Zulu Dawn:Col Crealock. “Excuse me, my Lord, there's something I must convey to you. I rode along the track down to Rorke's Drift. The sky above is red with fire. Your orders my Lord? Do we move to the drift?”
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Subject: Captain Moriarty. Court Marshalled Fri Dec 30, 2011 12:17 am
We talk about Chelmsford being a bad commander for not fortifying and dividing his forces, yet Captain Moriarty done just that. If he had lived I think he should have a faced a court marshall. I know in other discussions it is said he have no choice, because the river had cut one side off from the other. But I can see no reason why he could not have ordered all the men to stay together on one side. I also know that the waggon's were carrying ammunition but I don't think mens lives were less important.
Captain Moriarty used the term 'laager' loosely. The laager that he had formed on his side of the river had large gaps between the wagons and no wagon barrier at all near the river. Moriarty had been told by Major Tucker that his defenses would not do, but Moriarty had shrugged it off and had done nothing to fix them. His only precaution against attack was to post two sentries outside the wagons..
Captain Moriarty may have died heroically but it was the choices he made which lead up to the loss of british life experianced during the battle.
90th
Posts : 10289 Join date : 2009-04-07 Age : 65 Location : Melbourne, Australia
Hi Sean G. Welcome to the forum , unfortunately Moriarty did a shabby job on his defences and paid the ultimate price , along with approx 80 other poor souls under his command . Cheers 90th.
Sean G
Posts : 12 Join date : 2012-08-29 Age : 24 Location : New Zealand
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