How Zulu Warriors Pushed The British Army To Breaking Point | History Of Warfare | War Stories

the British Invasion of zululand had all of the Hallmarks of a classic Victorian military Expedition from a slim pretext a strong British force was advancing Upon A numerically superior but outgunned native Force years of experience suggested that it was to be only a matter of time before the Union flag once again flew in triumph over a defeated foe within a few short days however this confident prediction was to be shattered by the last Army of a proud warrior nation in what was to prove the most serious military reverse ever inflicted upon the British army by a native Force [Music] foreign foreign [Music] the decision by the British High Commissioner to invade Zulu land in 1879 appears from a modern perspective to carry not the faintest tricks of legality or moral justification but the rules of diplomacy under which Sir Henry battle Edward freyr was operating although separated in time from us by only a hundred years or so was so completely at odds with our modern values that they belong to an altogether different age the age of the British Empire [Music] despite the colorful and romantic associations which images of red-coated Heroes can still stir in the blood of the British the reality of foreign policy under the Victorian regime was often as brutal and barbaric as the fierce conquests of the Roman Empire or the worst outrages of Napoleon Queen Victoria's Empire had been founded upon military strength and its continued expansion even in 1879 was still dependent upon the use of naked Force as governor of the kick sir battle freyr had inherited the difficult task of bringing the fragmented South African colonies and States into a single Confederation under the rule of the British crown he knew only too well that such a task could not be achieved by even the most skillful tact and diplomacy as the events of the intervening 20 years were to prove the only way in which the various Boer republics and independent native kingdoms could be brought under British sway was by subjugation through Force of Arms culminating in the bloody Boer War of 1899. I think to understand why the Zulu War took place we had to look a bit about the context in which 19th century Africa was being organized there are really two sets of clashing problems first of all there was a clashing problem between different native tribes but on top of that there is the international rivalries which we have to think about because it wasn't just the British of course creating an empire in Africa as far as South Africa is concerned we had the Dutch boar Republic so the transvale and the orange free state of course that would later in the century lead to the Boer Wars then there was just to the north of zulu land they had the Portuguese who also are having claims on Zulu territories and there was a whole complete complex or International problems between different European powers superimposed on top of the local native troubles and of course we have to look at what Britain was about in all this well we are the prime movers in this war there has a great concept which people like Cecil Rhodes are preaching at this time that there was going to be they hoped Cape to Cairo Railway write Downs Africa therefore going all the way through British territory and it was going therefore to be necessary for us to drive a corridor right at the center of Africa and that would involve in part taking over parts of zulu land that was a big dream which of course was never going to come into fruition but these are the kind of problems in my opinion make a Strife Warfare at whatever scale inevitable history hit is a streaming platform that is just for history fans with fantastic documentaries covering fascinating figures and moments in history from all over the world from the Battle of Trafalgar and the revolutionary era right through to the second world war if you are looking for your next military history fix then this is the service for you we're committed to Bringing history fans award-winning documentaries and podcasts that you cannot find anywhere else sign up now for a free trial and War Stories fans get 50 off their first three months just be sure to use the code War Stories at checkout brand new that there could only ever be one outcome from such a war the total British Victory despite the many subsequent setbacks this analysis was to prove correct in reality the Zulu people could never hope to defeat the resources of the British Empire much of the evidence from the Zulu and Bantu Wars against the boers Justified this analysis as the boers had often defeated an enemy which vastly outnumbered them in 1836 at the Battle of vegcom less than 200 boys armed with the old style muzzle loading muskets inflicted a crushing defeat on 5 000 matabili Warriors killing 1700 in the process for the loss of only two men at blood River in 1838 three thousand Zulus were slain by a boa Force who in return lost not one single man such was the lethal superiority of gunpowder over native weaponry [Music] faced with this Stark scenario it seems almost incomprehensible in the late 20th century that the official representative of the reputedly civilizing British Empire could also be capable of the pig-headed tactics of the school bullying there seems to be no alternative description for freya's undignified search for any pretext for war with the Zulu people and their King cats wear seen here after his final defeat by the British the colonial office struggling with a war in Afghanistan and faced with the prospect of further conflict with Russia vetoed the proposed invasion of zululand however Communications between England and the cape took some considerable time and as such the governor on the spot enjoyed a degree of independence of action which allowed him to react to local events with the use of force if necessary used his own authority and the flaws in the communication system to act against the wishes of the colonial office and to his own ends [Music] he thought he had finally found the excuse he had sought to justify war in July 1878 when a border commission was set up to arbitrate between the boers of the transvaal and the Zulus on the exact position of the border between the two regions both sides claimed ownership of large tracts of land in the tower and freyr felt confident that the commission would naturally come down on the side of the boards he intended to use this judgment as the springboard for immediate action to clear the Zulu people from the disputed territory freyr anticipated that in the process the Zulu king would be provoked Beyond restraint and War would inevitably result he continued to lay these plans despite the expressed wishes of Her Majesty's government it came as a great shock to Freya therefore when the Border commission found in favor of the Zulus not one to be discouraged by legal or moral claims freyr hedged the settlement with some additional terms which had nothing to do with the dispute but which he knew would prove unacceptable to the zooms Chief among these demands was an order for the effective disbandment of the Zulu Army an impossible request to make of a warrior Nation the Army was the foundation of the Zulu State and the end of the army effectively meant the end of a Nation to ensure there could be no mistake this time freyr allowed only 30 days for the Zulu King katzuyo to comply with his unreasonable demands this contemporary image shows the delivery of the British ultimatum on the 31st day after the delivery of the ultimatum British forces preemptorily entered Zulu land freyr had achieved his aim in the fate of the Zulu nation was sealed of course the case against sir Harry freyr is complex he had a dream of course he was one of those individuals who thought they were going to influence history and there was no doubt I think we had to admit he had it in for the Zulus he said sooner or later we will fight the Zulus and we know that General Chelmsford agreed with him so the senior military and the senior political man man were acting in total Accord on this particular matter in my opinion has been made of course the scapegoat for the Zulu War which I think most people now would regard as an unjust war in fact for reasons we may get onto later but he was made a scapegoat so he's brought back in fact in disgrace from South Africa the year after this particular War on the other hand I think he was fairly pragmatic and a realist and had an idea what had to be done in southern Africa and was determined to do so so to make him the completed the villain of the piece I don't think is quite Fair he was a very conscientious very hard-working civil servant who later on went into the business of writing their own Memoirs and so forth to justify his actions in Africa and India and elsewhere but I believe he was a very good servant of the British Empire as it then existed the famous phrase was I must paint quote at this point good the British Empire was not always but it was undeniably great surviving Zulu accounts make it abundantly clear that King cats whale wanted peace and was even prepared to accept some of the less humiliating demands made by Fred but he knew he was being goaded into war for reasons he could not understand November 1879 he had sent his own message to the British governor of natal Sir Henry Baldwin okay as always foreign foreign to resist the British incursion into zululand already the British were burning Zulu homesteads and killing innocent civilians and warriors alike on the 16th of January five days after the commencement of the British Invasion he was forced to fully mobilize his army the Army which katsuello called upon in this dire emergency was in fact not just one but four separate armies in response to a formidable and well-conceived British strategy of encirclement under the overall leadership of Lord Chelmsford the available British forces had been split into five separate columns two columns were to remain behind to guard against Zulu counter-attacks into natal the other three would each make a separate thrust into zululand ultimately to converge upon the Zulu Capital at ulundi number one column commanded by Colonel C.K Pearson of the third foot later the Buffs was to cross into zululand across its Southern border near the coast and strike northwards for olundi while number three column commanded by Colonel Glenn and accompanied by Lord Chelmsford himself would drive due east from Rock's drift the third component in the encirclement of the Zulu Capital was to be number four column commanded by Colonel wood number two column under lieutenant colonel durnford was to remain stationary on the tagala river to guard against Zulu incursions into natal while number five column would be based on Lunenburg to the north to protect against a possible Zulu Invasion from that direction [Music] the news of the arrival of two fresh infantry battalions from England after the long sea Journey caused a slight change of plan which was to have far-reaching consequences with his rear now secured Lord Chelmsford ordered Colonel danford's number two column to move up to join his own forces marching East from rockstrift durhamford was a reckless adventurer who was spoiling for a fight so he lost no time in moving his men up even with the addition of dernford's men the forces which Chelmsford had at his disposal were not all that he would have hoped for to meet such a serious undertaking however when the foreign office openly opposed to an all-out War at that precise time freyr