| Battle of Intombe | | Part of the Anglo-Zulu War | | | | Combatants |
 Britain |
 Zulu Nation | | Commanders | | Captain David Moriarty | | | Strength | | 106 troops | Several thousand | | Casualties | | 62 killed | Unknown, but light | The Battle of Intombe (also Intombi or Intombi River Drift) was fought on March 12, 1879, between British and Zulu forces at 27°13′57″S, 30°36′41″ECoordinates: 27°13′57″S, 30°36′41″E. Combatants United Kingdom Zulu Nation Commanders Sir Bartle Frere, Frederick Augustus Thesiger, 2nd Baron Chelmsford Cetshwayo Strength 14,800 (6,400 Europeans 8,400 Natal Troops) 40,000 Casualties 1,727 killed, 256 wounded 8,250+ killed, 3,000+ wounded The Anglo-Zulu War was fought in 1879 between the...
is the 71st day of the year (72nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
1879 (MDCCCLXXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ...
Zululand was the Zulu-dominated area of what is now northern KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. ...
Image File history File links Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom. ...
Image File history File links KwaZulu_flag_1985. ...
Languages Zulu Religions Christian, African Traditional Religion Related ethnic groups Bantu Nguni Basotho Xhosa Swazi Matabele Khoisan The Zulu (South African English and isiZulu: amaZulu) are a South African ethnic group of an estimated 17-22 million people who live mainly in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. ...
Combatants United Kingdom Zulu Nation Commanders Sir Bartle Frere, Frederick Augustus Thesiger, 2nd Baron Chelmsford Cetshwayo Strength 14,800 (6,400 Europeans 8,400 Natal Troops) 40,000 Casualties 1,727 killed, 256 wounded 8,250+ killed, 3,000+ wounded The Anglo-Zulu War was fought in 1879 between the...
Combatants Britain Zulu Nation Commanders Brevet Lieutenant Colonel Henry Pulleine. ...
Combatants Britain Zulu Nation Commanders John Chard Gonville Bromhead Prince Dabulamanzi Strength 139 4,000–5,000 Casualties 17 killed, 10 wounded Around 500-600 dead found in 500 foot perimeter Rorkes Drift was a mission station in Natal, South Africa, situated near a natural ford (drift) on the...
Combatants Britain Zulu Nation Commanders Evelyn Wood Unknown Strength 675 25,000 Casualties 225 killed 8 wounded Unknown, but Zulus claimed losses to be negligible The Battle of Hlobane was a battle of the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879 fought at . // No. ...
Battle of Kambula took place in 1879, during the Anglo-Zulu War. ...
Combatants Britain Zulu Nation Commanders Lord Chelmsford Somopho kaZikhala Strength 5,670 12,000 Casualties 11 killed, 48 wounded 1,000 killed The Battle of Gingindlovu (uMgungundlovu) was fought at between a British relief column sent to break the Siege of Eshowe and a Zulu Impi of king Cetshwayo on...
The Siege of Eshowe was part of a three-pronged attack on the Zulu Impis of king Cetshwayo at Ulundi. ...
Combatants Britain Zulu Nation Commanders Lord Chelmsford Cetshwayo Strength 5,317 20,000 Casualties 10 killed 87 wounded 1,500+ The Battle of Ulundi took place at the Zulu capital of Ulundi on July 4, 1879 and proved to be the decisive battle that finally broke the military power of...
is the 71st day of the year (72nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
1879 (MDCCCLXXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ...
Languages Zulu Religions Christian, African Traditional Religion Related ethnic groups Bantu Nguni Basotho Xhosa Swazi Matabele Khoisan The Zulu (South African English and isiZulu: amaZulu) are a South African ethnic group of an estimated 17-22 million people who live mainly in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. ...
Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...
Prelude The village of Lüneberg, situated at 27°19′1″S, 30°36′57″E in the disputed territories to the north of Zululand, had been laagered by its white settlers ever since the Anglo-Zulu war had begun. The Zulus posed a serious threat to the area (as indicated by a vicious night attack on the area on the night of 10th/11th of February). Fearing a repeat of the attack, the British dispatched four companies of the 80th Regiment under Major Charles Tucker to garrison Lüneberg... A laager is a defensive formation of vehicles. ...
