Fix Bayonets and died like British Soldiers.

Posts : 2558 Join date : 2009-04-07 Age : 60 Location : UK

With reference to the last order being given by Younghusband. Fix Bayonets and died like British Soldiers.
Is this fact or is it a glamorised tale, in order to make good reading in the papers.
It is said this was the last order heard, does anyone know by whom this was heard, because if this person heard it and recorded it, he must have lived to tell the tale. The problem is those that escaped were long gone when Younghusband last stand took place. I'm just getting a bit baffled, but facts and fiction. I would like to think its true but I don't see how it can be.

Subject: fix bayonets. Fri Jul 31, 2009 7:11 am

hi john.
I to have read this many times being the last order from younghusband, i also read where the zulus gave younghusband and his men some time for a last handshake and goodbye"s, before they finished them off. I seem to recall the order was heard by zulus who spoke english, possibly one of the indunas who had dealings with white traders and the like, i tend to believe it, and will always think it so.
From the noble 24th by NORMAN HOLME.

" A bandsman of the 24th who escaped from the battlefield reported that he saw CAPT. YOUNGHUSBAND making a desperate stand to the last. With the men of his company , he turned a wagon into a rifle pit, and defended it as long as his ammunition lasted".

But according to reports he was killed coming down the mountain face in a desperate bid to join the other remnants who had rallied with durnford on the neck, or so i believe. If anyone can correct me, please do so.
cheers 90th.

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

Interview with Mehlokazulu Kasihayo (The Battle Of Isandlwana)

It’s presumed he is talking about Young-husband

“There was a tall man who left the wagon and defended himself valiantly, maintaining his position for some time, during which we thought that we had finished off all the white people in the camp. He was shooting at the Zulu in all directions, as quickly as he could. Initially, some of the Zulu ignored him, but in the end, he attracted their attention, because of the brave way in which he was fighting and because he had killed many of them. He was the last one still shooting. He immediately hit or stabbed with his bayonet, everyone who came up to him, maintaining his position for a long time. When I arrived, they had already removed his outer clothing.”

Extract From:The Washing of the Spears. By Donald Morris

"Captain Younghusband was one of the last to die. When "C" company's ammunition was gone, he had shaken hands with all his men and stayed to the end of the fight on the rocky platform over the wagon park. He had finally been forced over the edge with 3 survivors, and the 4 of them found some cartridges, clambered into an empty wagon and turned it into a rifle pit. They were rushed, and the 3 men were killed in the wagon bed, but Younghusband, minus his tunic, got away again and climbed into still another wagon. He was all alone, and the Zulus in his vicinity had stopped fighting, and when he opened fire, they scurried back hastiliy. He kept firing until all his cartridges were gone, and a few Zulus then tried to close with him. He baynoted every warrior that laid a hand on the wagon, and he lasted for a long time until a Zulu finally shot him."

Unfortunallty I’ll think your find, no evidence exists to confirm that this event to place. Good story though.

» "Fix Bayonets and died like British Soldiers do."
» How many soldiers died at Potspruit? (Anglo-Zulu War 1879 )
» Isandlwana, Last Stands
» ducts bayonet of the British imperial infantry soldiers
» Broadening perspectives: To what extent do the experiences of British soldiers