and the military commander Lord Chelmsford decided to accept the compromise of an invasion with limited forces in January against the worrying prospect that they might but some future date be prevented from coming to grips with the zoos at all the five British columns therefore were a mixed force of 5 000 British regular infantry 1400 regular and irregular Cavalry and some 9 000 native troops who formed the natal native contingent many of these men were disaffected Zulus poorly equipped armed and dressed exactly as their Zulu opponents they still carried Shields and Spears in the main and were distinguished only by the red headband they all wore the British forces were supported by 16 artillery pieces the rocket battery and the lone gatlinger the British forces went into Zulu land under Chelmsford were divided into two parts there was a regular forces of course who are very good but above all there were the irregular forces who are very substantial proportion of the whole now these frankly were not very good they tended to be under armed because they had or something last year's model muskets and so forth they also had a tendency I'm afraid to run away on a few occasions during this campaign and yet General Chelmsford relied on the native Cavalry element for his intelligence and this was going to be a vital thing that went wrong just before isn't dwana the 5 000 British red-coated regulars who formed the backbone of this Army were without doubt some of the best regular soldiers in the world the British army although comparatively small by Victorian standards was even then a professional Army composed entirely of volunteers the men served through Choice rather than conscription or impressment so they were highly motivated well disciplined and fiercely loyal to the crown which they served by 1879 much of the British army had already discarded the conspicuous Scarlet coats of old for khaki drab but the forces serving in South Africa were among the last to change the British troops in the Zulu wars were therefore the last field Army to wear the Scarlet coats of Waterloo in a major war on campaign the soldiers who fought in the 24th regiment would have borne little similarity to our fond perceptions of the smart British soldier the uniforms would have become torn and Tatty over two years of active service without reissue and many of the men sported full beards but if the uniforms were outdated the weapons were not the British were armed with the new breach loading Martini Henry rifle which had replaced the old muzzle loading muskets which had served the British army up to the 1860s the benefits of the martini Henry lay chiefly in the much greater rate of fire which it could deliver previously the soldiers would have had to pour gunpowder down the barrel of their muskets Ram home a lead ball then Ram in a further piece of wadding to hold it in place and replace the ramrod in its holder before a shot could be fired now it was simply a matter of feeding a brass bullet into the firing chamber and the rifle was loaded it was this great advance in the rate of Firepower which led to the confident assumption that if a small Force armed with muzzle loading muskets would inflict the enormous casualties suffered by the Zulus at blood River and what Slaughter would a modern professional Force equipped with breach loaders be capable of nonetheless despite their overall confidence the men of the small British Force held their adversaries in some measure of respect I received your ever-loving and welcome letter of 23rd December the one which you wrote on 20th November and the one which you sent the Christmas compliments in I was very pleased to hear from you and to hear that you were quite well in health hoping that you will remain so I don't think that we shall finish this war so soon and easy as the other if they are a better lot of men and more of them and they have got the rifles the same as we have I'm very sorry to have to tell you that there will be many a poor wife loser husband and many father and mother lose their Sami I'm afraid but I open trust to the almighty that I shall not be one of them for my own darling's sake encountering little opposition from the Zulus the British third column had crossed the Buffalo River at Rock's drift and moved on to isandlawana where they arrived on the 20th of January 1879. The Peculiar shape of the Mountain at isandlawana reminded the men of the 24th of the Sphinx badge which they wore on their collars in memory of their regiment's gallantry in Egypt against Napoleon the mountain under which Lord Chelmsford chose to pitch his Camp therefore became known to the men as the little Sphinx to the Zulus it was isandlawana the little hand [Music] having stationed one company of the 24th regiment later the South Wales borders at rocks drift to form a stores Depot Lord Chelmsford still commanded a reasonably strong force with which to confront a foe who was still only armed in the main with shields and Spears although a few of the Zulu's possessed rifles their numbers were very few a situation which king katsuyo was quick to recognize um baby despite this obvious lack of Firepower Katswell headed his disposal a sufficiently large Force to command the respect of his enemies to combat the threat of the column commanded by Colonel Glenn the king could bring to bear some 20 000 fiercely loyal Warriors in advance of Lord Chelmsford main column had gone two parties with orders to locate the main Impe the first of these was commanded by Rupert Lonsdale with 16 companies of the natal native contingent the second under Major John dartnell with a much smaller party of natal Mounted Police and volunteer Horsemen about 12 miles from the camp darknell encountered a force of a thousand Zulus blocking his advance