following the disaster at the Battle of Hoban in March 1879 the forces of Colonel Evelyn wood prepared to receive an attack by the entire Zulu Army the British forces under Colonel wood had faced some of the leading sections of the Zulu Force but had not encountered the entire Army soon after Dawn the next day the transval Rangers rode out to locate the Zulu the transval Rangers consisted of approximately 60 European volunteers supported by 148 men of the transval mounted rifles the Rangers were successful in locating the Zulu discovering their entire Army sicho the king of the Zulus had responded to pleas from the abak kului a native tribe of the area for Aid against the raids of wood's troops by ordering the main Zulu Army to help them yes sir by midday the Rangers had returned with the news that the Imp was on the move and was to attack camba at noon wood also now received information that the Imp was nearly 21,000 men strong consisting of regiments that had already defeated the British at the Battle of the sandana and other battles many of the Zulus were armed with rifles taken from the British dead at these battles shortly after this the Zulu imp was cited 8 kilm away from Woods Camp across the plain coming on due westwards in five columns the Warriors of the Impe had not eaten for 3 days in the meantime wood had created defenses on Cula which consisted of a hexagonal logger formed with wagons that were tightly locked together four 7even pounder guns were positioned between the redout and the logger to cover the northern approaches two more guns in the redout covered the Northeast the Gunners had been told that if the Zulus got in close they were to abandon their guns outside the logger Woods for Force mustered 121 Royal artillery and Royal Engineers 1,238 infantry and 638 mounted men with headquarters staff it totaled 2,000 men confident that the defenses could be manned within a minute and a half of an alarm being sounded wood was not fearing a surprise attack and allowed his men to eat breakfast yes sir midday on the 29th of March 1879 the British troops took up their Battle Stations as the troops moved to their posts they could see the Zulu right horn circling North out of British artillery range before halting Northwest of the camp leftenant Colonel reders Henry Buller was ordered with his mounted troops to Sting the right horn into a premature attack yes sir the men rode out to within range of the masted Zulus dismounted at a few hundred yards and fired one volley the effect was instantaneous 11,000 Zulus sprang up and swarmed forward the British troops fled back with the Zulus on their tail as the mounted troops retreated to the British Camp the artillery opened fire to cover their Retreat all right in as soon as the horsemen had reached CA and cleared the Field of Fire and the Zulus came within range the British infantry opened [Music] fire vo by a belief that which doctor's potions had made them immune to bullets they threw themselves recklessly at the [Music] barricades they were moan down by shrapnel fire and volleys from the Infantry defending the ler South face wood was eager to get involved in the battle and had to be restrained by his officers when he attempted to go to the aid of a wounded Trooper who had been shot outside the redout a small number of Zulus managed to burst into the L nobody told you to stop working these Zulus were eventually repelled with bayonets while the bulk of the advance was held at Bay by the steady British volley fire and artillery for Zulus with rifles climbed to the rim of the Ravine nearby and began firing at the defenders in the cattle Crown forcing their withdrawal into the redout the Zulus took control of the crowl until wood ordered two companies of the 90th KN infantry to retake it with a Bayonet [Applause] [Music] charge at close range the Gunners bombarded Zulu infantry with case shot creating a Killing Zone in front of the lager the Zulus charged again and again with unwavering courage but the head of each charge was shot away at about 5:30 p.m. the zumos began to retire from the battlefield in 4 hours the British had fired 138,000 rounds and 1,77 shells as soon as the Zulus began to move eastwards Woods ordered Buller to pursue the Zulu with his 600 horses Captain cile Darcy of the frontier Li horse told his Troopers to take no prisoners and told them no quarter boys and remember yesterday referring to the action at Hoban where his men had suffered severely the frontier Li horse singled out the ABA KUSI chasing them as far as Hoban and extracting a Savage revenge for their comrades killed the day before following the Cavalry the British infantry and African auxiliaries combed the field killing any wounded or hiding Zulus around 6:30 p.m. as dusk fell a Mist Rose around the zungen mountains stopping the pursuit by the end of the battle the British had suffered around 75 casualties and the Zulus had suffered between 1,000 and 2,000 casualties Kula was the decisive battle of the war it nullified the Zulu victory at is sandana and weakened the Zulu Kingdom [Applause] severely the British demonstrated that shield and Asar gu were no match for an entrenched force with artillery and the martini Henry rifle never again would an impy fight against a prepared position with the ferocity and resolution displayed at Kula the Zulu Commander manyana tried to get the regiments to return to ulundi but many warriors simply went home the shock of the defeat contributed to a weakening of the Zulu resolve to maintain armed resistance to the British Invasion after the final defeat at the Battle of wundi on the 4th of July King Seto fled from his capital and hid in the enander forest he was eventually discovered arrested and banished to Robin Island in table Bay where he leared that his kingdom was being carved up and awarded to Chiefs who opposed his usutu faction for
