(Ebook) Crucible of Honour by James Mace ISBN B071ZTCMS6

(Ebook) Crucible of Honour by James Mace ISBN B071ZTCMS6

In January of 1879, three columns of British soldiers and their African allies invaded the Kingdom of the Zulus. The centre column crosses the uMzinyathi River at Rorke’s Drift, seeking a decisive battle with King Cetshwayo’s army. They leave behind a single company of imperial redcoats to guard the drift and supply depot. The men of B Company, 2/24th Regiment go about their daily duties, unhappy at missing out on the invasion, with boredom becoming their greatest adversary. On the morning of 22 January, the column’s main camp at Isandlwana, just ten miles away, comes under attack from the entire Zulu army and is completely destroyed. Four thousand warriors from the king’s elite Undi Corps formed the reserve at Isandlwana, and were denied any chance to take part in the fighting. Eager for glory, they disobey Cetshwayo’s expressed orders and cross into British Natal, seeking their share in triumph and spoils. They converge on Rorke’s Drift, seeing it as an easy prize; its paltry force of 150 redcoats to be easily swept aside. Having received word of the disaster at Isandlwana, and with retreat impossible, the tiny British garrison readies to receive the coming onslaught. Leading them is Lieutenant John Chard, a newly-arrived engineer officer with no actual combat experience. Aiding him is B Company’s officer commanding, the previously undistinguished and half-deaf Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead, along with twenty-four year old Colour Sergeant Frank Bourne, and a former soldier-turned civilian commissary volunteer, James Dalton. The remaining British forces, under Lord Chelmsford’s direct command, are twenty-five miles to the east at Mangeni Falls. With nearly half the column was wiped out at Isandlwana, an impossible distance to cover, and thousands of Zulu warriors standing between them, Chelmsford is unable to come to the aid of the garrison. The defenders of Rorke’s Drift stand alone.