Gratuitous Historickal Posting

Today marks the anniversary of the Battle of Isandlwana and the Defense of Rorke's Drift in 1879 in the opening phase of the First Anglo-Zulu War.

In the former, the vast majority of the 1st Battalion, 24th Regiment of Foot (about 1500 men) was annihilated by a Zulu force in excess of 20,000. The disaster came about due to a combination factors, including sloppy camp discipline, the horrid decision of Lord Chelmsford (the leader of the British expedition) to split his forces, and the irresponsible tactical behavior of Col. Anthony Durnford at the battle itself.

In the latter, a detachment of the 2nd Battalion, 24th Regiment under the command of Lieutenants John Chard (Royal Engineers) and Gonville Bromhead, 140 men in all, held off an attack by roughly 5000 Zulus at the little missionary station along the Buffalo River, about 6 miles from Isandlwana. The Brits achieved this feat by a combination of cool professionalism and incredible gallantry. In all, eleven Victoria Crosses were awarded, the greatest number ever earned in a single action.

I recently finished a pair of outstanding books, How Can Man Die Better: The Secrets of Isandlwana Revealed and Like Wolves on the Fold: The Defense of Rorke's Drift by Mike Snook, a Lt. Col. in the Royal Regiment of Wales, the modern descendant of the old 24th, which I would heartily recommend if you're interested in pursuing this subject further. (One thing I got out of them was a thorough appreciation of just how badly wrong the movie Zulu got many of the details of the fight at Rorke's Drift. Not that I don't like it - indeed, I tossed it into the Netflix queue to commemorate the anniversary - but still.)

UPDATE: I take it back. Having read the books, I rewatched Zulu and disliked it pretty thoroughly. I agree with those who say it's high time for a remake. Unfortunately, I also agree with those who say that can never happen without the entire production turning into one giant helping of p.c. Brit-bashing.