British End Zulu's Winning Streak - The Battle of Khambula 1879

Hi, I'm Chris Green, the story guy who tells stories that bring British history to life. The Battle of Kula was fought on 29 March

1879

and was the turning point in the Anglo-Zulu War. After three defeats, the British finally turned the tide against an enemy they had seriously underestimated their cost, it was the beginning of the end Fulu Independence On the top of Kambula Hill in northwest Zululand an army of 20,000 Zulu charged 2,000 British The pride of the Zulu army those warriors who inflicted that famous defeat on the British at Isand Daana threw themselves against the entrenched British position, but unlike that defeat, this time the British commander, Colonel Evin Wood, a man who received the Cross Victory during the Indian Mutiny and who survived being trampled by a giraffe, he was ready for his Zulu enemy.

Leaving his wagons at High Ground he sent his mounted forces under Colonel Red V buah to attack the Zulus before they were ready, the British Redcoats unleashed withering fire on a narrow front and despite using Martini rifles Henry captured from his barrage the Zulus were unable to break through when the exhausted Zulus finally broke. Woods' cavalry pursued them for miles until nightfall. They left behind 1,500 of their dead comrades. He ripped the heart out of King Keto's army after the ignominy of British Isanan commander Lord Chumps Hood. I had a victory with more and more reinforcements arriving in South Africa.

The writing was on the wall for the brave Zulus. Many of you, like me, are fascinated by the Anglo Zulu War. I don't know, maybe it's childhood memories of watching Epic War. movie Zulu or perhaps it is the enormous respect that many people have for the Zulus who defend their homeland against an industrially superior enemy and still defeat them. This short war is something that people love to know about. I have made a whole series of videos about the events and

battle

s in this war, such as the three Zulu victories or the British defeats, whichever way you look at it, in Inbe son andana and my most recent story about hobani, of course, I also have an episode about rock drift and what happened to Victoria.

Recipients of the cross after that

battle

saboteur, the Victorian army was not good at looking after its veterans. There is also a slightly strange story about the murder of Napoleon Bonaparte's great-nephew, Prince Imperial, while accompanying the British army here in Zululand, so please check them out later. I have posted links in the description below. Today's episode is about the battle where the British finally turned the tide and showed that despite their bravery, the Zulu warriors were not invincible. This is the Battle of Cula, if you remember my most recent episode of the Zulu War. On March 28,

1879

, just one day before this battle, the British had suffered their third defeat at the hands of the Zulus at the Battle of Hobani.

Lord Chanceford had originally invaded Zululand in January 1879 in a three-pronged attack against his own central column. Pearson's Coastal Column and Colonel EVN Wood's Number Four Column in the North West Evand Wood is an incredible character from Victorian Britain, a veteran of the Crimean War initially as a sailor, he had also seen action in the Indian Mutiny, where he had been awarded the Victoria Cross. He had survived being trampled by a giraffe he was riding to make a bet and was a member of General Saret Walley's Shany ring. I have told his story in a separate episode and again I will put a link to that in the description Chelsford had split his own column while searching for the Zulu army and his camp at Is Andana had been attacked and almost 1,500 British and colonial troops wiped out while Colonel Pearson had ended up under siege in aoy a story I will share with you in another episode coming soon and then on March 28, NVA Woods column had suffered a near disaster in Kobani, leaving their baby safely entrenched in their camp in Cula.

Wood had set out with a force of 500 mounted colonial troops plus African irregulars, including some Zulus. dissident to attack the Zulu on Kabani Mountain, the men left in the Cula camp that morning watched the mounted men disappear with some melancholy that they were missing the action and very little concern that things would go according to plan. plan, but as the afternoon progressed, he realized that something terrible had happened. Haden, exhausted troops began to return to camp. Some were injured. Many shared their mounts with other fugitives. The attack on Kabani had become another British defeat as they fought local mountain tribes, the main Zulu army numbering more than 20,000.

