Battle for Rorke's Drift

-28.349167 30.534167Coordinates: 28 ° 20 ′ 57 ″ S , 30 ° 32 ′ 3 ″ E

Rorke's Drift

"Defense of Rorke's Drift" by Alphonse de Neuville , 1880

date	January 22. bis 23. January 1879
place	Mission station Rorke's Drift in Natal ( South Africa )
output	British victory

Parties to the conflict
United Kingdom 1801 United Kingdom	Zululand
Commander
John Rouse Merriott Chard , Gonville Bromhead	Dabulamanzi kaMpande
Troop strength
139 men	up to 4,000 men
losses
17 dead, 10 wounded	about 350 dead, up to 500 wounded

The Battle of Rorke's Drift took place on January 22nd, 1879 during the Zulu War in the Swedish mission station of the same name in the South African colony of Natal . 139 British faced up to 4,000 Zulu .

prehistory

In 1843 the Natal area was formally annexed by the British. The powerful militaristic Zulu state in the neighborhood appeared to the British as a threat to their settlements there. In January 1879, English colonial troops from Natal invaded the kingdom of King Cetshwayo . The strongest attack column, under Lord Chelmsford , advanced over the Buffalo River , at the Rorke’s Drift mission station . Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead was tasked with protecting the station with B Company of 2nd Battalion of the 24th Regiment of Foot (The South Wales Borderers) . First Lieutenant John Rouse Merriott Chard of the Royal Engineers received the order with some sappers to build a bridge over the Buffalo River. On January 19, Chard and his men arrived at the Buffalo River. On January 22nd, Chard was summoned to Lord Chelmsford at Isandhlwana. After arriving there, he was told that only his men should remain in Isandhlwana, after which he returned to Rorke's Drift. In the Battle of Isandhlwana , the British suffered a catastrophic defeat on the same day in which the 1,300 soldiers deployed were completely wiped out.

The fight

Sketch of Rorke's Drift at the time of the 1879 battle

Prince Dabulamanzi kaMpande

On the day of the Battle of Isandhlwana, the small mission station Rorke's Drift was attacked by up to 4,000 Zulu warriors from the uNdi corps . The Zulu were led by Prince Dabulamanzi kaMpande , the king's half-brother. Some Zulu were armed with British rifles which they had captured in the battle of Isandhlwana , but were not very proficient in using them. The majority were armed with the great war spear ( isijula ). In addition, Zulu warriors wore a large cowhide shield ( isihlangu ). Its color gave information about the membership in a regiment . The British crew of the station consisted mostly of soldiers of the 24th Regiment of Foot (2nd Warwickshire, from 1881 The South Wales Borderers) and numbered 139 men. They were led by First Lieutenant Bromhead (24th Regiment) and First Lieutenant Chard (Royal Engineers). The latter was in command as a senior. After ten hours of fighting, the Zulu lost around 350 men and withdrew. The British casualties initially amounted to 15 dead and 12 wounded, of which two more died from their injuries.

Awarding of Victoria Crosses

For this fight, eleven Brits were awarded the Victoria Cross, Great Britain's highest award for outstanding bravery in the face of the enemy . This is the largest number of Victoria Crosses ever awarded for fighting in a day. For example, only one Victoria Cross was awarded for the battles in the Battle of Britain and on D-Day . In addition to the fact that the British fought bravely at Rorke's Drift, the attempt to forget the defeat in the Battle of Isandhlwana as quickly as possible is certainly one of the reasons for the high number of Victoria Crosses awarded.

Victoria Cross recipient

Victoria Cross

Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead
Lieutenant John Rouse Merriott Chard
Medical Officer James Henry Reynolds
Corporal Christian Ferdinand Schiess
Corporal William Wilson Allen
Private Frederick Hitch
Private Alfred Henry Hook
Private Robert Jones
Private William Jones
Private John Williams
Acting Assistant Commissary James Langley Dalton

Dalton was not initially intended for the Victoria Cross, but received it after massive protests in January 1880. According to eyewitness reports, although only a supply officer, he had done much more for the organization of the resistance than Chard and Bromhead, who initially gave up the post when the Zulu approached wanted to.

