the Battle of rock drift now on top of that of course you've got an unknown number of wounded even if there were only 3 or 400 wounded on the top which would be a very small proportion you're looking at something like a th000 men who sustained a wound in action well we said earlier that there were only about 4,000 Zulus who took part in the fight so it means that something like one in four Zulus who took part in the fight sustained some sort of injury and there are some very graphic accounts actually which suggest that even men who survived sustained Two Three or even four wounds and then were helped Away by their comrades and somehow survived so that the price that they paid in these tenacious attacks was really quite remarkable it was a a very costly and bloody battle as far as the Zulus were concerned despite the terrible blud the intensity of the fighting continued to rise a dust then evening pass the struggle deap the most desperate fighting at this point went on in the hospital in a maze of tiny cramped rooms divided by thin walls and doors of little substance the patients had been trapped the Zulus burst in here first of all and several Defenders were immediately killed it became NE necessary to retreat into the interior rooms defending each single connecting door one at a time all this time the enemy had been attempting to force the hospital and shortly after set fire to its roof The Garrison of the hospital defended it room by room bringing out all the sick who could be moved before they retired privates John Williams Henry hook Robert Jones and William Jones 24th regiment were the last men to leave holding the doorway with their bayonet their own ammunition being expended because of the Interior Communications and the burning of the house it was impossible to save all with most heartfelt sorrow I regret we could not save these poor fellows from their terrible fate privates hook Jones and the others had been forced to hack away through the inner petitions of the hospital in an attempt to reach the safety of the inner enclosure in hand toand fighting one man would hold the enemy they at the door or hole he had come through While others passed more badly inent Pati through into the room Beyond this frantic action was repeated over and over as the hospital burned around them this heroic action must rank as one of the greatest Feats of Courage seen in the whole Victorian age private hook certainly deserved his Victoria Cross rather more than the unfavorable image which Hollywood was to paint of him private Alfred Henry hook Harry as you liked to be known to his friends uh is one the one figure in the Rock Thrift Saga who's been rather maligned in the popular imagination uh he was of course a main character in that very excellent 1964 film Zulu which in many ways had quite a lot that was good to show about the Battle of rock Drift But Did alter some of the characters Now hook is it in in it is shown as being a um something of a drunken malingerer and an insubordinate barck room lawyer somebody calls him at one point uh in fact he was a perfectly respectable Soldier he was a small land owner before he joined the army uh he was a family man he was a lifelong T Toler apparently um so he wasn't at all the way he was portrayed in the movie he was one of those who was deputed by child or bromhead to defend the hospital during the battle and we actually know quite a lot about his role because he he wrote a very long and eloquent account one of the bestw written accounts of rock striff by a participant in which he talks about the terrifying ordeal that he went through in the hospital there the Zulus of course attacked the hospital at the height of the battle broke in through the front and hook and a number of other able-bodied men were forced to evacuate a lot of the patients by knocking holes through the walls and passing the patients through from one room to another until they finally got out with of course the Zulus hard on their heels and at some point the Zulus then Set Fire to the roof as well so hook actually says well we then had a fine choice of either being burnt alive or being massacred by the Zulus so hook really is one of the great characters who emerges from the Battle of rock drift uh he subsequently earned himself the VC and I think really that um nobody could doubt that he certainly earned it on that day in the darkness of the African night L only by the Flames of the burning H the fight for RO drift grew ever more desperate a Defender later described a DCF Moody the last moments of the hospital defense when we'd retired to the retrenchment and the hospital had been set on fire as a terrible struggle awaited the brave fellows who were defending it from within private uh Joseph Williams fired from a small window at the far end of the hospital next morning 14 warriors were found dead Ben besides others along the line of fire and when their ammunition was expended he and his companions kept the door with a bayet but an entrance was subsequently forced and he poor fellow was seized by the hands dragged out killed before their eyes darkness was now complete surrounded and having repulsed several charges Shard ordered his men to retreat first to the middle then to the inner walls of C here the British were out of Rangers fire from The Rock teres the burning hosel created Fen advantage and disadvantage in dark on one side it exposed the Zulus who charg the defenses on the other in 10 shadowed cast he SE several determined attempts to break each attack was heralded by the famous Zulu War Cry despite the ferocity of the fighting the SCH warriors did not necessarily the respect of their PE as can be seen from this description of the battle at w strip known to the Zulus as quim meaning Jim's place after the trader Jim Ro two regiments who were too late to fight ataana and OKO attack J play at night for the soldiers fought bravely and The Zo never got in to kill them they fought they yelled they shouted it dies at the end it dies in the doorway the star sucks the dark where they ask guy they were struck they die it was no longer fighting they were now exchanging salutations merely the regiment was finished up against people laughed at them saying you are no man you are just women s that run away no risen at all like the wind despite the losses the zuru warriors with Incredible courage continued to press for the attacks as his meager forces was gradually pushed back into a smaller and smaller area shard ordered a sanctuary to be constructed in the center of the this was for the badly wounded shepher although exposing himself to fire in doing so assistant commissary dun dragged enough melee bags together for the purpose a few Riflemen were also placed in this vantage point the remaining British troops were now concentrated in one spot and they were now able to focus the power of their weapons on a single crun despite the vicious power of the rifles the Zulus continue to charge under covering fire from The Rock shells above wave upon wave broke upon the Defenders throughout the long night but the British pended off each attack the battle at rocks drift continued for quite a long time after dark it was fairly unusual actually for the zulies to fight after dark and it says something of their desperation and tenacity that They carried on the assaults after dark now by that stage of course chard and his men had been forced back to the small area in front of the storehouse as the night were wore on under the terrible psychic and emotional stresses of combat the men were getting desperate for water getting desperately thirsty there was a water cart within the perimeter but it had unfortunately been abandoned near the hospital when everybody fell back to the storehouse so at some point during the night it was necessary for the men to mount a bayonet charge out into the darkness to run over and grab hold of this water cart and drag it back near to the barricade so that the men could run a hose through and fill their water bottles and slle their thirst and you have to think about that moment for a minute because here they are in darkness just lit by the guttering Flames from the burning hospital and out there are thousands of Zulus who they can hear chanting and shouting commands and all the rest of it and somebody actually has to go out into that Darkness with just a a rifle and a bayonet to grab hold of the cart and drag it back and I think it stretches the imagination extraordinarily to think what a what a feat what an endurance that must have been by the first gray light of dwn the Spirit seems to have left the Zulu warriors crippled by their terrible losses the Warriors began to creep away the morning revealed a scene of Devastation the hospital had been gutted by the fire it smoke still dirtied the rising mist and everywhere lay the dead among the Dead with a few Red Coats who died near the perimeter 15 of Char's men were killed but the overwhelming majority of the Dead were Zulus fascinated by the scene chard walked among the hundreds of corpses littered with empty ammunition packets and cartridges and noted the strange attitudes men had fallen in strangest of all he noted was that a number of Zulus had died in the same position crouched forward on their knees and with their faces on the ground drift highlights if you like the difference between the two fighting styles of the British soldier and the Zulu Soldier uh the Zulus of course repeatedly charged right up to the barricades but the Zulus in order to be successful and they were a very successful Army in the past needed to get close to their enemy they had to be able to use their Shields to ward off enemy blows and to batter the enemy off guard and then get in with the famous underarm stab of the stabbing spear now the British in order to be effective needed to merely keep their enemy at more than arms length and create a a successful fire zone which they could fire into at random now the barricade at Rock kept the Zulus away so that they couldn't really close with their stabbing Spears and the British merely were able to fire into them over the barricades and slaughter them over and over again the bodies piled up very quickly in front of the barricades it's interesting that once or twice the Zulus did overrun the barricades and at those points um bayet fighting bayet against asag broke out I think it was Private hitch who said that the Zulus on the whole took no notice whatsoever of the bullets they just kept coming and coming and we kept shooting them down the only time they flinched at all was when the bayonet was used freely now of course it's it's a totally different sort of psychological type of warfare possibly in many ways the Zulus understood the bayonet more so that's why they were a little bit more respectful of it but ultimately it was British Firepower which created so much Devastation amongst the Zulu ranks simply because the Zulu couldn't get close enough to to do anything themselves although he could not have known it at that point leftenant chard and his small Garrison had won their heroic struggle for survival what they needed now was the arrival of a relief column and fast chard kept his men busy although most were exhausted he was careful to occupy them with routine tasks during the tense wait one Patrol was sent out to gather the Zulu weapons they discovered many w wounded Zulus were still alive today it would be a war crime but in 1879 unremarked by anyone the red coat simply shot dead the wounded Zulus upon Discovery a tragic end for a brave foe but the Zulu War was fought under harsh rules and neither side gave nor expected Mercy the silent red corpses lying a few miles away at sandel Wana bore witness to the other side of that brutal law shortly afterwards another disturbing development caused chard to hurriedly call in his patrols the Zulu warriors had return about 7 a.m. a large body of Zulus appeared on the Hills to the Southwest chard and his men watched with mounting apprehension as they approached around the slope of the Shian Mountain kept out of rifle range and squatted down on a hill opposite then after some time they Rose as one and went away the popular belief that the Zulu were saluting the Red Coats is unlikely to be true there are far more likely reasons for the be the film Zulu includes a marvelous stirring moment at the end when the Zulus reappear over the skyline and start chanting songs and uh the British Garrison work out that the Zulus are actually saluting them for their courage and it's become very much part of the sort of popular myth of the battle of rock drift I'm sorry to have to say in many ways that actually it didn't happen like that at all um the closest that happened was that on the morning of the 23rd some of the Zulus probably the rear guard because most of the rest of the Zulus had already retired overnight came into view out of rifle range from The Garrison at Rock stft and they sat down on the hill opposite and for a few moments the two sides stared at each other before the Zulus rose up and retired back out of view in fact what was happening they were probably intending to retire down towards the amenti river rock drift but they could see Lord chelmsford's column coming in the opposite direction so they couldn't retire by that route and they simply marched off in another Direction now it is true that both sides gained a terrific respect for each other's fighting qualities at Rock Drift But the practicalities of it were that on the morning of the 23rd everybody was far too exhausted far too spent in emotionally and physically to go in for those sort of niceties the Zulus who fought at Rock drift had been marching and fighting for 24 hours they had crossed more than 15 miles of rugged terrain mostly at the run and they had been beaten once already by Superior Firepower of an enemy who showed no signs of weakening they had seen a quarter of their number either wounded or killed most importantly of all the Zulus could see from their position on the hill that red coat reinforcements were approaching Rock's Drift from the direction of V andelana Rock's drift was saved the Zulu War would rage on after the morning of the 23rd of January but the Epic defense of rock drift was over the Red Coats were naturally elated but a terrible blow had been dealt to the zoo of nation the 22nd of January 1879 was a very costly day for the Zulu Kingdom the Zulus had fought not only at entana and rock Drift But also at inana down on the coast at the end of the day they had probably the best part of 2,000 casualties uh it was an appalling casualty rate um King K is supposed to have said an asagi has been thrust into the belly of the nation uh certainly there were many Zulus at the end of the day who weren't quite sure whether they'd won a victory or lost a defeat because there were so many dead and wounded wounded at the end of the day and worse than that of course it provoked the British into being far more tenacious than they might otherwise have been by simple virtue of the fact that the Zulus woned is and Lana um there was very little chance of king T negotiating any future political settlement because the British were then determined to crush the Zulus militarily before they instituted any um Peace negotiations So Not only was it a costly day in itself it had the most apocalyptic uh consequences for the kingdom because it led ultimately to the renewed Invasion by the British in the great disasters at Kula at ginoo and ultimately at lundi where thousands more Zulus were killed the great Royal centers of uh of the king's Authority the amaka were all destroyed and King himself was chased off of his throne and out into the bush and finally captured by the British and brought home as a prisoner in the face of the disaster the Selana the British public needed a victory here was a heroic feat of arms worthy of the name the details of the battle were already being noted and the nature of the conflict was elevated by its thrilling odds and acts of Bravery from an insignificant Siege to a famous Victory when the news of rock drift reached England uh it was greeted with some sort of public Euphoria uh of course it came hard on the heels of the disaster