They came in strong and Colonel Redis Buller barely managed to get his men off the mountain in time as 90 colonial troops of the British force died in the desperate flight and now that the Zulu army was heading straight for them despite the setback at Kobani . Eveland Wood was confident that he could defeat the Zulus. Here in Kula you can almost hear the alarm bells as 19th century British commanders are confident of victory, but there was reason for that optimism to begin with, unlike the colonial force that has been brought to bear on it. Their camp at Cula that day consisted of two regular regiments of the British Army, the 9th Peria Light Infantry and the 1st Battalion, the 13th Regiment of Foot, later the Somerset Light Infantry, and they were accompanied by the royal artillery with six 7B guns and two separate rocket batteries.

Of those British troops there were also around 500 mounted troops and also some African irregulars, in total a force of 2,000 and 86 men, a third larger than the garrison that was annihilated at Is Andana and, unlike Is Sandana, Colonel Evelin Wood had built a narrower, more defensible position here in Kula Cula sat on a long ridge that dominated most of the surrounding countryside. The ridge was formed into a plateau and at the highest point a network of earthworks would have been built, the southern edge dropped steeply which meant that while an enemy could advance it would require some physical effort and the British would have the Height advantage west of the redout.

He would have put his wagons in a defensive log. Another measure that had been missing from his list. The spaces between and under the cars. It has been blocked with bags of shit, rocks and soil, quite similar to the defensive wall built on rocks. There was one more ler located to the east of the redout between the fortification and the main timber yard where the column's 2,000 head of cattle were kept overnight. it would also become a defense because if the Zulu attacked, so one can understand and EVN Wood's optimism, in fact, his biggest concern was that the army that had almost destroyed his mounted contingent at Kobani would not actually attack him at all, but would ignore it to threaten him. neighboring European settlements for years before the Zulu War European settlers, mainly Bu, had been invading the far northwestern area of ​​the Zulu Kingdom, it had been a bone of contention for some time and, indeed, those settlements had played a role in King Kesha's decision to send the main part of his army here, he hoped that his mere presence would be enough to scare the B settlers into loading their wagons and leaving the area for the safety of the transval, however, that was largely measure a secondary objective, the king's main plan.

It was to destroy Evelyn Wood's number four invasion column camped in Cula. He had sent eight regiments from his capital at Aundi and they had now been joined by Abakozi warriors who had been defending the Kobani mountain. Many of the men who marched from Wundi had been part of his victorious Zulu army in Itana and once again the king had entrusted command to two of the generals who presided over that famous Victory. Also present for the next battle were the only Corps who were the warriors who attacked rck drift on that occasion. They had ignored the king's order not to attack the British in entrenched positions, they had also ignored his order not to cross into British territory and once again King KES Cho ordered his men not to attack the entrenched British position this time. at Cula, he urged His Young Warriors seized the British cattle when they were grazing and then beat the British when they left their camp to recapture them, but the king, in his 50s, knew it would take a lot to control their enthusiasm.

His victory at Isand encouraged them. Lana and now Kabani and, like young people around the world, they were happy to throw caution to the wind that night of March 28. They camped about 10 miles from Wood's position, while the British regulars, mounted colonials, and their African irregulars waited. Actually, that's not quite it. It is true that 40 Boers who saw their leader Pete Ace killed at Kalbani decided to leave to defend their farms and, in the same way, most of the dissident Zulus in Wood's army who supported Kesha's half-brother also slipped away in the darkness to find their families.

If there were concerns among the British regulars, it did not cause panic, thanks mainly to the professionalism of the Victorian NCOs in the ranks with a fog hanging over Kula. The defenders were awakened by the bugle call r valy when the daor broke out on the 29th of march 1879, commander rths transval Rangers' mounted scouts were ordered to meet the

zulu

army and at 11:30 a. m. They galloped back and reported that the entire army was advancing towards Kula in well-disciplined columns on a front of 5 em to the right, as if they had a dis. Sandana As the Zulu approached, they adopted their traditional horns from the buffalo fighting formation, perfected by the great Shaka nearly 50 years earlier, the right horn moving around the ridge to attack the wood from the north side of the camp , the left horn approached from the south upwards.

On the steep slope, the main chest slowed to give the two horns time to join before taking position approximately 1 mile east of the redout. Normally, when I tell stories about British battles from this era, there is often some kind of mishap today in Cula. It was actually the Zulus whose plans went awry, while the Right Horn had made rapid progress, the Left Horn found itself trying to negotiate swampy terrain at the base of Cula Mountain and things now began to slip away from their superior generals. or induna control with both. the horns have not yet joined The EVN wood decided to make a risky move.

