Experiences and services of the Royal Engineers at war with the Zulus

Most students of the Anglo-Zulu War are aware that principal personalities in its most dramatic events were officers of the Royal Engineers. Lieutenant- Colonel Anthony Durnford was an Engineer and the senior officer on the field during the fateful Battle of Isandlwana. He died fighting against the overwhelming Zulu host during a holding action in an attempt to keep an avenue of escape open. The defence of the Mission Station at Rorke's Drift was , by coincidence, commanded by Lieutenant John Chard, Royal Engineers who had been tasked to repair pontoons across the Buffalo River and prepare other defensive works. This book contains two recollections of the Zulu War by possibly lesser widely known Royal Engineers extracted from their own memoirs. The first is by Sir Richard Harrison and the second by Sir Bindon Blood, eventually to become a renowned soldier in his own right, but in 1879 a captain of Royal Engineers who was initially appointed Harrison's adjutant. Harrison was, upon his arrival in Natal following the initial defeats, attached to Chelmsford's column so present at Ulundi and thereafter the Sekukuni War, whilst Blood joined the 1st Division under Crealock. The principal benefit of these comprehensive accounts will be that they have rarely been reproduced in tandem in their entirety. This Leonaur edition concludes with an interesting overview by the Royal Engineers historian,Whitworth Porter, of the wider activities of the Royal Engineers during the Zulu War including Chard's own report of the Rorke's Drift action. However, this section also offers insights into the activities of other Royal Engineers which includes some first-hand material. A useful addition to every library of the Anglo- Zulu War.

Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket.