Isandlwana - The Story of the Victoria Crosses

but you can just imagine it on the day can't you under Fire ties his horse up goes back to Rescue private Westwood bravery of the first order the Battle of H sandana one of the greatest British defeats of the colonial era 20,000 Zulus came charging down these slopes and eventually overran The Thin Red Line of British soldiers and their local allies but did you know despite the terrible British defeat there were three Victoria crosses award wed for actions that took place during the battle two of them posthumously today we're going to look at the stories of these men and their Awards and stay tuned till the end to find out about the mysterious almost forgotten Victoria Cross recipient who was also killed during the battle really now's your [Music] time private Samuel wle was a 21-year-old West Midlands lad who had been in the British army since 1874 his regiment was the 8th the Staffordshire volunteers but at the Battle of isand Juana he was attached to the mounted infantry this was an ad hoc unit made up of infantrymen who knew how to ride a horse on the afternoon of the battle as the Zulu impace swept into the British camp wasel and a small group of his colleagues made a dash for it as you can see here the terrain around isand Juana is Rocky and crisscrossed with dry water courses only those men on Horseback had a chance of escaping here's wasel's own account of what happened next there was only one way to escape which was by the Buffalo River 6 or 7 mil distant we had to get across it back to our own territory in Nal a main road led to the river but it was cut off by the Zulus and so I had to go across the felt but I was not in the mood to care which way I went so long as it took me away from the enemy and so I furiously went on stumbling over the rocky ground expecting every instant that my horse a bassu pony would fall in that case I should should not have had a chance for the Zulus would have been upon me before I could have got up again to this day I can't understand how a living Soul got away from his sandana but I did escape from the field of the massacre and reached the Zulu Bank of the river and saw on the other side of the natal territory where my only hope of safety lay I knew how dangerous the river was there was a current running 6 or 7 mil an hour as an aside was much worse than I'm showing on these pictures now no ordinary man could swim it but the Zulus had a curious way of using their elbow which made them able to get across I think it means they would link their elbows and cross in a group I was urging my horse to the other side when I heard a cry for help and saw a man of my own regiment private Westwood was being carried away he was struggling desperately and drowning the Zulus were sweeping down to the river bank which I had just left and there was a terrible temptation to go ahead and just save oneself but I turned my horse around on the Zulu bank got him there dismounted tied him to a tree and then I struggled out to Westward got hold of him and struggled back to the horse with him I scrambled up into the saddle pulled Westward after me and plunged into the torrent again and as I did so the Zulus rushed up to the bank and let drive with their firearms and Spears but most mercifully I escaped them all and with a thankful heart urged my Gallant horse up the Steep Bank on the natal side and then got him to go as hard as he could towards help M car about 15 mil away from his sandana so as far as I can tell the whirlpool would have been around here now you can't really see it now it's quite calm today the waters are very low but you can just imagine it on the day can't you under Fire ties his horse up goes back to Rescue private Westwood bravery of the first order wasel continued fighting during the war and was present at that battle of alund where the zolas were finally defeated on the fourth of July 1879 he received his award from chelmsford's successor Sagar at Walley on the 11th of September 1879 he was 22 years old at that time the youngest serving Soldier to hold the award but but it seems that this Brave Young Warrior had had his fill of army life and shortly afterwards he left and moved to Barn furnace where he lived out the rest of his days he died in 1927 by the way guys I just want to interrupt really quickly to ask what do you think to this t-shirt if you're half the man I think you are then I know you're going to love it well I've just designed a few different T-shirts and sweaters Etc that really reflect our shared interest in British military history I'll be adding more designs over the the next few weeks so check out the links below or scan the QR codes that are currently on the screen every sale means an extra two quid or so for me to keep the channel and the podcast running okay guys sorry for the interruption let's get back to the film okay now that's out of the way let's look at the controversial VCS the ones that will really get the comment section going Li tenants touth Melville and Neville cogill both men served with the first Battalion 24th Regiment of foot cogill was 26 years old and during the invasion of Zulu land he was an orderly officer to Colonel Glenn who commanded the central column before the Battle of is sandana Glenn had left the camp alongside Lord chelsford but cogill had badly twisted his knee the previous day while trying to catch a chicken and so he had stayed back to allow it to rest talk about bad luck Melville was a 36-year-old father of two from Central London he was Glenn's agitant and considered a star for the future a real stood one to watch as the battle raged and it became clear that the British camp would soon fall to the Zulus leftenant Melville took possession of the Queen's color with a plan to escape with it and save it from falling into the hands of the enemy as regular viewers of this channel will know it's a terrible disgrace for British battalions to lose their colors especially to the enemy the soldiers of the 24th would have been particularly concerned due to the fact the regiment had twice lost colors before once during the Napoleonic Wars there had been forced to throw them overboard to avoid being captured by the French and then at the Battle of Chile and Waller they had lost them fight fighting against the siks it's said that liutenant Colonel pain who was in charge at the camp ordered Melville to save the colors it's time to save the colors yep just like that but in reality there's no proof of this it's more likely that on his own initiative he took the Queen's color from the guard tent with a view to unfurling it and using it as a rallying point for the Battalion birdie would have soon realized that the battle was too far gone for that and defeat was now inevitable with that in mind it's likely he made a split-second decision to try and escape and save them in fact they were in a heavy unwieldy lever case they weren't flying in the wind as shown in the film Zulu Dawn Melville would have found it hard-going navigating this