with the limited forces available to him he decided that there was no alternative but to stay where he was and send back to Chelmsford for reinforcements so he could launch an attack the following morning on receipt of the request Chelmsford concluded that dartnell had encountered the main Zulu Impe and he accordingly took the Fateful decision to join dartnell with a strong force whilst leaving major pulling and his men at the camp Lord Chelmsford took with him six companies of the second Battalion of the 24th Four Guns and one company of natal native horse in the camp it is and Luana he left major Pauline and five companies of the first Battalion 24th along with one company of the 2nd Battalion 24th supported by two field guns 100 Mounted Police and volunteers and 600 natal natives in total some 1200 men before he left the camp at isandlawala Lord Chelmsford had issued instructions to the reserve column under Colonel Dunford to make their way there although this Force did not hold any British regular infantry it did include the first Regiment of natal native Cavalry which had fought with distinction in numerous Frontier Wars along with a rocket battery commanded by Major Russell this welcome addition to his forces should also in theory have relieved the unwelcome burden of command of the camp from the shoulders of major Pauline who in 24 years as a regular Soldier had never heard a shot fired in anger a major pulling in fact was a soldier of considerable experience of being in the Army but as we know had very little if and in fact no military experience prior to this he was therefore thought wrongly as it turned out to be a good man to be a chem commandant in the rear looking out of the supplies however there are three factors about it not only his inexperience was the first the second one is that of course he refused to entrench the position which was in fact standard requirement but because the men were very tired he decided that was not necessary and in his favor General Chelmsford also said it was not necessary but there was no attempt even to make a Lager of wagons which again was absolutely basic for fighting in Native wars in Africa particularly the southern part that was an oversight so I think we can say that rather like the situation in to Brook in 1941-42 when General klopper and the South African division were put into the in Brackets safe Garrison duty at to Brook somebody was suddenly found to be absolutely in the front line in a crucial position as like General klopper had to surrender to Rommel so of course Pauline and his Garrison were not well prepared for an attack upon them [Music] Lord Chelmsford was probably justified in his confidence that the camp he left behind was sufficiently well protected and his own force of well-armed regulars was enough to deal with the main Zulu input but he was wrong in his assumption that the Zulu's lay ahead as he pressed east they were already behind him moving between his force and the camp and closing all the time on the little Sphinx the mountain of eloma thank you the Zulu warriors who were bearing down on the unsuspecting British camp at his and Luana still fought using the weapons and tactics developed by shakazulu the warrior leader who had shaped the nation each Warrior carried a hide shape and a broad-bladed stabbing spear The Equalizer additionally some carried two light throwing Spears or the infamous wooden knob carry the iwissa the wooden Club used to dispatch opponents with a fearsome skull crushing [Music] Smiles men were trained to close with their enemy and to fight at Close Quarters this tradition made them feared opponents in hand-to-hand Humber that rendered them almost totally ineffective against well-dugging troops who could keep them at Bay with Superior Firepower recognized these weaknesses and specifically instructed his men to avoid battle with British forces in entrenched or 45 positions the tactic which katsuello relied upon to eat up the white man in the open was The Proven Zulu battle formation for the MP the horns of the bull the bull formation was composed of four separate elements each comprised of thousands of Warriors who formed the horns head and torso of a gigantic imaginary African bull the main body of experienced Warriors formed the chest of the ball as they charge towards the enemy but as the formation neared its opponent two horns formed of the youngest fittest men would spread out from the main body in an attempt to envelop the opposition the reserve of Veteran well-drilled Man known as the loins would be held back in support of the chest or horns as the situation demanded this was the system which the great Shaka had perfected and which was to serve katsuyo equally well on the Fateful 22nd of January 1879. Chelmsford was still confident that the main Zulu Force lay ahead his mind was therefore on a likely conflict between his own men and the Impe which he believed would first have to defeat his own strong column before it could pose any threat to the camp in fact the Impe was at rest a mere four miles from the camp hidden in a valley and already some 12 miles to the rear of chelmsford's force who were all the time moving further away from the Zulu Army there's no doubt in Warfare ancient or modern matters of intelligence of critical importance and it was a breakdown in chelmsford's intelligence at this juncture that really doomed the column of durnford to disaster here we have Chelmsford acting on imperfect intelligence brought in by under-trained native horse in particular one Lieutenant who gave him a report saying the impithers are over there when in fact they're over there which there was no help to the commander and in fact as we know the greater while he was marching further away from the camp area and turnford that