"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)
On 22 January 1879, during the final hour of the Battle of Isandlwana -
one of the greatest disasters ever to befall British troops during the
Victorian era - a very different story was about to unfold a few miles
away at the mission station of Rorke's Drift. A Zulu force of more than
3,000 warriors had turned their attention to the small outpost, defended
by around 150 British and Imperial troops. The odds of the British
surviving were staggeringly low. The British victory that ensued,
therefore, would go down as one of the most heroic actions of all time,
and has fascinated military history enthusiasts for decades.
In this classic work, Anglo-Zulu War experts Lee Stevenson, Alan
Baynham-Jones and Ian Knight examine a wide range of personal
testimonies from those present at Rorke's Drift, while also presenting a
clear overview of the battle in its entirety. By reading this account,
readers will gain an impressive, unique breadth of knowledge about one
of the most epic battles in British history. This updated edition
includes even more first-person accounts from the combatants on both the
British and Zulu sides.
Providing personal, microscopic accounts of events, while at the same
time presenting a clear overview of the battle in its entirety, this
second volume completes the collection of accounts of the defenders of
Rorke's Drift and also includes contemporary accounts of those who saw
the immediate aftermath of the battle.
