Zulu War history in
historical Zulu War art
prints and pewter figurines by leading Zulu War military artists published
by Cranston Fine Arts, the military print company,
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.
The Defense of Rorke's Drift by Alphonse De Neuville.
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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. Text supplied by Zulu War Author Ian Knight.
The VC Winners: Lieutenant J.R.M. Chard, R.E.; Lieutenant G. Bromhead, 2/24th;
Surgeon J.H. Reynolds, A.M.D.; Acting Assistant Commissary J.L. Dalton, C. &
T.D.; Corporal Allen, 2/24th; Corporal C.F. Schiess, N.N.C.; Privates F. Hitch,
A.H. Hook, R. Jones, W. Jones, J. Williams, 2/24th.
The DCM Winners: Col. Sgt. F.E. Bourne2/24th; 2nd Corp. F. Attwood, A.S.C.; 2nd
Corp. M. McMahon, A.H.C.;Wheeler J. Cantwell, R.A.; Pte W. Roy, 1/24th.
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