mass of the zoo impairs had come around behind the great isn't dwana feature and were about to attack his rear so here we have a classical example of a great surprise attack being brought off by the Zulu impis and a British commander blinded by false intelligence making completely the wrong deductions once Chelmsford had gone Pauline set about making defensive arrangements for the camp his mounted force was deployed on the plateau and a screen of infantry pickets was also posted in a rough semicircle about a mile from the camp soon after 8 A.M the mounted man from the plateau rode into camp with the news that a large body of Zulus was approaching from the Northeast The Hope Camp was ordered to stand too and the Infantry arrayed in front of the tents in a defensive position at this juncture Dunford arrived from rocks drift with a Detachment from his column including a strong Cavalry force with a rocket battery in tow this raised a slight problem of military etiquette as durmford was now effectively the senior officer in Camp but Chelmsford had left no clear orders for him on his arrival as he expected the camp to be struck soon to follow his own column at that point firing was heard from the direction taken by Chelmsford comma Dunford therefore decided that Chelmsford had found the main Impe and that rather than take charge of the camp he would move up to support Chelmsford leaving command in the hands of police the colorful durnford viewed himself as a dashing night errand figure he naturally felt it necessary therefore to ride to the aid of what he imagined to be the hard-pressed column commanded by his Superior officer guarding the camp could safely be left in the hands of others will Danford and his Force have gone little more than two miles from Miss antoana however when they encountered the main impie bearing down at a run towards the British lines the target was not jealousy but bully in the Panic major Russell was able to bring his rocket Factory briefly into action such was the pace of the Zulu Advance Battery was overrun and all but three of the rocket crew killed durnford was able to carry out a fighting retreat with his well-drilled mounted man stopping occasionally to fire at the advancing zooms eventually they retired to a deep dongle about a mile from the camp on the British right and from there they kept up a galling fire which held the Zulus at Bay by now the outlying companies had been drawn back and the Garrison had once again formed a line of defense which despite being spread very thinly was pouring forth a concentrated fire into the ranks of the Zulus who were now unable to advance any further into the face of a murderous hail of lead Zulu stopped and took cover about 300 yards from the British line where they could be heard murmured like a gigantic swarm of angry bees had they been able to maintain the rate of fire all might yet have been well for the men of the 24th region but weighed against them were a set of circumstances which together were to prove their undoing a troops firing at the zooms were some way from the camp so the journey to and from the wagon lines to where the ammunition was held was a round trip which amounted to some half a mile so the rate of resupply by hard pressed Runners was slope the fastest aimed rate of the martini-henry rifle was some 12 rounds per minute and it was this devastating fire which was keeping the Zulus at Bay the thin rolled brass cartridges were far from perfect however and when fired they frequently stuck in the overheated chambers of the rifles and had to be prized free with the bayonet repeated firing also caused the barrel to foul up with gunpowder residue which in turn caused more overheating and unless carried out gave the rifle a recoil like the kick of a mule after an hour's concentrated firing many of the men already had severe bruising and were having to fire their Rivals at arm's length now those were using Rags To Save burnt fingers from Red Hot barrels isandlawana was the first major engagement for the British army armed with breech-loading rifles so no one could have known that the 70 rounds issued to each Soldier would prove insufficient for a major engagement with the strict regulations for issue of fresh ammunition in action would prove woefully slow under an entirely new set of circumstances the British wagons were filled with half a million rounds packed into strong mahogany boxes secured with metal bands and tightly screwed down lids probably the most publicly known incident in the whole of the disaster was the matter of the ammunition boxes once again myth and fact have become irretrievably combined this on my lap here is an actual box of ammunition or ammunition box from izan dwana which belongs to a colleague of mine at Sandhurst and it's is indicative of the problems they were having of getting into these ammunition boxes because this has been attacked by Burnet from the near side to prize out the festival the screw which is very bent and has been in that condition ever since the Battle of izwana and also on this side we have a piece of wood which the Ben is also split away the desperate attempts to get into it so that could be made to slide and then additional extractor the quartermaster and the quartermaster sergeants of the 24th regiment were experienced and thorough soldiers but they did their job by the book that this critical juncture they therefore refused to supply Colonel dunford's black runners with ammunition and they were not from the first Battalion and then Elation stated first Battalion ammunition was to be reserved for first Battalion rifles this was bad enough but their refusal to supply any ammunition to anyone other than those men authorized to receive it was contributing to the slackening rate of British fire