A Zulu , Zimena described the experience of charging into fire:

We heard one of our men shout with pain as he was shot, and saw him fall.
We rushed into battle they brought out their “by and by” (artillery) and we heard what we thought was a long pipe (Rocket) coming through the air towards us. We never got closer than 50 paces to the English and although we climb over our fallen brothers we could not get very far ahead because the white men were firing heavily close to ground into our front ranks , while the “by and by” was firing over our heads into the regiments behind us. Some of our men had their arms torn right off by (shells). The battle was so fierce that we had to wipe the blood and brains of the killed and wounded from our heads, faces, arms, legs and shields after the fighting.




From: World History of Warfare By Christon I. Archer, John R. Ferris, Holger H. Herwig, Timothy H. E. Travers

pete... i think zimena"s eye-witness account was from the battle of NYEZANE 22/1/79. or KHAMBULA, I am leaning toward the former. cheers 90th.

90th let me know for sure, so we can add a link to whatever batte he talking about.

Rrgards
Pete.

hi pete, this narrative is by CHIEF ZIMEMA from I.KNIGHTS book, THE ZULU WAR,THEN AND NOW, an excellent book. from the battle of INYEZANE 22/1/79.

We were told to advance and, grasping our arms.... we went foward packed like a lot of bees... we were still far away from them when the white men began to throw their bullets at us, but we could not shoot at them because our rifles would not shoot so far.... When we were near them we opened fire, hitting a number of them...After that they bought out their "by-and-by" (cannon) and we (also) heard what we thought was a long pipe coming through the air toward us. As we advanced we had our rifles under our arms and had our assegais in our right hands ready to throw them, but they were not much good for we never got near enough to use them. We never got nearer than 50 paces to the English, and although we tried to climb over our fallen brothers we could not get very far ahead because the white men were firing heavily close to the ground into our front ranks while the "by-and-by" was firing over our heads into the regiments behind us..... The noise it made could be heard by the old men and women who stayed at home, and they climbed up onto the top of the hills to see what they could of the battle ..... The battle was so fierce that we had to wipe the blood and brains of the killed and wounded from our heads, faces, arms, legs and shields after the fighting. cheers 90th.

Is this the same account, or just a different version.

Cheers
Old Historian.

Old Historian.
The account is the same, and hopefully between myself a 90th we may get the whole story.

Regards
Pete