Diary detailing horrors of Zulu War discovered
A BRITISH soldier’s diary chronicling the horrific battle at Rorke’s Drift in the Zulu War will be auctioned today.
The newly emerged memoir has accounts from survivors of the 140-strong British garrison which fought off 4,000 attackers in 1879.
The action was later immortalised in the classic 1964 Michael Caine film Zulu.
The diary, which could fetch £4,000, also has graphic descriptions of the slaughter of British soldiers at Isandlwana where 1,300 perished at the hands of 20,000 Zulus.
The author, an unknown member of the Royal Engineers, said dead soldiers were mutilated by the enemy as “bodies were ripped open”.
The soldier penned a disturbing poem about the two battles. It went: “For 12 long hours we stood at our posts, and beat back (how often) the enemy’s hosts. We had our revenge for the blood that was shed, at dark Isandlwana – they paid for our dead. Day broke and the devils had silently gone, we counted their slain – more than 20 to one.” He records the commanding officer Lieutenant John Chard repelling spear-carrying tribesmen in hand-to-hand combat.
He was played by Stanley Baker in the classic movie.
The writer arrived in Cape Town in 1878 and built camps and roads. He describes 26-mile daily marches, friendly fire and a meeting with Prince Louis Napoleon of France.
While Lt Chard is praised for his leadership, other officers are slammed for “blundering”.
The diary, with drawings of Zulu chiefs, has been with a family in the south of England for generations. It will be sold at Bonhams in London today.