Rorke's Drift By Those Who Were There: Volume I: 1

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This book is extensive and it makes it difficult to think that there is a second volume, which I'm going to buy once this is posted.

The statistics I quoted were as a result of the point you raised about long service men. YOU stated “both battalions consisted of long term service men, meaning that it would have been well after Isandlwana and Rorke's Drift before newly trained recruits would have started to filter through to the ranks” (and Ian Knight does NOT say this, you have misinterpreted what he has written !). Do you not agree that the statistic of 75% of B Company having been trained at Brecon tends to disprove your statement ? Yes you have beaten us; you had the best guns, but we have the best men . . . But we’ll fight again in two or three years’ time."– Prince Dabulamanzi kaMpande (who led the Zulu at Rorke’s Drift) The bottom line is this. The film made it appear that the 24th was Welsh, it was not, it also made it appear that the regiment contained more Welshmen than the few 'forigners from England', it did not, it gave the impression that the 24th was very much a Welsh regiment by singing 'Men of Harlech', which was not the regimental song of the 24th at the time, and this never happened anyway, it made it appear that most V.C's went to Welshmen, they did not, it did state that the regiment was called the SWB, even if it was Richard Burton saying it at the end of the film, the name of the regiment was given has being the SWB, which it was not. Why did they sing 'Men of Harlech' if it was not to add to the impression that it was a Welsh regiment? Gunner John Cantwell; N Batt, 5th Brig Royal Horse Artillery (demoted from bombardier wheeler the day before the battle)when found. At roughly 7:00a.m., an impi of Zulus suddenly appeared, and the British manned their positions again. Note the word "some" in the third line down. A little further research tells us these "some" were English mineral and coal exploiters! The events surrounding the assault on Rorke's Drift were first dramatised by military painters, notably Elizabeth Butler (in The Defence of Rorke's Drift (1880)) and Alphonse de Neuville (also titled The Defence of Rorke's Drift (1880)). Their work was vastly popular in their day among the citizens of the British empire. The title of the regiment would have been a trivial irrelevence to the men in it, who served the Queen in it both before and after 1879. Whatever their nationality, they would have lived, laughed, ate, slept, fought and died with each other and for each other. His main "revision" is to promote the idea that the Hosvalpital was evacuated in two seperate groups one by Hook and Williams and earlier by R.Jones and W.Jones, all of whom earned teh V.C for their efforts All his claims are supported with quotes from survivor accounts and are credible.

The solitaire tabletop war-game Zulus on the Ramparts!: The Battle of Rorke's Drift, 22–23 January 1879 is based on the event. [63] See also [ edit ] Let us just take a look at just one of a multitude of online biographies that anyone can find just by googling "robert jones vc." Featuring a wide range of first-hand accounts and testimonies from those present during the Battle of Rorke’s Drift, Rorke’s Drift By Those Who Were There is a remarkable work of Anglo-Zulu military history by those who know the topic best, Lee Stevenson and Ian Knight. This updated edition of the classic work of the same name includes even more first-person accounts from the combatants on both the British and Zulu sides. The force was sufficient, in Chard's estimation, to fend off the Zulus. Chard posted the British soldiers around the perimeter, adding some of the more able patients, the 'casuals' and civilians, and those of the NNC who possessed firearms along the barricade. The rest of the NNC, armed only with spears, were posted outside the mealie bag and biscuit box barricade within the stone-walled cattle kraal. [18]

Legacy

This isn’t a book for sitting and reading in one go as it’s covering the same incident by multiple people and even multiple records from the same person, it becomes somewhat repetitive. It is an excellent reference resource. If anyone is particularly interested then the book does, of course, have an extensive list of references. It never ceases to amaze me how some people have become totally fixated by the number of Welshmen at Rorke’s Drift. Ever since first seeing Zulu as a child it has been my favourite film, and I have found the story of the defence of Rorkes Drift fascinating. In reading more extensively on the subject in recent years, I have found the reality to be even more compelling (even if they didn't really sing Men of Harlech). Robert Jones VC (19 August 1857 – 6 September 1898) was a Welsh recipient of the Victoria Cross for his actions at the Battle of Rorke's Drift in January 1879, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces