Battle of Rorke's Drift 1879
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 22 January 1879 – 23 January 1879 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1879 | Wikidata P580 (start time) |
| Era | 19th century (1800–1913) | derived from year |
| Location | South Africa | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Africa | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Anglo-Zulu War | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | British Empire, Zulu Kingdom | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | -28.3580, 30.5366 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Rorke's Drift, also known as the Defence of Rorke's Drift, was an engagement in the Anglo-Zulu War. The successful British defence of the Swedish mission station and British supply depot at Rorke's Drift, it was carried out by a vastly outnumbered British force under the command of Lieutenants John Chard of the Royal Engineers and Gonville Bromhead of the 24th Regiment of Foot. It holds the record for the largest number of Victoria Crosses awarded for a single battle. After a large contingent of Zulu warriors broke off from the main force during the final hours of the British defeat at the day-long Battle of Isandlwana on 22 January 1879, they travelled ten kilometres (six miles) to attack Rorke's Drift later that day, with fighting continuing into the following day.
Just over 150 British and colonial troops defended the station against attacks by 3,000 to 4,000 Zulu warriors. The massive but piecemeal attacks by the Zulu on Rorke's Drift came very close to overwhelming the much smaller garrison, but were consistently repelled. Eleven Victoria Crosses were awarded to individual defenders, along with a number of other decorations and honours.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Rorke's Drift (revision 1381048876), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Battle of Isandlwana 1879 · 11 km
- Battle of Blood River 1838 · 28 km
- Battle of Talana Hill 1899 · 34 km
- Battle of Maqongqo · 37 km
- Zungeni Mountain skirmish · 41 km
- Battle of Elandslaagte 1899 · 58 km
Other battles of the Anglo-Zulu War
- Battle of Gingindlovu 1879
- Battle of Hlobane 1879
- Battle of Intombe 1879
- Battle of Inyezane 1879
- Battle of Isandlwana 1879
- Battle of Kambula 1879
- Battle of Ulundi 1879
- Siege of Eshowe 1879
- Zungeni Mountain skirmish
All 10 battles of the Anglo-Zulu War →
Browse more: battles in South Africa · Africa · 19th century battles