True or False. Buried Ammunition

Posts : 1603 Join date : 2009-09-21

"There is a good story about the reserve ammunition. It was being brought up to Helpmaker and had reached Sandspruit at the foot of the hills, when the O.C. of the wagon escort heard the news of the disaster. It was night and he had it all buried so as to prevent the Zulus getting possession of it in case he was overpowered. After reaching Helpmaker in safety a party was sent to find it and bring it in, but the rain had removed all marks and traces and although lines of soldiers were formed who advanced prodding the ground with their cleaning rods no ammunition was ever found during my stay at Rourke's Drift."

Extract from "lost legionary in South Africa"

Subject: Buried Ammunition Mon Mar 28, 2011 11:24 pm

Hi Dave .
I've read this in several books .
cheers 90th.

Posts : 1862 Join date : 2009-03-25

If that's the case as anyone looked for it. With the technology today they shouldn't have much trouble locating it. A good find for a museum.

Posts : 3379 Join date : 2009-03-03 Location : Devon

Hi 24th and All

You have a very good point there.

Are there any other reports of this happening or any names that we could link to this incident scratch

Posts : 527 Join date : 2009-02-28

I have only read this in Brown's book.

Subject: Buried Ammunition Tue Mar 29, 2011 10:51 pm

Hi all .
This is covered in Ian Knight's '' Companion To The Anglo Zulu War '' . Along with others which I cant think of at this point !.
cheers 90th.

Posts : 7 Join date : 2011-03-08

This is from Adrian Greaves Rorke's Drift.

Notes on Chapter 6 (2)

Two separate supply wagons were in the vicinity of Helpmekaar when they learned of the British defeat at Isandlwana and the attack at Rorke's Drift.
One was carrying Martini-Henry rifles and ammunition under escort by Colonel Bray and men of the 4th (King's Own Royal) regiment.
One or more wagons got stuck so, as a precaution, the escort offloaded the rifles and buried them to prevent them being lost to the zulus.
The escort marked the hiding place and retraced their tracks; but on their return several days later and after several heavy rainstorms, they could not find the location.
The rifles were never recovered.

Subject: True or False , Buried Ammunition . Fri Apr 01, 2011 3:33 am

Hi all .
A friend has contacted me about the Buried Ammunition , it seems that all these stories trace their way back to an account
written by Hamilton - Browne ! . As we all know what a story teller he was , it may just be that !! . The 4th Regiment have no
written account of this in their Regimental Archive , and the supposed amount that was buried surely would have been documented
somewhere in the 4 Th's Records . The 4 Th's Co's escorting the Ammunition Wagons to Helpmekaar Laagered at the Courthouse
at Msinga , so there wouldnt have been any need to bury it one would think .
cheers 90th . Idea

Subject: Re: True or False. Buried Ammunition Fri Apr 01, 2011 7:45 am

Does anyone have any idea of the size of hole required to bury two wagon loads of goods?
I would suggest that Brown initially told that story on todays date 130 odd years ago.

Posts : 3379 Join date : 2009-03-03 Location : Devon

Hi springbok9

springbok9 wrote:: I would suggest that Brown initially told that story on todays date 130 odd years ago.

:lol!: :lol!: :lol!: :lol!:

Subject: Re: True or False. Buried Ammunition Fri Feb 17, 2023 5:00 pm

Henderson spent the night of the 22nd January with an ammunition convoy en route to the front - but not Bray's. Does anyone know the name of the young officer who was in charge of it?
I think the Bray convoy story burying rifles is nonsense. As Frank said, this is a bit of Hamilton-Brownery.

Subject: Re: True or False. Buried Ammunition Sat Feb 18, 2023 7:19 pm

He was a lieutenant. That's all I know.

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