particularly on the right durhamford's men were running dangerously low on ammunition as his Runners searched frantically in the chaos of the camp for their own ammunition wagons so once your ammunition handler was trying to get his ammunition out of these particular forms of box he'd got to screw out he'd made the slide work he still faced several more tasks to do first of all there was this uh tin or metal type exposure had to strip that back and then inside there individually sealed where all these packets of ammunition which are not coming out very easily now and contained within the typical brass round of the period this had been broken to Steel broken and then the handful of ammunition put on each soldier's position of the firing step for him to carry on firing it was a very complex idea really it had not been thought through I don't think in the ministry of War back in England and the supplied people it is a little bit too complex for actions period but we're still in the business of myth and fact how far it was the problem of breaking into the box how far it has a problem of being allowed to break into a box by a quartermaster Sergeant well that will remain forever in the spirit all along the British line the Zulus began to creep closer and closer has received a diminishment in the rate of fire until finally they were within charging distance of the British Zulu MP fish lines the courage of the natal native contingent failed and they fled the field as he could not extend his line to close the gap as they left Colonel Pauline had no choice but to order his men to retreat closer to the camp however he committed a fatal error pulling back almost half of his Force at the same time as the bugle sounded the withdrawal when the men turned to begin the move back towards the camp the British fire slackened further then stopped as one man Zulu Impe seemed to sense their moment had come with a great shout their Mast ranks Rose in unison and swept forward to meet the retreating British the greatest military disaster at the hands of a native force was only moments away an eerie coincidence in the sky overhead that precise moment there was a partial eclipse of the Sun the soldiers of the 24th fought valiantly to The Bitter End but as their ammunition ran low they were gradually overpowered and massacred to a map The Bravery of The Last Stand of the 24th but not but win the respect of their Fierce enemy [Music] foreign thank you there were a few survivors from the de barclaysanduana from the staff offices and officers of the irregular formations I took my escort to the front which was then about a mile ahead of the camp the Zulus were about 700 yards away I placed my man in position and told them to fire low well I sat down and watched the progress of Affairs after sitting saw for about five minutes I felt I myself must have some shots at them and accordingly I went back to Camp to get my gun when I returned I was just mounting to the top of the hill where my men were when I saw the hill to the right of the camp black with Zulus I got into my place and began firing when the Zulus got about 300 yards from me I saw the mounted native contingent and the whole column to the right of the guns were retiring and I followed firing as I went thinking they were falling back on the camp the cannon here began to fire harder than ever but the Zulus kept on pouring down in our front and on our flank they kept on advancing until then 100 yards when the whole Army made a simultaneous charge upon the camp I had then retired as far as the wagons when seeing the Zulus carrying everything before them and everybody scattered and bolting I naturally did the same we all think had the General's poem appeared the day would have been ours there will be an awful road back home about all of this the Zulu victory at isandluano may have been the worst defeat for a British Force by an opponent who fought without the advantage of Firepower but even in Victory the signs were ominous for cat's whale some 600 British soldiers lay dead on the field surrounding these sad figures lay three thousand dead and wounded Zulus although the defeat was a huge setback for the British the victory was even more costly for cat's whale as it tore the fighting Spirit from the hearts of his men they had proved that given the right circumstances their desperate courage could overcome the power of the martini-henry but the horrendous toll of dead and wounded told its own story at enormous cost they could win one or two battles but they could never hope to win the war as the Victorious MP limped home the signs of the impending Zulu defeat were already apparent unaware of these appalling losses the young men of the Zulu Reserve Force had slipped off to find an opportunity to prove themselves against the British foe as had the rest of their King's Mighty Army in their desperation to find an opponent this Force led by katsuyo's half-brother dubolamaski campandi broke the king's Pacific command never to attack an entrenched British force or one behind fortifications five miles from isandluana lay the Mission Station of rocks drift defended by B company of the 2nd Battalion 24th commanded by lieutenant bromhead it was against these 100 men that the fury of the Zulu warriors would break catch way I was no fool he realized the problem of going across a major obstacle would destroy his maximum ability of his men in action which is their sheer mobility and their numbers they pour down into the ditch and then there'll be a hell of a mess trying to get out the other side being shot down and their heads came over the ridge so if the British were entrenched correctly catch my own absolutely right because men really did not have much chance of breaking through providing British discipline