When was rorkes drift

I joined the tourists staying at the nearby Fugitives' Drift Lodge, which runs regular guided tours of the Anglo-Zulu war battlefields. The lodge, tucked into a wooded hillside above the Buffalo river, has a heavenly aura of luxury and sanctuary.

So it was all the more shocking when, two years ago, its owner David Rattray was shot dead by intruders at the age of Not a single visitor cancelled their booking for Fugitives' Drift Lodge. Rattray's widow, Nicky, wanted the tours to continue and his fellow guide, Rob Caskie, who describes Rattray as "like my brother", took on the mantle. Caskie escorted 10 of us to Rorke's Drift and the first surprise was its size.

This was no first world war battlefield. Through a gate and above a ridge is a modest patch of grass with a church and a museum, formerly the makeshift hospital where soldiers and Zulus fought room to room. The bit that mattered in those desperate hours is little bigger than a tennis court. Like Rattray, Caskie has honed a vivid oratory, acting as much as telling, lacing his narrative with gobbets of Zulu language.

As he evoked the events of that afternoon and night years ago, the setting sun gave an orange glow to the hills, gorges and paperbark acacia trees of KwaZulu-Natal. The average age of a British soldier at Rorke's Drift was 23, the average weight 10 stone 63kg , and the average height 5ft 3in cm.

So the Zulus were at a disadvantage not only in the firefight, but even where they had expected to win easily, at close-quarters. It is to their credit that their morale survived the shock of this discovery, but in pressing home their attacks regardless they merely increased their own casualties. Until the early 19th century, the peoples of southern Africa had been accustomed to skirmishing with spears thrown from a distance, an indecisive method of fighting that inflicted few casualties and usually led to the defeated party retiring more or less intact.

Shaka equipped his men with large cowhide shields and short spears with heavy blades intended for stabbing rather than throwing though he did not personally invent the latter, as is sometimes claimed. The spear, the famous iklwa, had a blade between 12 and 18 inches in length and was mounted on a shaft of about 30 inches. This may not always have worked as intended in the confusion of battle, but it did give the Zulu warrior the confidence to close and decide the issue in hand-to-hand combat.

Could things have happened differently? So desperate was the fighting on several occasions that this seems quite plausible: a lucky shot bringing down a British officer, or an exceptionally agile and courageous warrior leaping the barricade while the defenders were occupied elsewhere, quickly supported by his comrades, might have turned the whole course of the battle.

This the defenders certainly had, especially as neither of their officers was hit, despite exposing themselves continually to enemy fire at very close range. Chris Peers has written widely on African colonial warfare. The English Tudors were determined to crush Irish independence, but Gaelic warriors fought back.

Tim Newark describes the Irish warlords who took on the…. William V Wenger offers a forensic analysis of the American victory, apparently against the odds, in the war of Lieutenant John Chard is seen to the right at the barrier in pale breeches with a rifle, while Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead is standing in the centre of the painting pointing to his left. The British commander Lord Chelmsford Gonville Bromhead [above] and John Chard [below], the two lieutenants in charge of the tiny garrison, were subsequently celebrated for their valour.

The Zulu Prince Dabulamanzi. Zulu Warriors, c. But without training in their use, Zulu musketry was poor. This had been the Zulu tactic, but on engagement with the enemy they found that it put them at a disadvantage here.

The British Government and the Army used the events there as a distraction from the disaster at Isandlwana. You might be interested in. The main body of Zulus came up and opened a heavy fire on the British from cover around the west and north-west of the mission station. The hospital at the western end of the fortifications became the focus for the fighting.

Set on fire and stormed by the Zulus, it became untenable. As many men were extracted as possible, the remaining patients perishing in the flames. Privates John Williams, Henry Hook, William Jones, Frederick Hitch and Corporal William Allen all received the Victoria Cross for their defence of the hospital building, fighting with bayonets once their ammunition was expended, as they contested every room with the attacking warriors.

The fighting now concentrated on the wall of biscuit barrels linking the mission house with the mealie wall. As night fell, the British withdrew to the centre of the station where a final bastion had been hastily assembled.

The light from the burning hospital assisted the British in their fire. The savage Zulu attacks were resisted until around midnight, when, unexpectedly, the ferocity of the assault fell away. Firing continued until around 4am when the Zulus withdrew. By then the British held only the area around the storehouse. TV A new online only channel for history lovers. Sign Me Up. Here are twelve facts about the battle.

It followed the disastrous British defeat at Isandlwana A contemporary painting of the Battle of Isandlwana. Saul David - historian, broadcaster and author of several critically-acclaimed works of fiction and non-fiction - comes on the show to discuss the most brutal and controversial British imperial conflict of the 19th century: the Anglo-Zulu War of Zulu warriors carrying their iconic ox-hide shields and firearms.

John Rouse Merriott Chard. Michael Caine playing Gonville Bromhead in the film Zulu. An image showing John Chard receiving his Victoria Cross. You May Also Like.