at is Santana but it showed up the British Army in a particularly good light um on the one hand in the morning an entire column had been massacred but the point about be company of the 2 24th was that it wasn't some um specialist Victorian equivalent of the SAS uh it was just an ordinary standard British army unit it happened to be the one there on the day and it proved in the minds of the British public that Tommy Atkins could still stand his ground that The Thin Red Line had held firm and when members of the 24th eventually found their way back to Britain um many of them were cheered through the streets by adoring crowds uh liutenant chard was presented with a ceremonial sword by the citizens of of Plymouth both chard and bromhead were invited to Queen Victoria they were very much Heroes of the hour and certainly it helped to offset the series of disasters that had otherwise happened throughout the course of the Zulu War the men themselves were as eager as any to piece together exactly what had happened to them and why some of the things they learned were no surprise this historic photograph shows the actual survivors of the battle at rocks drift absent is Major Spalding their Earth while commanding officer major Spalding had turned back to help Ma with his reinforcements believing that the camp at Rock's drift had already been overrun all the evidence would appear to support that view and it was readily accepted as one of the many errors made in war doubts about his word were voiced publicly only by Lord Chelmsford himself but for most the important details were of those individual human acts of Bravery in his own account Duncan Moody is unable to resist singling out individuals for praise whilst all behave so gallantly is hardly possible to notice other exceptional instances although all their comrades bore testimony to such in the conduct of color Sergeant Bourne second to 24th Sergeant Windridge 2 24th and privates McMahan and Roy first 24th 11 Victoria crosses were justly awarded for the tremendous heroism shown by The Defenders of rock drift the most for a single action in the history of the British army with that typical brand of Pride and patriotism which marked the Victorian era the broad sheets were quick to commemorate the events of Ro's drift poetry was a favorite method of commemoration Moody himself could not resist the temptation now 24th remember what is on us depends and comes to him an answer a cheer the air that rends and then in bitter Earnest each man stands to his post as in the dark like Devil's star rush on the Zulu host and in our history's Pages shall the same tale be told and on the country's rooll call the names shall be in room of that brave band of Heroes who in her darkest are and when her need was sorest upheld old England's power despite the awkwardness of the verse such sentiments were no doubt from the heart but it is in the report of liutenant chard to his commanding officer that the most fitting words of Praise can be found I consider the enemy who attacked us to have numbered about 3,000 we killed about 3 350 of the steadiness and Gallant behavior of the whole Garrison I cannot speak too highly I wish especially to bring to your notice the conduct of leftenant bromhead second Battalion 24th regiment and The Splendid behavior of his company B of Sergeant Reynolds in his constant attention to the wounded Under Fire where they fell acting commissariat officer doton to whose energies much of our defenses were due and who was severely wounded whilst gallantly assisting in the defense of assistant commissary Dunn acting storekeeper burn who was killed color Sergeant Bourne Sergeant Williams who was wounded dangerously Sergeant winridge corpal shy privat R Jones and H hook The Following return shows a number present of Rog drift 22nd of January 1879 12 wounded of whom two have since died VI s Sant Williams and private Becket making a total killed of 17 I have the honor to be sir your obedient servant RM chard leftenant Royal Engineers rocks drift 3rd of February 1879 when the Army returned the king said and when will the rest come before me there were not many of the Great regiments present because many had been killed and many others were engaged removing their fathers or other relations who have been wounded our way of Reckoning whether many have been killed of any regiment is by the number of men of importance who were killed many chiefs and Sons of chiefs were killed at indana the king asked and where is so and so and so and so they were dead the dead were not to be counted there were so many the whole Zulu nation was whipping and Mourning [Music] [Music] foree [Music] [Applause] [Music] for [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] for [Music] [Applause] to

Channel: Timeline - World History Documentaries

Views: 408,965

Keywords: African colonial history, African tribal history, African tribes, Battle analysis, British army, British military achievements, British military conquests, British military history, Colonial conquests, Historical events, Historical military events, History Hit Network, History education, Military fortification, Military history experts, Military strategy, Rorke's Drift history, Timeline - World History Documentaries, War analysis, Zulu culture, Zulu warriors tactics

Id: UPmfQRYImYA

Length: 56min 59sec (3419 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 11 2024