Posted on 01/22/2020 1:32:30 PM PST by Bull Snipe
The Battle of Isandlwana. A Zulu army of roughly 20,000 warriors overrun a British Army force of about 1800 infantry, artillery and native troops. About 1300 of the British forces are killed. the Zulu's suffered between 1000 and 2500 casualties. The defeat at Isandlwana is the worst defeat suffered by the British Army at the hands of a Native fighting force.
Later that day, 4000 Zulus, that had not fought at Isandlwana, attacked a company of British soldiers at Rorks Drift. The station is about 6 miles West of Isandlwan. The British held the post with 32 killed or wounded while the Zulus lost around 850 men. This action is the basis for the 1964 movie Zulu.
Hate to say it, but if you read the history, the Zulus were right. The Brits wanted Zulu land and had a plan to attack and crossed the line into clearly delineated Zulu land.
They crossed over and met a highly disciplined, organized and trained force that outsmarted and outfought them.
Brit arrogance got a brutal hit.
Rare trivia. In the Zulu Dawn scene where the Brits stumble upon a bunch of warriors in a ravine and they all instantly charge. Look at it closely.
The Zulu extras were provided with a huge amount of free beer at the top of the hill behind the cameras.
They were told first come first serve when the director called action.
That was a charge of hundreds of Zulus storming the hill to be the first at the end of the day beer truck! Looked fantastic on film.
As I recall, the senior officer at Rorke’s Drift was an engineer, and not an infantry officer.
you are correct but to their support they were totally responsible to the higher ups for every round not specifically accounted for. Not shown in the movie was that drawing ammo could only be drawn from a person regimental ammo supply. Ammo runners were coming in to the closet supply but were told to go to their own regimental supply, which could be a long ways away.
Washing of the Spears is an excellent read and gives a much greater understanding of the current problems in south Africa. and it is not what has been portrayed.
I have a copy of Washing of the Spears a great read.
I read where they had a Helluva time with some of the Zulus, as they hammed up their death scenes* so bad there had to do a reshoot.
*Standing up, throwing arms over their head and spinning around before collapsing - right out of the old silent movies. :-)
“...British fired 19,100 rounds and killed about 350 Zulu...”
That is not a bad ratio of rounds fired to KIA. One must understand the concept of suppressive fire. Many of the Brits killed were hit by Zulu-held firearms. Those rounds fired at Zulu firing positions could be expected to diminish the accuracy of Zulu shooting. And remember, much of the action occurred during the hours of darkness.
Excellent book
Chard was an officer of the Royal Engineers. He ranked Bromhead by a few months in seniority.
pretty correct evaluation of events. The Brits did grossly under estimate the strength and determination to defend their territory.
Not my experience with Brits. The sailors and officers of the Royal Navy I met, were consummate professionals. The worked with us as professionals. No BS from them. What is the mission, how do we accomplish that mission. I would welcome them as my shipmates and allies anytime.
I met the author, Donald R. Morris about 25 years or so ago at a book signing in Houston in which he signed my copy of The Washing of the Spears. We talked about the films made about the Zulu War of 1879. He said he really liked the movie Zulu, and that while it was not strictly accurate, he felt it was "true to the spirit" of the story. He had not seen the prequel Zulu Dawn at that time.
Before reading The Washing of the Spears, I was familiar with Morris' writing as a columnist with the now defunct Houston Post back when it was a conservative newspaper. We both lamented the demise of that editorial page, which Morris said was one of the best in the country before the paper went liberal (and was eventually absorbed by the Houston Chronicle).
Very much like the British supply clerks in the Falklands a century later. Bureaucrats don’t change.
The movie Zulu Dawn was very popular in Africa. The British were wiped out.
The movie Zulu not so much.....
#20 The Brits also brought civilization to the many countries you mentioned.
saw Zulu Dawn years ago. Not nearly as good a movie as Zulu.
Can understand it being more popular in Africa though.
“#20 The Brits also brought civilization to the many countries you mentioned.”
If that is the case then why did those same countries run them out?
Maybe they did not like Brits trying to tell them how to run their country?
They were the world’s WORST imperialists and now the U.S.A. is suffering for their desire to rule the world!
British and EU like bureaucrats and Biden like politicians came in and the people there had enough.
“British and EU like bureaucrats and Biden like politicians came in and the people there had enough.”
That sounds like opinion rather than fact. I presented facts with only one, small opinion.
Off topic, one of the few scenes in the 1930 film of All Quiet On The Western Front, that I like is when the cook will not feed the soldiers just back from the front line because he had orders to feed many more. About half the unit was not there to eat because of casualties, cook was afraid of giving too much food to too few.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.