Mr Wolverine
CGN Regular
- Location
- Manitoba. Canada
On the 22nd Jan 1879 King Cetshwayo’s Zulu army wiped out Lord Chelmsford temporary base camp at Isandlwana, under the command of Lt Col Pulleine. Dabulamanzi, half brother to king Cetshwayo, commanded the uNdi Corps, they had played a very small part in the battle, so against their orders not to cross the Buffalo Rive they decided to attack the British at Rorke’s Drift.
Rorke’s Drift was a mission station that the British had taken over and turned into a supply camp and hospital, commanded by Lt Bromhead 24th (2nd Warwickshire) Regiment, Lt Chard Royal Engineers was working on pontoons in the river and tasked with improving the crossing. Rather than load the sick and wounded onto the two large ox wagon and retire the 16 miles to Helpmekaar, they, acting on the advice of Lt Adendorrff and Commissariat Officer (Quarter master) Dalton decided to stay and fight.
A hasty defensive wall was constructed using the mealy bags (Sacks of maize each weighing 200 lb). Loop holes were cut in the hospital walls. In just under one hour the Zulu would be attacking them. There was 414 healthy soldiers and 36 sick and wounded, so the defense was constructed with this in mind. Only minutes before the Zulu attack the entire NNC (Natal Native Contingent), 300 native troops, 11 white officers and NCO’s fled. Now the perimeter was two big for 96 men to defend. Quickly a wall of biscuit boxes was thrown up from the corner of the store house to the mealy bag wall, this gave an area approx 25 x 40 yds. There was no time to pull the men out of the hospital before the attack was upon them. The British opened their ammo boxes and took their positions behind the walls.
The defense of Rorke’s Drift is portrayed in the movie “Zulu”, the movie is very accurate except that the characters of some of the key players are not strictly correct. The movie was not filmed at Rorkes Drift as there were new buildings in the way and not enough local housing.
To the left is the store room the right is the hospital. The trail to the Drift (ford) is immediately in front of us. The mealie bag wall was just on top of the small cliff, this effectively added at least 4 foot in height for the defenders. This low cliff ran all across the front but has been leveled to help the lawn mower.
This model in the museum gives an aerial view of the defense. The straight wall in the center is the biscuit box wall, the final redoubt is to the left of the wall and the stone cattle kraal left of that.
The final redoubt, much small that I expected, but then this whole battle field was tiny.
The gable end of the hospital, the defenders crawled out of a high window. The buildings are not the original, slightly larger but are on the same sites, the second building shown here is a later addition. All the old defence walls are marked with a double row of stones on the ground. The site of the mealie bag wall can be seen on top of the low cliff just to our front. The biscuit box wall joined the mealie bag wall just about here. This was nick named “Swiss Corner” as it was here that Cpl Ferdnand Schiess fought (NNC) he was the first non-Brit to be awarded the Victoria Cross. He repeatly fought from the top of the wall and even jumped over amongst the Zulu at one time so he could use his bayonet more effectively. The British awarded 12 Victoria Crosses for the defense of Rorke’s Drift.
I could write pages but the intent was simply to show some photos of how Rorke’s drift looks today.
Rorke’s Drift was a mission station that the British had taken over and turned into a supply camp and hospital, commanded by Lt Bromhead 24th (2nd Warwickshire) Regiment, Lt Chard Royal Engineers was working on pontoons in the river and tasked with improving the crossing. Rather than load the sick and wounded onto the two large ox wagon and retire the 16 miles to Helpmekaar, they, acting on the advice of Lt Adendorrff and Commissariat Officer (Quarter master) Dalton decided to stay and fight.
A hasty defensive wall was constructed using the mealy bags (Sacks of maize each weighing 200 lb). Loop holes were cut in the hospital walls. In just under one hour the Zulu would be attacking them. There was 414 healthy soldiers and 36 sick and wounded, so the defense was constructed with this in mind. Only minutes before the Zulu attack the entire NNC (Natal Native Contingent), 300 native troops, 11 white officers and NCO’s fled. Now the perimeter was two big for 96 men to defend. Quickly a wall of biscuit boxes was thrown up from the corner of the store house to the mealy bag wall, this gave an area approx 25 x 40 yds. There was no time to pull the men out of the hospital before the attack was upon them. The British opened their ammo boxes and took their positions behind the walls.
The defense of Rorke’s Drift is portrayed in the movie “Zulu”, the movie is very accurate except that the characters of some of the key players are not strictly correct. The movie was not filmed at Rorkes Drift as there were new buildings in the way and not enough local housing.
To the left is the store room the right is the hospital. The trail to the Drift (ford) is immediately in front of us. The mealie bag wall was just on top of the small cliff, this effectively added at least 4 foot in height for the defenders. This low cliff ran all across the front but has been leveled to help the lawn mower.
This model in the museum gives an aerial view of the defense. The straight wall in the center is the biscuit box wall, the final redoubt is to the left of the wall and the stone cattle kraal left of that.
The final redoubt, much small that I expected, but then this whole battle field was tiny.
The gable end of the hospital, the defenders crawled out of a high window. The buildings are not the original, slightly larger but are on the same sites, the second building shown here is a later addition. All the old defence walls are marked with a double row of stones on the ground. The site of the mealie bag wall can be seen on top of the low cliff just to our front. The biscuit box wall joined the mealie bag wall just about here. This was nick named “Swiss Corner” as it was here that Cpl Ferdnand Schiess fought (NNC) he was the first non-Brit to be awarded the Victoria Cross. He repeatly fought from the top of the wall and even jumped over amongst the Zulu at one time so he could use his bayonet more effectively. The British awarded 12 Victoria Crosses for the defense of Rorke’s Drift.
I could write pages but the intent was simply to show some photos of how Rorke’s drift looks today.
