Zulu!

[Sukerkin]

I came across this article about Rourke's Drift on the BBC:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/magazine/7461992.stm

Altho' it is an engagment that makes my heart fit to burst with pride for the courage displayed on both sides, does anyone have any deeper insight into the hint that the defence was 'spin doctored' for glory to offset the earlier defeat?

 

[Bob Hubbard]

I've only seen the movies on it, but it seemed to paint both sides in a good light.

 

[Steel Tiger]

This is actually something that fascinates me no end.

There is no doubt that the British government awarded so many VCs to make the battle seem much more than the defeat at Isandlwana. But when you compare the two, Rorke's Drift should have been one of those footnote incidents in history.

Lord Chelmsford lost a third of his expeditionary force at Isandlwana, 850 British and 450 African in British service, 1300 in all. The Zulus captured many rifles and ammunition.

At Rorke's Drift there was only a depleted company of Welsh Borderers, some police and some Natal Native Contingent. 138 men in total.

The simple fact of the matter is that the defenders should have been comprehensively rolled by the 6000 Zulus who attacked. The Zulu command basically sucked. A series of probe and retreat attacks that the defenders barely managed to hold off. A fulled blooded assault from two directions with the entire force would have wiped out the British.

With 11 VCs awarded, Rorke's Drift has more, perhaps 3x, than any other . Why?

Mr. Witt: You will all be killed like those this morning - and now the sick in their beds! All of you!
Lt. Chard: I don't think so, Mr. Witt. The Army doesn't like more than one disaster in a day.
Lt. Bromhead: Looks bad in the newspapers and upsets civilians at their breakfast.

Only a few of the VCs winners from the battle actually achieved anything after the battle. Bromhead became a Major and died 12 years later. Dalton, the person who developed the defense strategy, died 8 years later, having achieved nothing else. Chard became a Colonel and died in 1897.

Colour Sergeant Bourne is the coolest of the defenders. Only 18 at the time of the battle, called "The Kid". He was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for Rorke's Drift. He was commissioned in 1890 and retired in 1907. He reenlisted in 1914 and at the end of WWI was given the honourary rank of Lt Colonel and made an Officer of the British Empire (OBE).

 

[Sukerkin]

Thanks for the thumbnails of the fates of some involved, ST. It particularly saddens me more than a bit to learn that Lt. Bromhead died so few years after.

I don't think we should read too much into the lack of stellar achievement of the VC winners from Rourke's Drift. Exceptional acts call for exceptional circumstances and not too many are struck by the lightning more than once.

I know that the film "Zulu!" is a fictional retelling but it shows the power such a medium can have that much of my early concept of courage in the face of danger came from seeing Michael Caine's depiction of the young lieutenant leading his men against impossible odds.

Three short lines of men in red tunics firing, advancing, kneeling, reloading to the calls of the fictional Lt. Bromhead, his voice cracking as he shouted over the guns - it's an image that's in my memory as long as I live. Another is the camera panning over the twitching, blooded corpses of those they'd killed and the horror in Bromhead's face at what his commands had wrought.

What seals it in my emotions is the scene before where Bromhead's hands shake so much he can hardly load his revolver and the scene a little later where he loads it again and is surprised at the steadyness of his hands then.

It is a great film and altho' it doubtless glamourises events terribly I still love it for being so much more than 'just' a war film.

 

[Steel Tiger]

There are a lot of interesting things that happened in the actual battle which would have made great parts of the movie. The whole situation of the night was only alluded to. Pte Hitch and Lt Bromhead defended the corner of the cattle kraal through the night (this is what Hitch won his VC for). And the fighting around the missionary's house before it was over run. One soldier was trapped in the house and covered his face with ashes and just walked out past the Zulus.

Many very interesting stories from the battle.