The Martini Henry Rifle That Protected The Soldiers At Rorkes Drift
The Battle of Rorkes Drift is without doubt one of the most famous actions during the history belonging to the British Army. On 22 January 1879, only hours immediately following the Zulu victory at Isandlwana, about 4,000 Zulu warriors attack the mission station at Rorkes Drift just over the Buffalo River in Natal.
With around 140 soldiers defending Rorkes Drift, you’d be pardoned for guessing they’d little possibility of survival, particularly taking into consideration what happened to their fellow soldiers at Isandlwana. Nonetheless, as well as in addition to being particularly brave troopers, the defenders of Rorkes Drift had a gun that would provide them with an advantage over the Zulus. The weapon in question was the Martini Henry rifle.
This .45 calibre rifle was able to inflicting horrible injuries and when discharged at a range of less than 200 yards, a round may easily pass through a body hitting the person behind too. The Martini Henry was a single shot, breech loading rifle and presented the British a major advantage over the Zulus who were only armed with short stabbing spears (iklaws).
Although the Martini Henry was held responsible in part of the disaster at Isandlwana, if taken care of, it had been a fine rifle. To single the weapon out for the defeat at Isandlwana is severe as there were lots of additional factors that contributed towards the defeat.
At Rorkes Drift, the rifle was critical for the British. As a store, there was clearly sufficient ammunition plus extra rifles and the defensive area was a good deal smaller and therefore was less difficult to defend in comparison to the position at Isandlwana. Brought to the British Army in 1871, the Martini Henry could well fire up to 10 rounds a minute in the hands of the trained soldier. The rifle had a highly effective range of around 500m that meant that providing the British could spot the Zulus, they could very well commence killing them well before they got close enough for hand to hand fighting.
Regardless of the tremendous odds at Rorkes Drift, the British only lost close to 10% of their men while at the same time, they laid to rest close to 400 Zulus and it was suspected a comparable number could have later died of their injuries. The soldiers had beaten back the Zulu assault and were thankful to the Martini Henry rifle.