Film Zulu: Colour Sergeant Bourne: It's a miracle. Lieutenant John Chard: If it's a miracle, Colour Sergeant, it's a short chamber Boxer Henry point 45 caliber miracle. Colour Sergeant Bourne: And a bayonet, sir, with some guts behind it.
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Posts : 8395 Join date : 2009-09-21 Age : 75 Location : Cape Town South Africa
Subject: Dynamite at iSandlwana Fri Nov 22, 2019 7:02 am
Interesting, looking for some old documents and coming across a statement I havent read in years. Alfred Boast reporting on the ground conditions he encountered when burying the dead said that he only used 'half a dozen charges of dynamite' in constructing the graves. Should answer some of the questions as to why the 24th didnt dig trenches.
SRB1965
Posts : 902 Join date : 2017-05-13 Age : 57 Location : Uttoxeter - the last place God made and he couldn't be bothered to finish it.....
Subject: Re: Dynamite at iSandlwana Fri Nov 22, 2019 7:42 am
Hi Frank,
Its depends on 'only'......eg "I thought I would have to use loads of dynamite but only used half a dozen" or "I was told it would be a doddle...oh yeah...I ONLY had to use half a dozen charges"
ta
Sime
Frank Allewell
Posts : 8395 Join date : 2009-09-21 Age : 75 Location : Cape Town South Africa
Subject: Re: Dynamite at iSandlwana Fri Nov 22, 2019 9:39 am
Hi Simon I believe the context was that he was issue with more but didnt require to use it. Its just something ive overlooked in the past, having to blast out for graves.
SRB1965
Posts : 902 Join date : 2017-05-13 Age : 57 Location : Uttoxeter - the last place God made and he couldn't be bothered to finish it.....
Subject: Re: Dynamite at iSandlwana Sat Nov 23, 2019 9:13 am
Thinking about it - I'm not sure 'trenches' would have helped......- maybe it would have helped Boast in his job later.....
Sangers maybe (It seems like there was loads of rocks lying around) but even that is unlikely, to have helped much unless the sangers where very big......
If you think about it - the British didn't even think that a laager was needed because of the wagons going back to RD (and the Zulus were not near)- and it need not have been a massive 'Ulundi' or 'Khambula' style (I believe that Khambula was 'entrenched') laager but a handful of wagons to provide strong points or rallying points.
When we talk about laagers we automatically think of the difficulty of moving and interlocking all those wagons + protecting the beasties but to my 'unmiltary' mind smaller defensive points would have been just as effective.
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