the last of the last of the 24 th

Guest

The last of the 24 th Foot at Isandhlwana in the camp was a soldier of Younghusband,he broke away from his company when it descended the rocky shoulder,and instead clambered up to a smal cave at the foot of the cliffs behind.
Crouching down among the boulders,he shot or stabed every zulu who approched him,until at last the warriors fired a volley into the cave ,and killed him.

Who was this soldier could have been the only survivor in the camp if he had remained quiet in his cave ?

Cheers

Pascal

Posts : 65 Join date : 2011-12-15

Hi Pascal,

There is something previously discussed on this forum here

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I do wonder though, as a zulu witness said, a volley was eventually fired into the cave once he became a nuisance, can anyone offer a pic of bullet pockmarks on the cave entrance/interior?
That would offer suffient weight to the story.

Cheers

Matt

Guest

The fact is that if he remained quiet, he was not killed by the Zulu, but by the British because Chemlsford would do shoot, for deserting ...

Posts : 65 Join date : 2011-12-15

I cannot accept that.

Yes, some zulus were shot dead when found drunk on the battlefield but to order the execution of the only British soldier alive on the field on the presumption of desertion?.
Never.
The field wsa a slaughterhouse, the cave wasn't ten miles away, he was on the field and died there with the rest of the 24th, even if he survived, he'd have been honoured I expect, not done away with.

No, I cannot even entertain the thought.

Cheers

Matt

Guest

HI

I said that to laugh and then with Chelmsford, you never know ...

Rorke's Drift has seen, he let his soldiers buried alive wounded Zulus and hang other ...

In any case if there was one survivor was in camp with the arrival of Chelmsford, it would have been so incredible that it could very easily make a living as a circus freak ...

Cheers

Pascal

Subject: Re: the last of the last of the 24 th Tue Dec 27, 2011 12:18 pm

Pascal MAHE wrote:: The fact is that if he remained quiet, he was not killed by the Zulu, but by the British because Chemlsford would do shoot, for deserting ...

No, otherwise all the escapees would have suffered this fate. But what would you do? Award VCs and honour the escapees, or shoot them for desertion? (Remember, the public are already shocked at what happened at iSandlawana).

Posts : 2008 Join date : 2011-08-01 Age : 27

Pascal MAHE wrote:: The fact is that if he remained quiet, he was not killed by the Zulu, but by the British because Chemlsford would do shoot, for deserting ...

RUBBISH

CHEERS
DB14

Subject: Re: the last of the last of the 24 th Tue Dec 27, 2011 12:37 pm

Can't blame anyone for escaping the camp once the Zulus were in. I like to think I would have stood and fought back to back with my mates to the end. But if I had had a horse.....?
There is a tincy wincy difference between desertion and making a tactical retreat from a hopeless situation. Live to fight another day.

Guest

RUBBISH?

if there was only one survivor was in the camp, it would necessarily appear suspicious to those who have found
is a normal reaction, in any case, I would have found it strange...

Cheers

Pascal

Posts : 2008 Join date : 2011-08-01 Age : 27

why would he be shot Rolling Eyes

Guest

Well calm down, I say this in jest, the poor man, but admits that the best way to save his skin was also not to stay in a group (that is what is suspect, you understand), it made, but it seems it was was immediately spotted by the zulus....

Cheer

Pascal

Guest

TASKER224 WRITING
" There is a tincy wincy difference between desertion and making a tactical retreat "

PASCAL ANSWER

A tactical retreat? This is not a tactical retreat, but a rout ...

Cheers

Pascal

Posts : 2008 Join date : 2011-08-01 Age : 27

Of course he should have stood in the open Rolling Eyes

Guest

Bonsoir petit tambour

I can not take sides in this terrible war ...

So, please consider a sometimes kidding ...

I complained about the Zulus sometimes, for the unjust abuse they suffered ...

Sometimes I do not complain because they themselves have done at small tribes, which the British have made their.

The big fish eat the little ones.

Sometimes I complain British soldiers also a victim of colonialism and whose position was not enviable, even under their fellow civilians who did not believe those who became soldiers.

Other times it's black colonial troops that I love.

It is a legitimate vengeance which face the Zulus, given what they have committed such massacres against small black tribes .

In fact what is hateful, it is the morons who kill British soldiers through incompetence, that's why sometimes I get angry because of this thinking to the psychological suffering that the poor British soldiers experienced at Isandhlwana, when they realized they were at the slaughterhouse.

Cheers

Pascal

Guest

The last of the 24 th Foot at Isandhlwana in the camp was a soldier of Younghusband,he broke away from his company when it descended the rocky shoulder,and instead clambered up to a smal cave at the foot of the cliffs behind.

Can you imagine if this guy had survived! For him, it was a eternal glory or military court ...

Guest

Virtually everyone agrees, it's good !

Subject: Re: the last of the last of the 24 th Mon Sep 09, 2013 7:33 am

There is a possiblility that he isnt the last man alive ( A suvivor is one who lives ), there is a zulu account of a man laying dormant on Blacks koppie untill aproached by a zulu, he then shot him and tried to run and was in turn killed. That was at a time when the Chelmsford column was in site returning so also pretty late in the day.

Cheers

Guest

There may have been some guys who have survived Isandhlwana, a few days wandering in the wilderness, then killed by local Zulu ... For all have can not be taken the road of the mass of fugitives and not faced warriors of the right horn or loins ...

That does not mean they have not died, they would be dead the next day or a few days after ect ...

For all bodies of defenders were not found ...

Cheers

Posts : 1261 Join date : 2010-04-12

The cannon fire at Isandlwana, on Chelmsford's approach could also have put pay, to any would be survivors?

Guest

may be that yes, maybe, although not, in any way, survivors certainly did not want to turn back ... Very Happy

Posts : 1261 Join date : 2010-04-12

Do you not think they would have made for the nearest British Military installation, rather than wandering around in open country, in enemy territory?

Guest

Not if they knew little meadows, in which direction was the Natal, it's in this direction they were heading ... Back to back in the night had to be psychologically impossible for them ...