Herald and if there was one thing for which the British army was absolutely renowned for this period it was for its training and its discipline which were frustrated warned of the fate of the main Camp by a few fleeing survivors of the disaster it is and Luana this tiny Garrison of 100 men came under the command of Lieutenant Chad of the royal Engineers due to his seniority they had only two hours to throw together a makeshift Fort from grain sacks and biscuit boxes but by A Small Miracle the time and materials available were to prove just enough to thwart to determine Zulu onslaught the embarrassed Colonial office would have a much needed British Victory to offset against the terrible outcome of the battle at the mountain of elomon against an enemy force of 4 000 Lieutenant chard had at his disposal 104 fit men including Bee Company 2nd Battalion 24th regiment commanded by lieutenant bromhit of these only 80 were combatants the others were drivers wagoners or medical staff [Music] the mission station which B company was detailed to protect consisted of two small buildings a small house converted into a hospital and a store linked to two cattle pens called crowds it was fortunate for the Defenders that the senior officer present happened to be from the Royal engineers he was able to use the two r's which The Garrison had available to oversee the construction of a semblance of a defensible fort private hook who was to be awarded the Victoria Cross for his bravery in this action takes up the story suddenly there was a commotion in our camp and we saw two men Galloping towards us from the other side of the river which was Zulu land the horsemen shouted and were brought across the river and then we knew what had happened to our comrades at the camp they've been butchered to a man that was awful enough news but worse was to follow if we were told that the Zulus were coming straight on from Ms antoana to attack us for some little time we were all stunned then everything changed from perfect quietness to intense excitement and energy orders were given that we were to get the hospital and Storehouse ready for defense and that we were never to say die or Surrender not a minute was lost Lieutenant bromhead superintendent the loop holding and barricading of the hospital and Storehouse and the building of a connection of defenses between the two buildings with walls of mealy bags and wagons the mealybags were good big heavy things weighing about 200 pounds each to four half past four we had firing behind the conical Hill at the back of the drift and suddenly about five or six hundred Zulu swept around coming for us at a run private hook in fact has been most badly treated by history and above all by the film industry he was not a drunkard he was not a Nair do well he had joined the league of Victorian virtue which was a non-drinking organization 15 years before the battle of the Rocks drift he was a lay reader he was meant to be a model private Soldier and the only mystery about him is why he ever came into the army because he was a prosperous minor farmer in Wales and nobody ever explained that poor old hooky you're no good private Oak you remember he's always that's the phrase people always remember about him was in fact totally travesty by that view Lieutenant charred small Garrison had constructed two separate lines of Defense an overall perimeter including the store and hospital and the second line of defense constructed of biscuit boxes The Defenders could fall back on if it proved impossible to hold both the store and Hospital the initial withering fire from the martini-henry rifles was sufficient to keep the zoos at Bay but a number of rifle armed Zulu snipers had climbed the escarpment behind the mission station and the fire began to cause casualties among the unprotected men Manning the north wall with their backs to brazils worse still was the unrelenting surge of Warriors which carried wave upon wave right up to the barricades where Fierce hand-to-hand fighting occurred as the men of Bee Company struggled desperately for their lives as the Warriors attacked the soldiers were gradually pushed back from the perimeter to the breastwork outside the hospital although they still clung frantically to the hospital itself time and time again the Ferocious Zulu attacks were repulsed in the most desperate manner twice Lieutenant bromhead LED bayonet charges to clear the Zulus from the mission unobserved however the party of Zulus had managed to set fire to the roof of the hospital which caused the Defenders to withdraw to the line of biscuit boxes privates Henry hook Robert Jones William Jones and John Williams were all awarded the Victoria Cross for their heroism in helping the hospital patients to safety whilst under intense attack from Zulu warriors Advance they held back with their bayonets the butts of their rifles and even with their bare hands the battle for the hospital was a Siege within a Siege and at first the Flames which licked at the walls of the hospital seemed to bode ill for the Defenders but it was to prove otherwise as private hook record but it was the hospital they assaulted most fiercely I had charged with a man that we called Old King Cole of a small room with only one patient in it Cole kept with me for some time after the fight began then he said he was not going to stay they went outside and was instantly killed by the Zulus but it was impossible to do anything except fight and I blazed away as hard as I could the Zulus were swarming around us and there was an extraordinary rattle as the bullet struck the biscuit boxes and Queer thuds as they plumped into the bags of mealies from the very first the enemy tried to rush the hospital and at last they managed to set fire to the thick grass which formed the roof