By the time the Undi Corps reached Rorke's Drift at 4:30p.m., they had fast-marched some 20 miles (32km) from the morning encampment they had left at around 8 a.m., then to spend some 11.5 hours continuously storming the British fortifications at Rorke's Drift. hours prior to Rorke's Drift, the Zulus had massacred 1300 British soldiers at iSandlwana, about 6 miles away. Survivors from this massacre passed by Rorke's Drift as they were fleeing, telling the men there what was coming their way.

The solitaire tabletop war-game Zulus on the Ramparts!: The Battle of Rorke's Drift, 22–23 January 1879 is based on the event. [63] See also [ edit ] David, Dr. Saul. Zulu: The True Story. BBC . Retrieved 29 September 2011. {{ cite book}}: |work= ignored ( help) Nice to see some ‘new’ photographs that I had not seen before, but there was one photograph that I had seen before, which in my opinion is incorrectly identified. That is the photograph identified as Prince Dabulamanzi kaMpande listed as No. 34. The photograph has previously appeared in Ian Knight’s Nothing Remains But to Fight. As some of the forum might be aware I have something of a close affinity with the descendant family of Prince Dabulamanzi. I vividly recall showing my late, great friend Prince V. A. Shange the photograph in Nothing Remains But to Fight, and his response he refuted it then with the words “That is not my grandfather! That is my Great Uncle his half-brother, Prince Ndabuko.”

About Ian Knight

He goes beyond the eleven V.Cs when he provides biographies of all the men awarded medals and his collection of accounts and recollections is a valued addition to the corpus

In the aftermath of the battle, modesty and graciousness were two other attributes displayed by both officers, as demonstrated in this quote from Chard: The 1st battalion, 24th regiment, spent much of the 1870's in Mediterranean garrisons - Malta and Gibraltar - before being despatched directly to South Africa in November 1874. The 2nd battalion was based in Aldershot in 1874, Dover from August 1875 and Chatham from 1877 prior to its departure for the Cape in February 1878. Throughout that time both battalions continued to receive recruits through the efforts of recruiting sergeants ACCROSS THE COUNTRY, although there had been a SLIGHT increase in recruits from the area covered by the district depot as a result of its association with the local malitia. On 22 January 1879, during the final hour of the Battle of iSandlwana – one of the greatest disasters ever to befall British troops during the Victorian era – a very different story was about to unfold a few miles away at the mission station of Rorke’s Drift. When a Zulu force of more than 3,000 warriors turned their attention to the small outpost, defended by around 150 British and Imperial troops, the odds of the British surviving were staggeringly low. The British victory that ensued, therefore, would go down as one of the most heroic actions of all time, and has enraptured military history enthusiasts for decades. Whilst I respect the opinion of forum members, with all due respect to you all, I continue to prefer the objective, educated and unbiased research and opinions of Norman Holme. The British victory that ensued, therefore, would go down as one of the most heroic actions of all time, and has enraptured military history enthusiasts for decades. Featuring a wide range of first-hand accounts and testimonies from those present during the Battle of Rorke's Drift, Rorke's Drift By Those Who Were There is a remarkable work of Anglo-Zulu military history by those who know the topic best, Lee Stevenson and Ian Knight. This updated edition of the classic work of the same name includes even more first-person accounts from the combatants on both the British and Zulu sides.Officially there were NO English regiments and NO Welsh regiments – as Julian has just said – they were BRITISH regiments. As to affiliations, certainly where a regiment was located would affect the perception of belonging. I can see no problem with the public associating a regiment with its depot in Wales as being “Welsh”. Again, as I’ve said before, this is how the Welsh press were reporting it in 1879. This might not be palatable to you – but hey, you can’t please everyone ! Hanson, V. D. (2001). Why the West Has Won: Carnage and Culture from Salamis to Vietnam. London: Faber. p. 333. ISBN 978-0-571-20417-5. Snook, Lt Col Mike, Like Wolves on the Fold: The Defence of Rorke's Drift. Greenhill Books, London, 2006. ISBN 1-85367-659-4. Yes, the 24th's depot had been moved to Brecon by the government in 1873, but both battalions of the regiment had never been there when the Zulu war started in 1879, and both battalions consisted of long term service men, meaning that it would have been well after Isandlwana and Rorke's Drift before newly trained recruits would have started to filter through to the ranks.

A more uninteresting or more stupid-looking fellow I never saw. Wood (a subordinate of Wolseley) tells me he is a most useless officer, fit for nothing." After the battle, 351 Zulu bodies were counted, but it has been estimated that at least 500 wounded and captured Zulus might have been massacred as well. [37] [40] Having witnessed the carnage at Isandlwana, the members of Chelmsford's relief force had no mercy for the captured, wounded Zulus they came across, [41] nor did the station's defenders. Trooper William James Clarke of the Natal Mounted Police described in his diary that "altogether we buried 375 Zulus and some wounded were thrown into the grave. Seeing the manner in which our wounded had been mutilated after being dragged from the hospital... we were very bitter and did not spare wounded Zulus". [42] Laband, in his book The Zulu Response to the British Invasion of 1879, accepts the estimate of 600 that Shepstone had from the Zulus. [43]

Corporal Christian Schiess VC

It isn't 'just' their stories, it's Dispatches, newspaper articles, obituaries, casualty lists, honours and awards, court circulars, photos, drawings, letters and don't think the Zulus are left out, oh no they have included statements from some of the Zulu too. Ever since first seeing Zulu as a child it has been my favourite film, and I have found the story of the defence of Rorkes Drift fascinating. In reading more extensively on the subject in recent years, I have found the reality to be even more compelling (even if they didn't really sing Men of Harlech).