Lord Chelmsford the commanderin-chief of British forces during the Anglo Zulu War invaded Zulu land with three invading columns the main Center column consisted of some 7,800 men and was under his direct command this invasion was designed to encircle the Zulu Army and force it to fight as he was concerned that the Zulus would avoid batt slip around the British and strike at natal the backbone of the British Force Under Lord Chelmsford consisted of 12 regular infantry companies which were hardened and reliable troops in addition there were approximately 2,500 local African auxiliaries of the natal native contingent many of whom were exiled or Refugee Zulu also there were some irregular Colonial Cavalry units and a detachment of artillery consisting of six field guns and several congr Rockets because of the urgency required to accomplish their scheme Bartle frer and chelsford began the invasion during the rainy season this had massive consequences and slowed the British advance to a crawl the Zulu Army while a product of a warrior culture was essentially a militia Force which could be called out in times of national Danger it had a very limited logistical capacity and could only stay in the field a few weeks before the troops would be obliged to return to their civilian duties Zulu warriors were armed primarily with asagi thrusting Spears and shields made of cwh hiide some Zulus also had old muskets and Antiquated rifles stockpile a relatively few of which were carried by Zulu imp the generality of Zulu warriors however would not not have firearms the British had timed The Invasion to coincide with the Harvest intending to catch the Zulu Warrior Farmers dispersed fortunately for chuo the Zulu King the Zulu Army had already begun to assemble at ulundi as it did every year for the first fruit ceremony chuo sent the 24,000 strong main Zulu impi from near present day ulun on 17th of January across the White umoi River with the following command to his Warriors March slowly attack at dawn and eat up the red soldiers under the command of niguo kamah the Zulu Army had reached its position in Easy stages it marched in two columns within sight of each other but a few miles apart to prevent a surprise attack from the British they were preceded by a screening Force force of mounted Scouts supported by parties of Warriors around 300 men strong tasked with preventing the main columns from being cited the British under Chelmsford pitched camp at is sandana but did not follow standing orders to entrench and no logger was formed Chelmsford did not see the need for one stating it would take a week to make it was clear that the British had underestimated the Zulu Force chelsford believed that a force of over 4,000 including 2,000 British infantry armed with Martini Henry Rifles as well as artillery had more than sufficient Firepower to overwhelm any attack by Zulu's armed only with Spears cowhide Shields and a few Firearms with a British force of this size it was the logistical Arrangements which occupied chelmsford's thoughts rather than any fear that the camp might be attacked once he had established the camp at e andelana Chelmsford sent out two battalions of the natal native contingent to scout ahead they skirmished with elements of a Zulu Force which he believed to be the van guard of the main enemy Army such was his confidence in British military training and Firepower that Lord Chelmsford divided his Force departing the camp at dawn on January 22nd with approximately 2,800 soldiers it never occurred to him that the Zulus he saw were diverting him from their main force in total over 1,300 men and two artillery guns of the number three column were left to defend the camp under the command of brevit leftenant Colonel Henry pen Pen's orders were to defend the camp and wait for further instructions to support the general as and when called upon Cavalry Scouts patrolling some 11 km from Camp reported at 700 a.m. that groups of Zulus numbering around 4,000 men could be seen Pine received further reports during the early morning Each of which noted movements both large and small of Zulus there was speculation among the officers whether these troops were intending to March against chelmsford's rear or towards the camp itself around 10:30 a.m. Colonel Anthony dford whose left arm was paralyzed from wounds sustained at bushman's River pass during the pursuit of Chief langal balele arrived from Rock's drift with 500 men to reinforce the camp camp at isand Delana after lunch he quickly decided to take the initiative and move forward to engage a Zulu Force which pulen and dford judged to be moving against chelmsford's rear on my [Music] order Hing orders dford engaged with this smaller Zulu Force the main Zulu force was discovered at around 11:00 a.m. who chased a number of Zulus into a valley only then seeing most of the 20,000 men of the main enemy Force sitting in total quiet having been discovered the Zulu Force left to the offensive pen sent companies of the 24th foot into an extended firing line with the aim of meeting the Zulu attack headon and checking it with [Music] Firepower [Applause] for an hour or so until afternoon the discipline British volleys pinned down the Zulu Center inflicting many casualties and causing the advance to stall indeed morale remained high within the British line the martini Henry rifle was a powerful weapon and the men were experienced Additionally the shell fire of the royal artillery forced some Zulu regiments to take cover behind the reverse slope of a hill nevertheless the left Horn of the Zulu Advance was moving to outflank and envelop the British right danford's men who had been fighting the longest began to withdraw and their rate of fire diminished they retreated back to the main British camp all [Applause] right the fighting had been hand to hand combat and no quarter was given to the British regulars at 2:29 p.m. there was a total eclipse of the sun briefly plunging the Terri battle into an eerie [Applause] Darkness a Zulu account describes a group of the 24th forming a square on the neck of e sandel Wana danford's men who could easily have fled as they had horses died around dford in his last [Applause] stand while nearby their horses were found dead on their picket [Applause] rope a number of desperate last stands were made [Applause] [Applause] evidence shows that many of the bodies today marked by cans were found in several large groups around the [Applause] camp of the 1,800 plus force of British troops and African auxiliaries over 1,00 300 were killed most of them Europeans there was no sure casualty count for the Zulus but it was estimated between 1,500 and 2,000 had been killed chelmsford's force was unaware of the disaster that had overwhelmed Pen's troops until the news filtered through that the camp had been taken Chelmsford was staggered he said but I left 1,000 men to guard the camp in the longer term the British government determined to avenge the defeat and overwhelming reinforcements were dispatched to natal General sanet wolley was sent to replace Lord Chelmsford arriving after the final battle of the war however Cho's overwhelming success at isandlwana secured his ultimate downfall
