Day tours out of Dundee
On Wednesday 22nd January 1879 the Zulu Army swept over the Nqutu plateau and fell on the British Camp, established on the hillside below a strangely shaped mountain that bore an uncanny resemblance to the Sphinx collar badge on the uniform of those Imperial soldiers and in the space of two and a half hours completely wiped out the camp leaving some fourteen hundred Imperial soldiers, Colonial Volunteers and Native levies slaughtered on the slopes of that hillside. The right wing and the reserves then advanced on "Kwa Jimu's".
By late afternoon the first elements of the Zulu Army rushed down on the small, hastily erected, fortification manned by a mere 130 men, mainly of B company 24th Regiment, and one of the most incredible and desparate battles ever fought by Queen Victoria's "Redcoats" starts. A battle that is to last through the night during which 11 Victoria Crosses are to be won for outstanding valour.
In the early hours of 28th March 1879 the British mounted an ill fated attack on Mbelini's mountain fortress, Hlobane. Hardly had Colonel Buller's mounted men reached the top plateau and were busy rounding up cattle when they realised they had been tricked and Mbelini's main force was now cutting off the route they had come up the mountain and forcing the British back along the mountain with their only escape route down a tortuous rock scree now known as Devil's Pass.
In the afternoon of 29th March 1879 the Zulu Army made a massive and concerted attack on the British camp at Kambula, but this time the British were prepared and entrenched in a defensive perimeter. Nevertheless the fighting was hard and in places hand to hand with both side taking casualties.
For enquiries contact Anthony Coleman.
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