Rorke's Drift: Encyclopedia II - Rorke's Drift - The Battle

Rorke's Drift - The Battle

Chard had not counted on the fickleness of the natives, however. At 4.30 Sgt James Reynolds, Otto Witt - a Boer who lived in the Drift - and the Reverend George Smith came scampering down from Osakburg with the news that the Zulus were fording the xxx river and were 'no more than five minutes away.' Soon after one of the mounted natives under Vause reported that the Zulus were about a minute away. At this point, the Natives broke. Having already seen the slaughter at Islanwalda, the Natives - and Vause - headed for the rear. Upon seeing their comrades retreat, Stephenson's NNC contingent leapt as one over the barricades and followed. Outraged that Stephenson and his European NCOs were following their charges, a few British soldiers fired after them, killing a Corporal Anderson. At a stroke, the defending force had been reduced by half - 140 men, of which only the 80 of 'B' Company could be considered a cohesive unit and 30 of which were incapacitated. Chard immediately realised the need to shorten the perimiter, and gave orders for a new line bisecting the post to be constructed, with the hospital being evacuated. As the natives disappeared, Private Fredrick Hitch, posted as lookout atop the storehouse, reported a Zulu column of four to six thousand approaching. Almost immediately after the Zulu vanguard, a 'mere' 600 men, appeared from behind Oscarberg and attacked the south wall which joined the hospital and the storehouse. It was now that the most famous quote of the battle was uttered, as Corporal Gallagher yelled 'Here they come, black as hell and thick as grass!'

Immediately a hot fire was opened at 500 yds, and while at first ragged the British fire soon steadied, piling up the Zulu dead. The majority of the attacking force swept around the wall as a small few took cover, from where they were either pinned by continuing British fire or retreated to the terraces of Oscarberg, where they began a harrassing fore of their own. As this occurred, a large force swept onto the hospital and northwest wall, and those on the barricades - including Dalton and Bromhead - were soon engaged in fierce hand to hand fighting. The British wall was to high for the Zulus to scale, and instead they resorted to crouching under the wall, trying to get hold of rifles, slashing at British soldiers with assegai or firing their weapons through the wall. At places the Zulus clambered over each others bodies to drive the British defenders off the walls, but a 'peculiar aversion to the bayonet' defeated these breaches of the perimiter. It was here Zulu fire, both from those under the wall and around Oscarberg, became apparent. Corporal Scheiss was shot in the leg, and then lost his hat to a Zulu shot; Commissary Dalton, leaning over the parapet to shoot a Zulu, was wounded in the shoulder by a bullet and dragged out of the line to have his wound dressed; Keefe, 'B' Company's drummer, suffered a skin wound to the head; Corporal Scammel, of the NNC, was shot in the back, and Private Byrne, attempting to help him, was killed by a shot to the head, as was 'Old King Cole', another private in 'B' Company. The fire from the mountain only grew worse, as Privates Scanlon, Fagan and Chick were killed. It became clear to Chard the front wall, under almost constant Zulu attack, could not be held, and at 6.00 Chard pulled his men back into the yard, abandoning the front two rooms of the hospital in the process. The hospital was becoming virtually untenable; the loopholes had become a liability, as rifle poked through were grabbed at by the Zulus - but if the holes were left empy the enterprising warriors stuck through own weapons through to fire into the rooms. As it became clear that the front of the building was being abandoned, John Williams began to hack his way through the wall dividing the central room and the back of the hospital. As he made a passable hole the door into the central room came under furious attack from the Zulus, and Williams only had time to drag two bedridden patients out before the door gave way, pitting Joseph Williams agains the Zulus. Williams managed to kill several before being overwhelmed - and the remaing men in the room, Private Horrigan, Adams, and two more patients, were stabbed to death by the rampaging Zulus. Williams then dragged his patients into one of the corner rooms, where he linked with Private Hook and another nine patients. The previous scene was played out again; as Williams hacked at the wall to the next room with his pick-axe, as Hooks held off the Zulus. A firefight erupted as the Zulus fired through the door and Hook returned the compliment - but not without a bulet smashing into his helmet and stunning him. Williams made the hole big enough to get into the next room, occupied only by Private Waters, and dragged the patients through. The last man out was Hook, who having killed the Zulus who had knocked down the door dove through the hole. Williams once again went to work, spurred by the knowledge that the roof was now on fire, as Hook defended the hole and Waters continued to fire through the loophole. After fifty minutes the hole had been created and the patients dragged through, and the men - save Private Waters, who instead hid in the wardrobe - were in the last room, defended by a pair of privates going by the name Jones. From here, the patients clambered out a window and then ran across the yard to the barricade. Of the eleven patients, nine survived the trip, as did all the able bodied men.

The evacuation of the hospital completed the shortening of the perimiter. As night fell, the Zulu attacks grew stronger as the snipers on Oscarberg - now devoid of targets - joined the attack. The cattle kraal came under renewed assault and had been evacuated by ten o'clock, leaving the remaining men in a small bastion around the storehouse. Throughout the night the Zulus kept up a constant assault against British positions; Zulu attacks only began to slacken after midnight, and finally ended by two o'clock, instead beign replaced by a constant harrassing fire from the Zulu firearms and asseagi - a fire that in turn only ended at four o'clock. Chard's force had lost fifteen dead, eight more - including Dalton - seriously wounded, and virtually every man carried some kind of minor wound. They were all exhausted, having fought for the better part of ten hours, and were running low on ammunition as well. As dawn broke, the British could see the Zulus were gone; all that remained were the vast piles of dead - over 370 bodies were counted. Patrols were dispatched to scout the battlefield, recover rifles, and look for survivors. At rouglhy 7.00 an impi of Zulus suddenly appeared, and the weary redcoats manned their positions once again. Yet no attack materialised. The Zulus were utterly spent, having been on the move for six days prior to the battle and having not eaten properly for two. In their ranks were hundreds of wounded, and they were several days march from any supplies. Soon after their appearance, the Zulus left the way they had come. Around 8.00, another force appeared, and the redcoats abandoned their makeshift breakfast of rum, tea and biscuits to man their positions once again. This was no Zulu force, however; Lord Chelmsford and the column he commanded had arrived. The battle was over. 11 soldiers, including seven of the 2/24th, were awarded the Victoria Cross - the most for an single action in the Commonwealth's history.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "The Battle", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki