Defence of Rorkes Drift + Bonus Items Pack.
DPK0988. Defence of Rorkes Drift + Bonus Items Pack.
Items in this pack : Item #1 - Click to view individual item DHM2000. Defence of Rorkes Drift by Lady Elizabeth Butler. On January 22nd 1879, during the Zulu War, the small British field hospital and supply depot at Rorkes Drift in Natal was the site of one of the most heroic military defences of all time. Manned by 140 troops of the 24th Regiment, led by Lieutenant John Chard of the Royal Engineers, the camp was attacke by a well-trained and well-equipped Zulu army of 4000 men, heartened by the great Zulu victory over the British forces at Isandhlwana earlier on the same day. The battle began in mid afternoon, when British remnants of the defeat at Isandhlwana struggled into the camp. Anticipating trouble, Chard set his small force to guard the perimeter fence but, when the Zulu attack began, the Zulus came faster than the British could shoot and the camp was soon overcome. The thatched roof of the hospital was fired by Zulu spears wrapped in burning grass and even some of the sick and the dying were dragged from their beds and pressed into the desperate hand-to-hand fighting. Eventually, Chard gave the order to withdraw from the perimeter and to take position in a smaller compound, protected by a hastily assembled barricade of boxes and it was from behind this barricade that the garrison fought for their lives throughout the night. After twelve hours of battle, the camp was destroyed, the hospital had burned to the ground, seventeen British lay dead and ten were wounded. However, the Zulus had been repulsed and over 400 of their men killed. The Battle of Rorkes Drift is one of the greatest examples of bravery and heroism in British military history. Nine men were awarded Distinguished Conduct Medals, and eleven, the most ever given for a single battle, received the highest military honour of all, the Victoria Cross. Newly published from the original oil painting owned by Her Majesty the Queen. Open edition print. Image size 25 inches x 13 inches (64cm x 33cm) plus white border without text.
Item #2 - Click to view individual item DHM022B. Defence of Rorkes Drift by Alphonse De Neuville. By about 6pm the Zulu attacks had extended all around the front of the post, and fighting raged at hand-to-hand along the mealie-bag wall. Lieutenant Chard himself took up a position on the barricade, firing over the mealie-bags with a Martini-Henry, whilst Lieutenant Bromhead directed any spare men to plug the gaps in the line. The men in the yard and on the front wall were dangerously exposed to the fire of Zulu marksmen posted in the rocky terraces on Shiyane (Oskarsberg) hill behind the post. Several men were hit, including Acting Assistant Commissary Dalton, and Corporal Allen of the 14th. Surgeon Reynolds treated the wounded as best he could despite the fire. Once the veranda at the front of the hospital had been abandoned, the Zulus had mounted a determined attack on the building itself, setting fire to the thatched roof with spears tied with burning grass. The defenders were forced to evacuate the patients room by room, eventually passing them out through a small window into the open yard. Shortly after 6pm Chard decided that the Zulu pressure was too great, and ordered a withdrawal to a barricade of biscuit boxes which had been hastily erected across the yard, from the corner of the store-house to the front mealie-bag wall. In this small compound the garrison would fight for their lives throughout most of the coming night. Print of a coloured engraving. Open edition print. Image size 14 inches x 9 inches (36cm x 23cm)
Item #3 - Click to view individual item VOL3. Cranston Fine Arts Military Art Catalogue (Volume 3) Volume Three book catalogue which shows over 200 military, naval and aviation art prints, with a majority of these prints being of Ancient, Napoleonic, Modern and World War I and II by 19th Century military and naval artists. Full colour book catalogue. Size 12in x 9in approx.
Item #4 - Click to view individual item PPACK0033. Postcard Pack 0032. Titles include : DHM926. Defence of Rorkes Drift by Brian Palmer. DHM022 Defence of Rorkes Drift by Alphonse De Neuville. DHM560 Plugging the Gap by Mark Churms. DHM561 Into the Fire by Mark Churms. Set of 4 postcards. All postcards size 6 inches x 4 inches (15cm x 10cm)
Item #5 - Click to view individual item PPACK0037. Postcard Pack 0037. Tiles include : DHM370. Eve of Distinction by Mark Churms. DHM371 Wounded by Mark Churms. DHM371 Pinned Like Rats in a Hole by Mark Churms. DHM373 Pot That Fellow by Mark Churms. Set of 4 postcrads. All postcards size 6 inches x 4 inches (15cm x 10cm)
Customers outside the UK : This item carries a shipping surcharge of £10.00 which is included in your shipping charges when you check out.
Website Price: £ 39.00
To purchase these prints individually at their normal retail price would cost £98.00 . By buying them together in this special pack, you save £59
All prices are displayed in British Pounds Sterling
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