The Martini Henry Rifle That Rescued The British At Rorkes Drift

The Battle of Rorkes Drift is without doubt one of the most renowned actions during the records in the British Army. On 22 January 1879, merely hours immediately following the Zulu success at Isandlwana, approximately 4,000 Zulu warriors assault the mission station at Rorkes Drift just close to the Buffalo River in Natal.

With around 140 men defending Rorkes Drift, you’d be forgiven for guessing the men had little prospect of survival, especially thinking about what happened with their fellow soldiers at Isandlwana. Nonetheless, as well as in addition to being astonishingly brave soldiers, the defenders of Rorkes Drift had a gun what would give them an advantage over the Zulus. That weapon was the Martini Henry rifle.

This .45 calibre rifle was able to inflicting awful wounds and when discharged at a range of less than 200 yards, a round may perhaps very easily go through a body and strike the man behind too. The Martini Henry was a single shot, breech loading rifle and afforded the British a major advantage over the Zulu warriors who were simply carrying their short stabbing spears (iklaws).

Although the Martini Henry was held responsible partly for the defeat at Isandlwana, when correctly taken care of, it absolutely was an excellent weapon. To single the rifle out for the defeat at Isandlwana is extreme as there were a good number of additional factors which contributed to the defeat.

At Rorkes Drift, the rifle was paramount for the British. As a store, there was clearly plenty of ammunition and also extra rifles and the defensive area was a great deal smaller and so was less of a challenge to defend than the position at Isandlwana. Brought to the British Army in 1871, the Martini Henry may fire up to 10 rounds a minute in the hands of a trained soldier. The rifle gave a highly effective range of in excess of 500m which meant that providing the British could identify the Zulus, they could quite possibly begin eliminating them some time before they were near enough for hand to hand fighting.

Despite the tremendous odds at Rorkes Drift, the British only lost approximately 10% of their number while at the same time, the British laid to rest close to 400 Zulus and it was believed a similar number would have later died of their wounds. The British had beaten off the Zulu attack and were grateful to the Martini Henry rifle.