In late February, a convoy of eighteen wagons was sent from Lydenburg to re-supply the garrison, and from the Transvaal border was escorted by a single company. By 5 March the convoy was still 8 miles from Lüneberg, having been hampered by rains which caused the rivers to swell and the ground to soften. Fearing a Zulu attack, Major Tucker sent an order for to the company commander to reach Lüneberg that night 'at any cost'. Unfortunately, the company commander took this literally and abandoned the wagons and proceeded on. Lydenburg is a town in Mpumalanga, South Africa. ...
The escort had succeeded in having six wagons reach the opposite bank of the Intombe, four miles from Lüneberg. Six other wagons were three miles further back.
On the 6th of March, a party dispatched by Tucker only succeeded in pulling free a wagon which was trapped in a drift, returning to the town that night.
On the 7th, Tucker dispatched Captain David Moriarty with a hundred men to gather together all the wagons and laager them on the bank of the Intombe, and then gave orders for them to wait until the river went down.
On the 11th of March, Tucker inspected the laager at the river but found it to be poorly constructed, not being impressed with the inverted 'V' shape in that the wagons were arranged, with the base at the river. The river however, had gone down and there was a gap of several yards between the base and the river. Other flaws in the arrangement were viewed by Tucker as affording no 'protection whatever in the event of the Zulus attacking in numbers'. Furthermore, the garrison was weakened by the fact that thirty of its number were camped on the other bank of the river.
The Battle On the night of the 11th, two sentries were stationed 20 yards from the laager, however their vision range was only 50 yards due to a rise to their front.
At 3.30am on the 12th, a shot was heard close to the camp, however the men returned to their beds after Moriarty decided that it was nothing.
An hour and a half later, a sentry on the far bank saw to his horror, through a clearing in the mist, a huge mass of Zulus advancing silently on the camp. 'He at once fired his rifle and gave the alarm,' Tucker recorded. 'The sentries on the other side did the same. Of course the men were up in a moment, some men sleeping under the wagons and some in the tents; but before the men were in their positions the Zulus had fired a volley, thrown down their guns... and were around the wagons and on top of them, and even inside with the cattle, almost instantly. So quickly did they come, there was really no defence on the part of our men; it was simply each man fighting for his life, and in a few minutes all was over, our men being simply slaughtered.'
Being one of the first to die, Moriarty was struck in the back with an assegai as he charged out of his tent, shooting dead three Zulus with a revolver. He was shot while trying to climb the laager. His last words were 'I am done; fire away, boys.' However, few managed to put up any resistance, sharing a similar fate. The few survivors fled into the river, the troops on the far bank providing as much covering fire as possible. Upon what survivors they could see reaching the Lüneberg side of the river, Lieutenant Henry Harward, Moriarty's second-in-command, gave the order to withdraw upon seeing several hundred Zulus crossing the river. No sooner had he done this, when he grabbed the first horse he spotted and fled, abandoning his men.
This left the survivors under the command of Colour-Sergeant Anthony Booth. For three miles, the Zulus pursued the group of around forty survivors. Whenever they drew closer, several of the bolder troops, along with Booth stopped to deliver a volley, which dispersed their pursuers. Four men who split up from the group were killed. The others made it to Raby's Farm, around two miles from Lüneberg where the Zulus broke off pursuit. Booth was rewarded with the Victoria Cross. The Victoria Cross (VC) is a military decoration awarded for valour in the face of the enemy to members of armed forces of some Commonwealth countries and previous British Empire territories. ...
Aftermath Harward arrived at Lüneberg and frantically informed Tucker of what had transpired. The Major quickly ordered all his mounted troops to accompany him to the camp, and ordered a further 150 foot soldiers to follow. Tucker and his mounted force spotted 'dense masses' of Zulus leaving the scene of the battle as they approached. At the camp, they discovered one soldier who had made a miraculous escape by being carried down the river and then making his way back to the camp. He and two African wagon drivers were the only survivors they found.
Miraculously, Harward escaped the charges brought on him, however his career was over and so he resigned his commission in May 1880.
See also The military history of South Africa chronicles a vast time period and complex events from the dawn of history until the present time. ...
Sources - Zulu, The Heroism and Tragedy of the Zulu War of 1879, Saul David, 2005.
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