It was 1:30 p.m. He ordered Colonel Redis Bullah to lead a force of mounted troops towards the Right Horn to provoke them into an attack. Bullah came out with about 100 men and fired a volley at close range at the waiting Zulus. It had exactly the effect Wood had hoped for. While the king had ordered his troops not to attack entrenched positions and his generals here in Kambula had ordered them not to advance until the horns were united, the men of the right horn decided to act. Zulu oral history says that the Young Warriors in their enthusiasm simply ignored their senior commanders shouting we are the boys of is andana, they charged with thousands of Zulu running towards them, the mounted men jumped into their saddles and galloped as fast as they could.

They were able to return to safety, however, some of the British managed to find their own swamp. land and as their horses stumbled, the Zulu leaders caught up with them, two riders were thrown to the ground and finished off by the enraged warriors. George Mossup of the frontier light horse had a narrow escape, you may remember from my story about clani, from which he escaped. by the skin of his teeth, but his brave pony named Warrior had died well, he was now on a new mount that had been shot before he could get into the saddle, the teenager clung to the neck of the horse that was being dragged in front of the Zulus who were suddenly pursuing him.

Captain Arthur Alden crossed his path to stop his horse and Moss was finally able to climb up. Private Thomas Peterson of the Border Light Horse also found himself in difficulty. He was born in Ble, near Liverpool, in 1841. He had enlisted in the Royal Navy when he was 16 years old. purchasing himself, he then joined the Merchant Navy and by the late 1870s was living in Port Elizabeth in the Cape Colony. He had joined the Frontier Light Horse and served during the 9th Frontier War or CAA, now while galloping from the advancing Zulus. He was thrown from his horse and fractured his leg in two places, which would later have to be amputated.

The leftist Colonel Russell came to his aid. Now, do you remember him from the Kobani episode, following an order from Sir EV in Wood? Russell had removed the column from the mountain, leaving Bullah and his men to fend for themselves. Russell claimed that the message fromWood's decision to take a cover position was ambiguous. It just so happened that his portrayal of Miss allowed him to avoid the Zulus. It was a cloud on his career that Russell never removed. Perhaps this action of returning to Peterson was an act of atonement or such. Maybe it was just an act of a brave man.

What do you think you write? Yes if you think he was brave and no if you think he had a guilty conscience anyway, let's go ahead with something similar. to a comedy of errors after having helped Peterson get back on the horse Russell's own horse began to rear and was unable to escape. Lieutenant Brown in the S condent of the 24th Regiment now went to Russell's aid, but before he could help, Russell's horse crossed the line of advance. Zulus with Russell clinging on for dear life to him Brown and a saddle of Troop Sergeant Major Boto Leard of the native native horse caught up and studied the horse as Russell climbed into the saddle.

Brown was awarded the Victoria Cross both for this action and also for his bravery at Clani the day before Troop Sergeant Major Leard was awarded the DC M Distinguished Conduct Medal and you can't help but think that if it weren't 1879, this brave soldier black could well have received the Victoria Cross, curiously Wood did not recommend it. Russell for a VC despite coming to Peterson's rescue now. I guess we will never know his reason, but he may have blamed him for the landing at Hobani. The three men reached the safety of the fair ler. When the artillery fired a round of shots just above them toward the approaching right horn, the k shot exploded over the heads of the Zulus and sprayed them with small lead balls. mitigated their attack, but as we have seen before, the Zulus receive a lot to stop George Mossup, who was now back at the logger, had climbed onto a cart that was part of the defensive perimeter, opened a hole in the canvas and joined the shot as Zulus Advanced.

Then he felt a chill as the enemy crashed into the sides of the carts, some Zulus even managed to break through before being attacked with bayonets by men of the 30s, but apart from those warriors, the lger did his job and slowly, under the Sustained fire from the British, the Zulus began to retreat, but were not defeated after they had regrouped. Both the journalists and the British soldiers charged again, then spoke of their admiration for the courage of the Zulus but once again against that disciplined rifle fire and with their inability to get into the logyard and fight hand to hand with their asagi the Zulu Rorn wasn't getting anywhere and started to leave me.