rough terrain on his horse while keeping hold of the color it was also incredibly hard for cogill he couldn't walk due to his injury and must have been terrified of being DEH horsed it seems the two men didn't travel side by side along the fugitives Trail but by the time they reached the Buffalo River they were together liutenant Walter higginson who survived the battle later wrote an account of his time with Melville and cogill many horses threw their riders coming down to the river and many as well as myself were thrown in it left tenants Melville and cogill were with me just as I put my horse in the river and poor Melville was also thrown he held on tightly to the Queen's colors which he had taken from the battlefield when all was over and as he came down towards me he called out to me to catch hold of the pole I did so and the force with which the current was running dragged me off the rock but fortunately into Still Water cogill who had got his horse over all right came riding down the bank to help Melville as he put his horse in close to us the Zulus who are about 25 yards from us on the other bank commenced firing at us in the water almost the first shot killed Cog Hill's horse and on his getting clear of him we started for the bank we managed to get out all right and when we had got about 100 yards up the bank two Zulus came after us when they were within 30 yards Melville and C fired and killed them both I was without arms of any kind having lost my rifle and ammunition in the river and I had no revolver when we'd gone a few yards further Melville said he could go no more and cogill said the same I don't think they imagined at this time there was anyone following us when they stopped I pushed on and on reaching the top of the hill I found four bassus with whom I escaped by holding on to the horse's tail I never saw either of these ill-fated officers again in the course of the fight the colors had been lost dragged Away by the C and Down the River we'll never know exactly what happened to Melville and cogill next all we know for sure is that they were killed more or less where their gravestones lie today on this steep slope on the natal side of the Buffalo River so it says here in memory of liutenant and agitant T Melville VC and leftenant nja cogill VC good to see that the grave of Melville and cogill is still visited still remembered here's a reef from the South Wales borderers now part of the royal Welsh there was a glimmer of good news for the British though in February a patrol was sent out and amazingly managed to discover the Queen's color of the first 24th down on the riverbank it was an important Discovery though unlike in alfons denville's painting it wasn't found lying alongside the bodies of Melville and cogill okay I hear you cry so how were these two officers awarded the Victoria Cross given that in the 1870s there was no postumus Victoria Cross available at the time desperate to salvage Glory from the terrible defeat the British press had focused on the story of Melville and cogill amplifying the deed and calling for them to be recognized unable to award dead men the Victoria Cross an announcement was made in the London Gazette that had Melville and cogill survived they would have been recommended to her majesty for the award of the Victoria Cross in those days that was considered kind of the next best thing but not everybody agreed with this position Lord chelsford seemed uncertain in his letters and his successor s Garnet Walley was out right hostile saying that he was uncomfortable with the idea of officers escaping on Horseback while their men on foot are killed during the bore War the rules around postumus Victoria crosses were changed and in 1907 after much petitioning the VC was finally awarded to both Melville and cogill I'm interested to know how you feel about it let me know in the comments if you think these were deserved awards did they do the right thing and was it incredibly Brave of them to try and escape with a color or should they stayed and died alongside the rest of the Battalion okay moving forward I did promise I would tell you about the Forgotten Victoria Cross recipient who died at the Battle do you know who it is well it's private William Griffiths of liutenant Charlie Pope's G company second Battalion 24th regiment regimental number 1056 he was awarded his Victoria Cross in what's quite strange circumstances perhaps today he would have been more likely to be awarded the George cross rather than the Victoria AC cross he was one of a party of five soldiers who volunteered to rescue comrades stuck on the anderan islands here's an excerpt from the citation that makes it clear what I'm talking about on the 7th of May 1867 they risked their lives in Manning a boat and proceeding through a dangerous surf to the rescue of some of their comrades who formed part of an Expedition which had been sent to the island of little amdan by order of the chief Commissioner of British Burma with the view of ascertaining the fate of the commander and seven of the crew of the ship Asam Valley who had landed there and was supposed to have been murdered by the natives the officer who commanded the troops on the occasion reports about an hour later in the day Dr Douglas second Battalion 24th regiment and four privates referred to gallantly Manning the second gig made their way through the surf almost to the shore but finding their boat was half filled with water they retired a second attempt made by DR dougas and the party proved successful five of them being safely passed through the surf to the boats outside a third third and last trip got the whole of the party left on the shore safe to the boats it stated that Dr Douglas accomplished these trips through the surf to the Shore by No Ordinary exertion he stood in the boughs of the boat and worked her in an Intrepid and seamanlike manner Co to a degree as if what he was then doing was an ordinary Act of everyday life the four privates behaved in an equally cool and collected manner rowing through the roughest surf when the slightest hesitation or want of pluck on the part of any one of them would have attended by the gravest results it's reported that 17 officers men were thus saved from must what must otherwise have been a fearful risk if not certainty of death not too much more is known about Griffith's obviously he was killed at the Battle of his sandana and like all of his comrades he's buried in an unmarked grave on the battlefield his Victoria Cross itself is held by the regimental Museum in Breen be sure to like comment and subscribe as in the coming weeks have lots more isand Lana content coming out and you won't want to miss it all right guys take care

Channel: Redcoat History

Views: 8,895

Keywords: military history, British army, redcoats, tactics, battlefield guide, history, documentary, history documentary, British military history, Zulu, Zulu dawn, Zulu War, South Africa

Id: Fl3JJslolhE

Length: 12min 58sec (778 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 19 2024