At Bay. Isandlwana.

Subject: At Bay. Isandlwana. Tue Jan 05, 2010 5:00 am

hi all.
If anyone is interested , I purchased one of these also from the same seller , put yourself in their shoes !
I think its quite moving , imagine what you would be thinking if it was you .

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cheers 90th.

Subject: Re: At Bay. Isandlwana. Tue Jan 05, 2010 6:22 am

At the start of the battle the British would have been confident in victory , i often wonder at what point came the realisation that it was all over for them and how that must have felt .

Posts : 629 Join date : 2009-01-20 Age : 43

I would imagine they knew it was all over when they saw the Zulu “horns” which raced to find the end of the British flank and envelope it. On the right the companies of the 24th and the NNI were unable to prevent this envelopment. Then it was a choice to stay and fight or escape. And as we know quite a few officers on horseback managed to escape, even if it was under the pretence of saving the colours. As for the regular troops that stood their ground a fought to the bitter end it must have been a nightmare, for they would have seen what the Zulu’s were doing to their comrades (Zulu Rituals) and must have known that there would be no escape for them. I wonder what they must have thought seeing their officers leaving, at a time when they were needed most.

Subject: At Bay. Isandlwana. Wed Jan 06, 2010 11:51 am

hi sas1 ,
Do you think there is a possibility that some of the rank and file may have shot some of the
officers attempting to escape ?. I have never seen , heard or read anything along these lines .
Pure conjecture , but , is it worth considering ?. Also if it did happen , you would think there
would be zulu testimony , so maybe its stretching it a bit !.
cheers 90th.

Posts : 1095 Join date : 2009-01-14 Location : East London

There is a good chance that a few shots were fired at those officers leaving, but its one of those issues that can never be proven. The other question is, did any soldiers commit suicide, instead of letting the Zulus do their work on them. It would have been a difficult choice to make, but then again easy considering the consequence.

Posts : 1857 Join date : 2009-03-25

There are two examples of this, one was Rorkes Drift where a deserter was shot as he tried to run, and the other was at Hlobane where Mossop had spoken to a soldier seconds before the soldered put his rifle to his mouth and pulled the trigger. So it wasn’t un-heard of. I believe there were some that escaped Isandlwana with bullet wounds, but who’s to say whose bullet it was. Was it a British Bullet or Zulu?

Subject: Re: At Bay. Isandlwana. Thu Jan 07, 2010 6:00 am

How long is the MH ? would it not be quite difficult to shoot yourself with it ? a pistol OK , but in close combat i think it would be hard to have time to turn a MH round and shoot yourself.

Do i take it that the concensus on the Forum is that we are not happy with the officers "saving the colours " ?

Subject: At Bay. Isandlwana. Thu Jan 07, 2010 6:22 am

hi gary.
Not sure if I"m " not happy " with the " Saving of the Colours " but I can assure you , Sir Garnet
wasnt overly impressed ! . Interesting to see what sas1 thinks of the matter . The main thing
we must remember is Melvill and Coghill did not leave at the same time , as Sir Garnet may
have thought . So it may be a moot point even discussing it . Idea

cheers 90th.