It was already 2:15 p.m. and when the exhausted right horn fell back, the left horn finally reached solid ground at the foot of the opposite slope and quickly began to advance towards the British while the individual Zulus demonstrated as always how brave they were, the general attack having been divided into one peaceful action and this lack of coordination allowed Wood to turn his guns to meet the new attack, as well as hold the main chest of the Zulu army in B. Finally, the left horn reached the edge of Cula Ridge, the uni cor the men who ' They fought at Rock's Drift now attacking the cattle herder which was being defended by a company of the 1st Battalion 13th Infantry Regiment.

The 13th would become within a couple of years Prince Albert of Somerset's Light Infantry despite the Somerset name and the fact that their home barracks were in the county town of Taunton, the 13th recruited from all over the west of the country and, interestingly, had a significant number of men from Ireland in its ranks, furthermore, in the hand-to-hand fighting that ensued at this lumber yard, the company commander, Captain William Cox was shot in leg while Color Sergeant Arthur Frier received a serious head injury when the non-commissioned officer collapsed to the ground. Private William Grov stood in front of him confronting ini Zulu, who dared to approach and was eventually overpowered, but in the process other men.

From the 13th, they took Frer to Safety Frer, Captain Cox, and the remaining men retreated across the ridge to the redout, where EV en Wood personally led them to safety. Frick would eventually retire from the army and, after returning to England, return to live in South Africa. where he died in the 1920s, in many respects the capture of the lagaga cattle was the high water mark of the Zulu attack under artillery fire as well as salvo fire from the men of the 19th and 13th in both the other lagger and the redout oh by the Just as the may of both regiments encountered 31 shots each during this battle, the Zulus were unable to make any further attacks, it was now that the British faced a new danger: not the massive ranks of Zulu warriors B Zulu snipers positioned about 300 meters from the To the south of the logger, among the thick grass that had grown around the camp's garbage dump, there is a moment in the film Zulu in which Zulu snipers also open fire from the hill above the missionary station and Michael Kane asked where the Zulus who got the rifles were and were told that they had moved away from his dead comrades between him and Lana, as the Zulus attacking the drifting rocks had not been in the main battle at Sandana and therefore they had not acquired any captured British rifles, which is not historically accurate, yet here in Cula the Zulus were. in fact, using Martini Henry rifles captured in that Victory, while they fired with great enthusiasm, the Zulu had not mastered these rifles with any particular accuracy;

However, as the bullets whizzed through the relatively confined space, they began to hit British garrison soldier Albert Pagee. 1 13 ran across the bullet-swept terrain to rescue a Swazi warrior fighting on the British side as part of the forest. Irregulars who were hit by a bullet. It is an interesting human story that in the same battle in which the sergeant major of the Liard troop was overlooked by a VC. possibly because he was a pooto, here we have an ordinary British soldier risking his life to rescue a Swazi warrior and for that act of bravery, Private Paige was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal with her right horn covering approximately half a mile from the lagger and the left. horn pinned on the cattle, the main chest of the Zulu army launched its attack once again Wood was able to shift his artillery and much of his infantry fire to meet this latest threat and once again Zulu bravery could not overcome the firepower British and they were driven back and took cover in a rocky fold and from there more snipers using more captured Martini Henry rifles fired on the British, but the momentum had disappeared from the Zulu attack.

The wood noticed several indunas trying to coordinate the Zulu imp taking his neat Fowler private rifle. He calmly shot two of them before returning them to the bewildered soldier. He now ordered the 90th to clear the cattle with a load of cloth. The 90th, which had later become the 2nd Battalion, the Cameroonians were led in this charge by the 43-year-old major. Robert Henry Hacket continued to smoke his pipe while he carried out the charge. The brilliant Irishman was hit in the head by a Zulu sniper's shot. Hackit miraculously survived, but was blinded for life. He would return home to be promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and become ADC.

Queen Victoria's leftist, Arthur Brigh, came from a wealthy Liverpool merchant family in which he had been educated at Eaton, where he was the best polo player and rowing captain. Standing at 6 feet tall, he looked like one of those all-round Victorian heroes commissioned in the On January 9, 1878, Brght took command of the cattle stocking party, but almost immediately he too was hit by a sniper. In his case, he was shot in both legs and the casualties amounted to the wood. He ordered the 90th to withdraw. The leftist Brght was taken back to the Surgeon's Tent in the main lumber yard there a surgeon bandaged his leg but did not notice the wound on the other.

Lieutenant Arthur brgh, 22, died that night from blood loss. There is a plaque in his honor at the Family Church at St Matthews and St James in Liverpool with the greatest annoyance coming from the forest snipers ordered his men to concentrate fire on the rubbish dumps behind the main logger quickly firing shots. Zulus were silenced and then over 50 Zulus were counted dead in the grass a final charge by the Z Zulu chest achieved nothing and around the battlefield the Zulus began to lose heart not only had they lost many of their comrades without achieving a victory but who had been fighting for 3 hours and before this battle they had run 70 miles from Mundi in just 3 days they fought the British at kobani and it had already been 3 days since most of them had eaten despite their bravery as they The isan Juana boys were worn out all over Cula and began to retreat, it was 5:30 p.m.

Wood ordered the guns to fire on the retreating Zulus before unleashing his mounted troops under the command of Chesil. Dary Darcy had been nearly killed in Kabani the day before when he was rescued by Redis Bullah now with a shout of No Quarter Boys and remembers that yesterday he led. Charging for the next hour until dark, they pursued the Zulus for up to 7 miles. 750 Zulu dead lay around the Cula camp and possibly a similar number was recorded, including wounded Zulu casualties, British losses at the time were estimated at 3,000. On the other hand, there were only 18 dead and 65 wounded, three of whom would die. later because of injuries.

The British had achieved a decisive victory. The Zulu

winning

streak

had come to an end, but the British victory at Kula was marred by controversy. Private John Snook of the 13th Regiment. of Tieton in Devon wrote a letter to the owner of the Royal Oak in his home town, headed a Tibetan soldier under fire in the Zulu wars, recounted the battle and the Zulus were persecuted afterwards and then controversially mentioned that The Day After The battle, 8 miles from the camp, the British encountered 500 wounded Zulus begging for mercy. He said that after randana they were not given anything.

Mercy Snook's letter ended up in the hands of the Aboriginal Protection Society and was confiscated from there. by Liberal Party leader William Gladstone, the account was debated in the House of Commons and the commander of the British army in Zululand was asked to report on the allegations. By this time, Chelsea had been replaced by General Saret Walley, who asked the commander on the ground for his opinion. in action. Furthermore, he also claimed that his black African irregulars had been rewarded for bringing live Zulus and therefore, he had actually saved many Zulus from death. Was he really going to say anything else?

On the other hand, there is some academic controversy over whether Snook was actually involved in the massacre or simply passed on third-party stories, and either way his account may have been subject to exaggeration and bravado, since while his letter caused controversy, it actually did not. He was condemning her, he just said it had happened. The interesting thing is that Snook served for 40 years and retired that same year with medals for good service and a full pension. It's hard. Seeing the army honor an absolute liar who had brought them into disrepute, so who knows what the exact truth is, certainly showed the British public the brutality of this war in a way that previous colonial campaigns had not and whatever the battle controversy. de Kula was an important turning point for both the British and the Zulus in this war, she ended the Zulus' isana intombi kobani

winning

streak

and demonstrated to the British that the Zulus were not invincible.

Chumford had finally obtained victory from him. EVN Wood scored a victory. That diverted Kabani's darling the day before, which probably allowed them both to breathe a sigh of relief. King Keso would never field an army of this size again until the final battle at Aundi, and even then the army was a shadow of the bullish army that advanced on Kula, thousands of his best troops lying dead on the fields of isana and Cula and Within a few more days, a gingin loovo, it was the beginning of the end of the independent Kingdom of the Zulu. Well, thanks for joining me today and I hope you enjoyed that little known story of the Anglo Zulu War.

Very soon I will tell you the story about the siege of Colonel Pearson in Aoy and the battle of Gingin Lovo, so be sure to subscribe to my channel so you don't miss them in the meantime, what stories. of British or British military history, would you like to know more about this in the future? send me a message in the comments section and if you haven't already, join my channelmembers, please click the button below thank you for your support, keep up the good work and me. I will see you again very soon