Revd G. Smith Rorke's Drift Account.

Subject: Revd G. Smith Rorke's Drift Account. Sun Nov 07, 2010 10:41 pm

Hi all.
For those who may be interested .

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ZULU-WAR-BOOK-SUPERB-ACCOUNT-RORKES-DRIFT-REV-SMITH-/230547969380?pt=Non_Fiction&hash=item35adbad564

cheers 90th.

Subject: Re: Revd G. Smith Rorke's Drift Account. Mon Nov 08, 2010 5:35 am

Sounds like a photostated transcript.
Cant see the value. Rather buy the book by Canon Lumis, that has the whole story.

Regards

Subject: Re: Revd G. Smith Rorke's Drift Account. Mon Nov 08, 2010 10:36 pm

Padre George Smith's account from his diary

http://www.rorkesdriftvc.com/defenders/smith_account.htm

Posts : 187 Join date : 2010-02-04

Not wanting to hijack this thred, but reading this has got me thinking about just how many Zulu's were killed at RD.

"One of the mounted chiefs was shot by private Dunbar (2nd/24th), who also killed eight of the enemy with as many consecutive shots as they came round the ledge of the hill"

If 350 Zulu bodies were found, but estimates of up to 600, that's only 4 per man, which seems very very low. With all the fighting that went on.

Does anyone else think this too - I remember reading a post by Mike Snook, where he said a lot of the battle was spent with the Zulu's crawling round on their belleys, out of shot.

cheers

Subject: Re: Revd G. Smith Rorke's Drift Account. Mon Nov 08, 2010 10:59 pm

Hi Cisco. Good point. But there were quite few that crawed away and died of thier wounds, many being found weeks after the Battle. I have read accounts from defenders that say the count was much higher that published.

Posts : 187 Join date : 2010-02-04

littlehand wrote:: Hi Cisco. Good point. But there were quite few that crawed away and died of thier wounds, many being found weeks after the Battle. I have read accounts from defenders that say the count was much higher that published.

So the numbers could be up to the 1000 mark?

Do you have any references?

Many thanks

Subject: Rorkes Drift account Tue Nov 09, 2010 5:24 am

Hi all.
I have read many times that the amount of ammunition spent was way out of character with the official death toll ,
351 ok , as that is what was actually counted around the immediate area , possibly add another 150 - 200 dying of
wounds and infections , gives a total of around 550 which is most likely more to the mark . They did fire off a large
amount of ammo for not a great body count it can be said , interesting to see what Neil thinks of this , he may have covered this once before on the forum but not sure where !.
cheers 90th.

Subject: Re: Revd G. Smith Rorke's Drift Account. Tue Nov 09, 2010 5:46 am

"Samuel Pitts, a private, told The Western Mail in 1914 that the official enemy death toll was too low. "We reckon we had accounted for 875, but the books will tell you 400 or 500."

"Lieutenant Colonel John North Crealock's private journal, discovered in the royal archives at Windsor, reported that "351 dead Zulus were found and 500 wounded". He did not elaborate on the fate of the wounded and the book's authors conclude they were probably all killed, since there was no record of taking prisoners or tending wounded."

Posts : 1261 Join date : 2010-04-12

Chard's report, the number of Zulu dead buried by the British was 351. It is estimated that another 300 Zulus died later as a result of wounds sustained during the battle.

Not bad going considering it was estimated that 25000 rounds were fired. scratch

Posts : 187 Join date : 2010-02-04

Thanks Little.