RSSThe Martini Henry Rifle That Rescued The Men At Rorkes Drift
Apr 27
The Battle of Rorkes Drift is without doubt one of the more well-known actions from the history belonging to the British Army. On 22 January 1879, just hours immediately after the Zulu victory at Isandlwana, approximately 4,000 Zulus assault the mission station at Rorkes Drift just along the Buffalo River in Natal.
With less than 140 men defending Rorkes Drift, you would be forgiven for guessing the soldiers had little prospect of survival, particularly taking into consideration what happened to their colleagues at Isandlwana. Nonetheless, together with in addition to being very courageous soldiers, the defenders of Rorkes Drift had a rifle that would give them an advantage over the Zulus. The weapon in question was the Martini Henry rifle.
This .45 calibre rifle was very effective at inflicting bad wounds and when fired at a range of less than 200 yards, a round could very well easily pass through a body injuring the person behind too. The Martini Henry was a single shot, breech loading rifle and provided the British an important advantage over the Zulus who were just armed with short stabbing spears (iklaws).
Even though the Martini Henry was at fault partly for the defeat at Isandlwana, if looked after, it had been an excellent rifle. To single the rifle out as the cause for the defeat at Isandlwana is harsh as there were a lot of other factors that contributed to the defeat.
At Rorkes Drift, the Martini Henry was vital for the British. As a store, there was clearly sufficient ammunition in addition to extra rifles plus the defensive area was considerably smaller and thus was less of a challenge to defend in comparison to the position at Isandlwana. Brought to the British Army in 1871, the Martini Henry could quite possibly fire up to ten rounds per minute in the hands of the experienced soldier. The rifle offered a highly effective range of around 500m which resulted in providing the British could see the Zulus, they could begin killing them before they were near enough for hand to hand fighting.
Despite the overwhelming odds at Rorkes Drift, the British only lost approximately 10% of their men while at the same time, they buried roughly four hundred Zulu warriors and it was viewed a similar number might have later died of their injuries. The British had beaten back the Zulu attack and were grateful to the Martini Henry rifle
The most famous battle of the Anglo Zulu War of 1879 is certainly Rorkes Drift. The British soldiers were able to fight off the Zulus using the iconic Henry Martini rifile.
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