|
Zulu war art print of Colour
Sergeant Frank Bourne by Stuart Liptrot. Colour-Sergeant Frank Bourne of the 24th Regiment at the Defence of Rorke's Drift during the Zulu
attack on Rorke's Drift. Colour Sergeant Frank Bourne , 2nd
battalion South Wales Borderers.
On
January 22nd 1879, during the Zulu War, the small British field hospital
and supply depot at Rorkes Drift in Natal was the site of one of the
most heroic military defences of all time. Manned by 140 troops of the
24th Regiment, led by Lieutenant John Chard of the Royal Engineers, the
camp was attacke by a well-trained and well-equipped Zulu army of 4000
men, heartened by the great Zulu victory over the British forces at
Isandhlwana earlier on the same day. The battle began in mid afternoon,
when British remnants of the defeat at Isandhlwana struggled into the
camp. Anticipating trouble, Chard set his small force to guard the
perimeter fence but, when the Zulu attack began, the Zulus came faster
than the British could shoot and the camp was soon overcome. The
thatched roof of the hospital was fired by Zulu spears wrapped in
burning grass and even some of the sick and the dying were dragged from
their beds and pressed into the desperate hand-to-hand fighting.
Eventually, Chard gave the order to withdraw from the perimeter and to
take position in a smaller compound, protected by a hastily assembled
barricade of boxes and it was from behind this barricade that the
garrison fought for their lives throughout the night. After twelve hours
of battle, the camp was destroyed, the hospital had burned to the
ground, seventeen British lay dead and ten were wounded. However, the
Zulus had been repulsed and over 400 of their men killed. The Battle of
Rorkes Drift is one of the greatest examples of bravery and heroism in
British military history. Nine men were awarded Distinguished Conduct
Medals, and eleven, the most ever given for a single battle, received
the highest military honour of all, the Victoria Cross.
|
