Okla-homey
1/22/2009, 08:30 AM
January 22-23, 1879: 400 men remain focused thus avoiding disaster at Rorke's Drift.
http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/2568/rorke27sdriftcq6.jpg
130 years ago, on this day in 1879, a previously unblooded 400 man mixed force of mostly British infantry and engineer troops, led by a pair of lieutenants who had never before been in combat, held off 5000 seasoned Zulu warriors at Rorke's Drift in Natal in South Africa.
http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/7782/rorke24throrkesdriftqy1.jpg
After the smoke cleared from the epic two-day engagement, eleven Victoria Crosses, Britain's highest military honor, were awarded. Seven to the 2nd Battalion, 24th (2nd Warwickshire) Regiment of Foot, one to the Army Medical Department, one to the Royal Engineers, one to the Commissariat and Transport Department and one to the Natal Native Contingent.
The overwhelming Zulu attack on Rorke's Drift came a hair's breadth away from defeating the tiny British garrison. The successful defence of the outpost is held as one of history's finest defences.
The same day it began, a larger Zulu force had annihilated a British expeditionary force at Isandlwana that had deployed to put down the rebelling Zulus. At Isandlwana (pron: ee''-sond'-l-wo-na) the strong 20,000 man Zulu army defeated 850 British soldiers and around 450 African soldiers in British service. Those in the firing line were killed to a man. Only 50 European enlisted men and five officers escaped Isandlwana, in addition to several hundred Africans who fled the battlefield.
http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/9812/rorkeszuluwarriorsadjtv6.jpg
Zulu warriors. Pretty much the African equivalent of Spartans. They were raised from boyhood to endure great hardship and fight as one. They could jog barefoot 20 miles without food or water, carrying their arms, and still attack with great power.
Rorke's Drift was a tiny mission station at a river crossing. The small British force has been detached to build a pontoon bridge and guard supplies cached there. The key to their subsequent survival despite relentless Zulu attacks was the decision to remain in place and erect hasty fortifications rather than abandon the position and attempt a withdrawal.
Had they tried to bug-out, they would have been easily overtaken by the Zulu force detached from the Zulu army that destroyed the main British body at Isandlwana earlier the same day.
Instead, on orders from Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead and Lieutenant John Rouse Merriott Chard, they fashioned crude chest high walls out of wooden food crates and bags of grain, from which they fired on the assaulting Zulus. It wasn't just a matter of firearms versus spears either. The Zulus were armed with several hundred rifles taken from the dead British at Isandlwana earlier in the day.
http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/4165/rorke800pxrorke27sdriftva4.jpg
http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/6351/rorkespict0042cd6.jpg
Critically, the British coolly shrank their perimeter each time the Zulu's managed to breach it, thereby retaining their ability to concentrate their fire and preventing the Zulus from creating more easily overrun isolated pockets of British troops.
In the end, the Brits at Rorke's Drift had fewer than 900 rounds left of the 20,000 with which they started their stand. Almost every surviving soldier had at least a minor wound.
A post-battle survey of the battlefield resulted in documentation of 350 Zulu killed, and an estimate of at least five times that many wounded evacuated by the Zulu as they retired in good order. The British lost 17 KIA.
Victoria Cross awardees:
Corporal William Wilson Allen
Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead
Lieutenant John Rouse Merriott Chard
Acting Assistant Commissary James Langley Dalton
Private Frederick Hitch
Private Alfred Henry Hook
Private Robert Jones
Private William Jones
Surgeon Major James Henry Reynolds
Corporal Christian Ferdinand Schiess
Private John Williams
The lesson: even against incredible odds, it is sometimes possible to save yourself if you can remain calm, stand firm, use the brain God gave you, and fight like hell.
http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/637/insane7zoao4.jpg
http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/2568/rorke27sdriftcq6.jpg
130 years ago, on this day in 1879, a previously unblooded 400 man mixed force of mostly British infantry and engineer troops, led by a pair of lieutenants who had never before been in combat, held off 5000 seasoned Zulu warriors at Rorke's Drift in Natal in South Africa.
http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/7782/rorke24throrkesdriftqy1.jpg
After the smoke cleared from the epic two-day engagement, eleven Victoria Crosses, Britain's highest military honor, were awarded. Seven to the 2nd Battalion, 24th (2nd Warwickshire) Regiment of Foot, one to the Army Medical Department, one to the Royal Engineers, one to the Commissariat and Transport Department and one to the Natal Native Contingent.
The overwhelming Zulu attack on Rorke's Drift came a hair's breadth away from defeating the tiny British garrison. The successful defence of the outpost is held as one of history's finest defences.
The same day it began, a larger Zulu force had annihilated a British expeditionary force at Isandlwana that had deployed to put down the rebelling Zulus. At Isandlwana (pron: ee''-sond'-l-wo-na) the strong 20,000 man Zulu army defeated 850 British soldiers and around 450 African soldiers in British service. Those in the firing line were killed to a man. Only 50 European enlisted men and five officers escaped Isandlwana, in addition to several hundred Africans who fled the battlefield.
http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/9812/rorkeszuluwarriorsadjtv6.jpg
Zulu warriors. Pretty much the African equivalent of Spartans. They were raised from boyhood to endure great hardship and fight as one. They could jog barefoot 20 miles without food or water, carrying their arms, and still attack with great power.
Rorke's Drift was a tiny mission station at a river crossing. The small British force has been detached to build a pontoon bridge and guard supplies cached there. The key to their subsequent survival despite relentless Zulu attacks was the decision to remain in place and erect hasty fortifications rather than abandon the position and attempt a withdrawal.
Had they tried to bug-out, they would have been easily overtaken by the Zulu force detached from the Zulu army that destroyed the main British body at Isandlwana earlier the same day.
Instead, on orders from Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead and Lieutenant John Rouse Merriott Chard, they fashioned crude chest high walls out of wooden food crates and bags of grain, from which they fired on the assaulting Zulus. It wasn't just a matter of firearms versus spears either. The Zulus were armed with several hundred rifles taken from the dead British at Isandlwana earlier in the day.
http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/4165/rorke800pxrorke27sdriftva4.jpg
http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/6351/rorkespict0042cd6.jpg
Critically, the British coolly shrank their perimeter each time the Zulu's managed to breach it, thereby retaining their ability to concentrate their fire and preventing the Zulus from creating more easily overrun isolated pockets of British troops.
In the end, the Brits at Rorke's Drift had fewer than 900 rounds left of the 20,000 with which they started their stand. Almost every surviving soldier had at least a minor wound.
A post-battle survey of the battlefield resulted in documentation of 350 Zulu killed, and an estimate of at least five times that many wounded evacuated by the Zulu as they retired in good order. The British lost 17 KIA.
Victoria Cross awardees:
Corporal William Wilson Allen
Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead
Lieutenant John Rouse Merriott Chard
Acting Assistant Commissary James Langley Dalton
Private Frederick Hitch
Private Alfred Henry Hook
Private Robert Jones
Private William Jones
Surgeon Major James Henry Reynolds
Corporal Christian Ferdinand Schiess
Private John Williams
The lesson: even against incredible odds, it is sometimes possible to save yourself if you can remain calm, stand firm, use the brain God gave you, and fight like hell.
http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/637/insane7zoao4.jpg