BATTLE OF ISANDLWANA part four-The Collapse of the British Position.

The Collapse of the British Position.

Part four of the battle and continuing on from last week with Durnford's withdrawal and the right flank of the camp left wide open.....
Several things happened very quickly at about the same time. Captain Krohn's NNC (Pulleine's reserve) in front of the camp were becoming very jumpy due to the amount of men coming in from the outlying companies searching for ammunition and, the amount of bullets dropping amongst them. A Carbineer rode by , looking for ammunition and called out that Colonel Durnford had been shot - which seemed unlikely at this stage. Also the Zulus had now swept round to the right of the camp. When Krohn's NNC saw this, nothing could stop them, they all jumped up and ran.

What remained of Barry's NNC who had been up on the left of the camp in between Younghusband and Mostyn's companies turned and fled.

Durnford had gone to Pulleine's tent and about this time someone seems to have given an order for the 24th to fall back and take up a close defensive position nearer to the tents.

At the same time a simultaneous forward movement was now made by all the Zulus.

The entire Zulu army seemed to rise up and rush forward, shouting out the war-cry "Usuthu!" It was a terrible moment for Major Smith and his gunners, the infantry were ordered to retire, whilst they fired case on the advancing enemy. Before they could get away the enemy were on them and the gunners did not mount, but run after the guns.    

On the right of the line Captain Lonsdale's NNC were ordered to retire on the camp as they were also threatened on their rear by the advance left of the Zulus.

On the right, the Carbineers and Bradstreet's men had dismounted by the road about a hundred yards in front of their tents.

After firing about a dozen shots, they heard a rush from behind and then saw the soldiers who were left in the camp literally surrounded by Zulus, who had evidently come in from the rear - Zulu right horn.

Confusion started to set in, the whole of the force, white and black, foot and horse mixed together were being assegaid, with men running everywhere.

Essex noticed that as the 24th fell back, the men became unsteady. A few fixed bayonets and the officers called out to their men to keep together and be steady. This they did, which under the circumstances, is an extraordinary tribute to their courage and discipline.
When Smith's guns reached the camp he found that the Zulus were already amongst the tents and as his limbers rattled through it towards the nek most of the gunners were killed. 

The three companies on the left tried to retire through the camp, pursued by the Zulus.

The fighting raged hand-to-hand and these companies began to suffer heavy casualties.

Wardell and Porteous seem to have managed to fall back from the rocky ridge in good order.

Two heaps of dead soldiers, amongst them the bodies of Wardell and Lieutenant Dyer, were later found in the area of the 1/24th camp, where they had tried to make a stand.

Pope's company also fell back and made a stand a little further down the slope above the road. The companies were presumably trying to draw together, but the Zulu pressure was too intense.

NEXT WEEK..........The Butcher's Bill.

There is quite a bit I have left out and am leaving out, for example the actual eclipse that happened during the battle, Colour-Sergeant Wolfe's last stand, Shepstone's defence on the rocky knoll, the fugitives flight, plus more.  I have to draw the line somewhere as this is quite time consuming, sitting in front of the computer and the hobby for me is painting the figures, although this has been very rewarding. So my apologies for this not being a complete account of the battle, next week will be the final part of the battle of Isandlwana, followed by three or four weeks of blog, covering the defence of Rorke's Drift.
I will be doing more of these in the future, time permitting, but for different periods, and if you keep an eye on www.maiwandday.blogspot.co.uk the Mad Guru is planning on doing the same sort of thing on his excellent blog for the North West Frontier.