One of the winners was Corporal Christian Ferdinand Schiess , a Swiss citizen who posed as a South African. He was awarded the Victoria Cross, which is otherwise reserved for British nationals.

reception

Queen Victoria said of the battle of Rorke's Drift: The Defense of Rorke's Drift is immortal. (German: "The defense of Rorke's Drift is immortal.")

The events during the fighting for Rorke's Drift were filmed in the 1964 film Zulu with Michael Caine .

literature

Donald Featherstone: Victorian Colonial Warfare, Africa. From the Campaigns against the Kaffirs to the South African War. Cassell, London 1992, ISBN 0-304-34174-6 .
Adrian Greaves: Rorke's Drift. Cassell Military Paperbacks, London 2003, ISBN 0-304-36641-2 .
Ian Knight : Nothing remains but to fight. The defense of Rorke's Drift, 1879. Greenhill Books, London 1993, ISBN 1-85367-137-1 .
Ian Knight, Ian Castle: Zulu War. Osprey Publishing, Oxford 2004, ISBN 1-84176-858-8 .
John Laband : The A to Z of the Zulu Wars (= The A to Z Guide Series , No. 202). The Scarecrow Press, Lanham et al. 2010, ISBN 978-0-8108-7631-6 , pp. 241-243 (keyword: Rorke's Drift, Battle of (1879) ).
Mike Snook: Like Wolves on the Fold. The Defense of Rorke's Drift. Greenhill Books, London et al. 2006, ISBN 1-85367-659-4 .

Web links

Awarded Victoria Crosses for the Battle of Rorke's Drift

References and comments

↑ ^a ^b According to the Official Report of the Defense of Rorke's Drift by Lieutenant RM Chard, dated January 25, 1879; Reprinted as Appendix A in Charles L. Norris-Newman: In Zululand with the British Army. The Anglo-Zulu War of 1879 through the First-Hand Experiences of a Special Correspondent (= Eyewitness to War Series ). sl, Leonaur Ltd., 2006, ISBN 84-677-1217-1 , pp. 293-297. - Accordingly, among the 139 defenders there were also a small contingent of Africans and some civil servants. A total of 35 men in the guard were sick at the time of the attack. The fight on the British side had initially left 15 dead and 12 seriously wounded, two of whom had died at the time the report was written.
↑ ^a ^b For the strength of the Zulu armed forces and their losses there are very different data in the literature. In his Official Report, Lieutenant Chard estimated the number of attackers at around 3,000. In the literature, this number is often viewed as too low and increased to 4,000 and more. According to Chard, around 350 dead Zulu were found around the post after the battle. His report does not contain any figures on the wounded Zulu, but on their side it can be assumed that there are still a large number of wounded (estimates range up to 500 men and more), of whom no doubt a not inconsiderable part has died from his injuries. Many authors therefore estimate the number of deaths on the part of the Zulu army at around 600.

[Norris-Newman-1] According to the Official Report of the Defense of Rorke's Drift by Lieutenant RM Chard, dated January 25, 1879; Reprinted as Appendix A in Charles L. Norris-Newman: In Zululand with the British Army. The Anglo-Zulu War of 1879 through the First-Hand Experiences of a Special Correspondent (= Eyewitness to War Series ). sl, Leonaur Ltd., 2006, ISBN 84-677-1217-1 , pp. 293-297. - Accordingly, among the 139 defenders there were also a small contingent of Africans and some civil servants. A total of 35 men in the guard were sick at the time of the attack. The fight on the British side had initially left 15 dead and 12 seriously wounded, two of whom had died at the time the report was written.

[Norris-Newman2-2] For the strength of the Zulu armed forces and their losses there are very different data in the literature. In his Official Report, Lieutenant Chard estimated the number of attackers at around 3,000. In the literature, this number is often viewed as too low and increased to 4,000 and more. According to Chard, around 350 dead Zulu were found around the post after the battle. His report does not contain any figures on the wounded Zulu, but on their side it can be assumed that there are still a large number of wounded (estimates range up to 500 men and more), of whom no doubt a not inconsiderable part has died from his injuries. Many authors therefore estimate the number of deaths on the part of the Zulu army at around 600.