this put us in a terrible place because it meant that we were either to be massacred or burnt alive or get out of the building suddenly in the Thick Smoke I saw John Williams and above the din of the battle and the cries of the Wounded I heard him shout the Zulus are swarming all over the place they've dragged Joseph Williams out and killed him John Williams had held the other one with private William Horrigan for more than an hour until they had not a cartridge left all this time the Zulus were trying to get into my room their asset guys kept whizzing towards us and one struck me in the front of the helmet but the helmet tilted back under the blow made the spear lose its power so that I escaped with a scout wound which did not trouble me much then although it has often caused me illness since Hook's hair never grew back the later photograph of privatehook clearly shows the scar which the Asser guy left the Flames from the burning Hospital provided a light in that dark African Night by which the Defenders were able to see the attacking Zulus as clear as day it was probably this single factor which allowed the British to survive a night of intense fighting without the light from the hospital they would surely have been overrun in the Darkness as it was it was it was still a near-run thing and there were many acts of individual heroism still to be played out Lieutenant child recalls The Bravery of the men of the 24th about 3 15 on that day I was at the ponts when two men came riding from zululand at a gallop and shouted to be taken across the river I was informed by one of them the disaster is anduana Camp that the Zulus were advancing at rorke's drift almost immediately I received a message from Lieutenant bronghead commanding the company of the 24th Regiment of the Canada asking me to come up at once I held A hurried consultation with him entirely approving of the arrangements made about 4 20 the sound of firing Was Heard behind the hill to our South then at about 4 30 5 or 600 of the enemy came in sight and advanced at a run against our South Wall they were met with a well-sustained fire but notwithstanding their heavy loss continued the advance to within 50 yards of the wall when they met with such heavy fire from the wall and Crossfire from the store that they were checked The Garrison of the hospital defended it room by room bringing out all the sick could be moved before they retired privates Williams hook Robert Jones and William Jones the 24th regiment being the last man to leave holding the doorway with a band their own ammunition being expended I consider the enemy who attacked us to have numbered about three thousand we killed about 350 but the steadiness and Gallant behavior of the whole Garrison cannot speak too highly I wish especially to bring to your notice conduct of Lieutenant bromhead 24th regiment a splendid behavior of his Bee Company as the night wore on the Garrison continued to doggedly defend the remainder of the perimeter does daylight gradually approached Zulu attacks declined in intensity until finally they stopped altogether and the frustrated Warriors exhausted and hungry were treated over the piles of their dead they left behind the bodies of 351 of their comrades who had exchanged their lives for those of only 11 Redcoats the heroic defense of Rock's drift was rewarded by the largest number of awards for bravery in a single action in the history of the British army 11 Victoria crosses and four distinguished conduct medals were awarded among them the Valiant private hook as we got the sick and wounded out they were taken to a veranda in front of the storehouse and Dr Reynolds under a heavy fire and clouds of acid guys did everything he could for them all this time of course the storehouse was being valiantly defended by the rest of the Garrison when we got into the inner Fort I took my post at a place where two men had been shot while I was there another man was shot in the neck every now and then the Zulus will make a rush for it and get in we had to charge them out by this time it was dark and the hospital was all in Flames but this gave us a splendid light to fight by I believe it was this light which saved us we could see them coming and they could not rush us and take us by surprise from any point for the survivors of Bee Company the story was indeed to have a happy ending they were relieved by Lord chelmsford's column that very day this historic picture shows the actual men who survived the fight of roxdrift for the Zulus however the Real Horror was about to begin [Music] battles of globani [Music] each time the Fearsome Zulu losses seemed to grow as British casualties declined atilundi last dramatic gesture of heroic but futile Defiance the last Army of the Zulu Nation threw themselves against a fully prepared British Square in less than half an hour two thousand Zulu warriors laid dead upon the field the 17th Lancers were pursuing the fleeing remnants of the army without Mercy the British lost 10 million the warrior Zulu Nation been decisively defeated in a war which lasted only six months but with their Fierce courage and independent Spirit they had left their mark on history [Music] this is foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] because [Music] foreign

Channel: War Stories

Views: 77,710

Keywords: African History, Battle History, Battle Scenes, British Army, Colonial Empires, Conflict Narratives, Documentary Film, Documentary Series, European Perspectives, Heroic Resistance, Historical Battles, Imperial Conquests, Military Expansion, Military Prowess, Military Technology, Survival Instincts, War Efforts., Warfare Evolution, Warfare History, Zulu Culture

Id: lhiE20WwJYA

Length: 57min 36sec (3456 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 04 2023