135th Anniversary of Rorkes Drift

[beast66606]

Today marks the anniversary of Rorkes Drift where 150 British and Colonial soldiers held out against the attacks of 3,000 - 4,000 Zulus - a very brave action.

 

This year also marks the 50th anniversary of the film - not a lot of people know that.

 

11 Victoria Crosses were awarded, still the most awarded to a single regiment in a single action.

[skipepsi]

Not even a battalion just one company from the numbers, in modern parlance a detachment I suppose.

[trisonic]

Personally I blame Michael Caine's accent in the movie........

 

Sorry. Good movie of a stirring action - how did they get into such a position in the first place?

 

Best, Pete.

[Old Gringo]

Well Pete, Hutchinson's, Dictionary of Battles (compiled by Ian Hogg, 1995) says;

 

"The farm was operating as a field hospital and supply depot.  It contained 36 troops in the hospital itself, 84 troops of the 24th Regiment, a company of native infantry, a chaplain, a surgeon, Lt. Bromhead of the 24th and Lt. Chard of the Royal Engineers" (Royal Scot, 46109).

 

"After the disaster at the battle of Isandhlwana earlier on the 22nd. January 1879, where the Zulus virtually obliterated the British force led by Lord Chelmsford, a party of some 4,000 Zulus descended on the farm at Rorke's Drift.  A handful of survivors from the earlier engagement arrived and Chard set his fit troops to making what defences they could.  The native contingent fled, leaving Chard and Bromhead with around 140 troops to protect a 300 yard perimeter".

 

"The Zulus arrived late in the afternoon and the battle commenced . . . . . . ., however, it was 4am before they ceased their attacks.  At dawn 80 troops were still fit to fight and the Zulus had vanished.  The troops had breakfast and at 07:30 the Zulus re-appeared, but they simply sat down on a nearby hill and watched for about an hour, before they stood, turned about and then went.  They too had had enough."

 

As Beast says in the OP; "Eleven Victoria Crosses were awarded, plus nine Distinguished Conduct Medals.  British casualties were only 17 killed, whilst the Zulus left 400 dead on the field."

 

It's a heck of a film and the Colour Sergeant, played by Nigel Green is my favourite character.  But, when the lads start singing, it still brings a lump in the throat, even after all these years.

[grandadbob]

 

 the Colour Sergeant, played by Nigel Green is my favourite character.  .

 

Me too - "Because we're 'ere lad - nobody else - just us"

[Pete 75C]

I have absolutely loved this film for as long as I can remember. It has the rare ability to follow fact almost to the letter (something Hollywood has long since been unable to do) and can fill you with emotions ranging from sadness through to pride and respect. It was on TV relatively recently and as my son (14) is doing history for his GCSEs, I made some effort to get him to watch it. I could tell he was a little bored but all went well until the first soldier fell. I asked him what the problem was... "it's so unrealistic, there's no blood". I have to say, that made me a bit cross... is that what passes for a good film today in the eyes of a child? CGI and lots of gore???

Still right up there in my personal Top 10 and no doubt always will be.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

... how did they get into such a position in the first place?

 To understand the context it would be helpful to first review the action of Alfred, Boss of Wessex. Having noticed that various Scandinavian yobbos led by such as Cnut and Siefilth were arriving on his island by means of boats, set in hand the building of a fleet of his own...

[trisonic]

Er.., OK!

 

Having just read more about the general situation just prior to the action I now understand it better. I also found out that the Welsh were not in the majority at Rorkes Drift.

 

Best, Pete.

[Adams442T]

Er.., OK!

 

Having just read more about the general situation just prior to the action I now understand it better. I also found out that the Welsh were not in the majority at Rorkes Drift.

 

Best, Pete.

 

Not perhaps in the majority, there were quite a few recruited from the Birmingham area too, but without Ivor Immanuel's singing we would've had to have had a Brummie Choir! 

 

It's just a shame that from the historical accuracy point of view they portrayed Hook as a drunk and troublemaker.  He was nothing of the sort, ending his days, I believe, as a respected Commissionaire at a London Gentlemens' Club.   

[The Stationmaster]

I doubt there'll be much commemorating of it going on beyond this thread - after all we, the nasty colonialist oppressors, won a memorable victory so that's hardly the sort of thing today's politicos and the 'thinking people' like to come to prominence, however briefly.

 

A superb film and I still sit through it whenever it reappears on tv if it doesn't clash with anything better (which is rare) with some excellent acting.  Apparently the number of Zulus Cy Enfield was able to recruit was less than 100 as they could make far more money than he was offering working in the gold and diamond mines - so in some of the panorama scenes there was a lot of running about and use of non-Zulu folk for the long shots.  Enfield had talks with a friend of mine about script writing for 'Zulu Dawn' and was worried if he'd be able to get enough Zulus to recreate that realistically (and my friend didn't go to work for him).

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

Much better to celebrate 200th anniversaries: battle of Toulouse this year, Waterloo next year. Back to back European champions league away wins, that's good going against the much fancied Real Bonaparte.

[beast66606]

Much better to celebrate 200th anniversaries: battle of Toulouse this year, Waterloo next year. Back to back European champions league away wins, that's good going against the much fancied Real Bonaparte.

 

It's the 50th anniversary of the film which was significant.

[Southernman46]

I doubt there'll be much commemorating of it going on beyond this thread - after all we, the nasty colonialist oppressors, won a memorable victory so that's hardly the sort of thing today's politicos and the 'thinking people' like to come to prominence, however briefly.

 

Yes, am surprised Camerons' not delivering a snivelling apology and promising compensation for the relatives of the dead Zulus' 

[EddieB]

Usuthu!  One of the first films I saw at the cinema and it remains a great favourite of mine.

 

As Adams442T has pointed out, the characterisations weren't too accurate and more than a dose of Hollywood licence was applied to embellish what stands out as an epic tale of courage by the defenders of Rorke's Drift.  Neither does the film (rightly) identify the context of British incursion into Zululand and the subjagation of the Zulu nation after the battle of Ulundi, later in 1879.

 

I sometimes wonder whether the class tension in the film between Gonville Bromhead (Michael Caine) and John Chard (Stanley Baker) had any influence on messrs Croft and Perry for the Wilson and Mainwaring characters of Dad's Army?

 

The Zulu chief Cetshwayo was played in the film by chief Mangosutu Buthelezi (NALOPKT) - now what became of him, I wonder?

[Ohmisterporter]

There were two armies of brave men in that battle. We always forget the courage of men armed with spears going against rifles. Mind you, when they got in close it was a different matter.

[beast66606]

There were two armies of brave men in that battle. We always forget the courage of men armed with spears going against rifles. Mind you, when they got in close it was a different matter.

 

The Zulu warriors tended to be men in their 40s too.

 

I've bought myself a copy of "Nothing Remains but to Fight" off Amazon - I've perused this book several years ago, but now I can read it at my leisure.

[PatB]

Colonial victory it may have ben but it does rather give the lie to the popular notion that all were won by the use of machine guns against armies armed only with spears. The significance of Rorke's Drift is not so much that the British won, but that they won hand-to-hand at makeshift barricades.

[alfsboy]

I believe the best book on the subject is the 'Washing of the spears ' at least in my model soldier time.

[EddieB]

I believe the best book on the subject is the 'Washing of the spears ' at least in my model soldier time.

Yes, a very good book giving the background to the rise of the Zulu nation and the British colonisation of Natal.  There are several books that go into detail of the battle itself and quite a lot of material available on the web.  Ian Allan produced a bookazine series of great battles a few years back, Rorke's Drift being covered in the first issue (if memory serves).

 

Rorke's Drift was trumpeted partly to counteract the ignominy of the massacre inflicted on the British encampment at Isandlwana earlier in the same day (and the opening sequence of the film).  Though equipped with the latest Martini-Henry rifles, the British troops were taken by surprise and overwhelmed by weight of numbers, a well-drilled military force and superior tactics.

 

The advantage held by the defenders of Rorke's Drift was being able to create a stong fixed defensive position that defied the battle plan of the highly mobile Zulu regiments that came against them.    The same tactic had proved decisive at the battle of Blood River, where a column of Boer Vortrekkers - men, women and children - had successfully repulsed a Zulu onslaught by forming their wagons into an impenetrable barricade. 

 

Not to take anything away from the bravery and mutual respect of the opposing armies, so brilliantly brought out in the film.

[trisonic]

I've fired a Martini-Henry rifle whilst in Uruguay (of all places). The calibre was .45 - at least of the one I fired - and the action was very fast after the first couple of rounds. The trick was to hold four of the massive rounds between the fingers of your left hand plucking them out with your right (if firing right-handed). I wondered if our guys did something similar?

 

Best, Pete.

[beast66606]

The advantage held by the defenders of Rorke's Drift was being able to create a stong fixed defensive position that defied the battle plan of the highly mobile Zulu regiments that came against them.    The same tactic had proved decisive at the battle of Blood River, where a column of Boer Vortrekkers - men, women and children - had successfully repulsed a Zulu onslaught by forming their wagons into an impenetrable barricade. 

 

Not to take anything away from the bravery and mutual respect of the opposing armies, so brilliantly brought out in the film.

 

 

The Zulus accidentally made a mistake during the battle, after they overran the hospital (during the night) the light from it's burning made them silhouettes and therefore easy targets, thus reducing the number of sides on which they could attack the defenders. Incidentally the Zulus did have rifles, and in fact they inflicted a lot of injuries on the defenders using them.

[Adams442T]

I've also fired the MH ( and I have a decommissioned one hanging in the downstairs loo - just don't ask............) 

 

They certainly were a stopper at .45 calibre, but one problem was that with constant rapid fire they overheated to the extent that troops in such circumstances wrapped cloths around the stock to enable them to keep on firing them.  Another problem this caused was that the underlever extractor pulled the cartridge apart and left a part ejected damaged casing fouling the mechanism. 

 

Add to that the fact that many of the poorly made sword-bayonets bent in use and it's amazing they survived at all!

[trisonic]

The older the cartridge case the thinner walled they were - which didn't help much...... I was using relatively modern cartridges in Uruguay, i.e. about thirty years old. Btw I should have said three rounds in the hand not four. I'm surprise that some entrepreneur, at the time, didn't develop a canvass webbing wrap of the stock with cartridge loops sewn in. Very handy - shades of Del-Boy - I had one on my old Mossberg "Slugster".

 

Did I ever mention that when EMI Records owned a plant in India (up to c.1990) it was on the site of a former British arsenal in Dum-Dum, Calcutta. Guess what was made there?

 

Best, Pete.

[Happy Hippo]

Some years ago when discussing this film, my brother in law who is a keen military historian pointed out a very interesting fact:

 

Very fortunately for the British troops, in their arsenal were two hand cranked Gatling guns!.

 

And as Micheal Caine would say:'Not many people know that.'

 

However, as an old soldier I would never decry the efforts and bravery of those at Rouke's Drift over what was, and still would be, overwhelming odds.

[trisonic]

Gatling guns (or indeed any machine guns) against  a massed battle charge are much, much more effective when used from an enfilade position (obviously not practical at Rorkes Drift) in any event this was not truly understood until after WW1 started. The most effective "machine gun nests" was found to be those who could direct fire almost perpendicular to a charging group of men from the side. Obviously better than not having any, though!

 

Best, Pete.