?The great host came steadily on, spreading out spreading out - spreading out till they seemed like a giant pair of nut-crackers opening round the little nut of Rorke's Drift.? ? Surgeon Major James Henry Reynolds V.C., Army Medical Department On 22 January 1879, during the final hour of the Battle of iSandlwana ? one of the greatest disasters ever to befall British troops during the Victorian era ? a very different story was about to unfold a few miles away at the mission station of Rorke's Drift. When a Zulu force of more than 3,000 warriors turned their attention to the small outpost, defended by around 150 British and Imperial troops, the odds of the British surviving were staggeringly low. The British victory that ensued, therefore, would go down as one of the most heroic actions of all time, and has enraptured military history enthusiasts for decades. Featuring a wide range of first-hand accounts and testimonies from those present during the Battle of Rorke's Drift, Rorke's Drift By Those Who Were There is a remarkable work of Anglo-Zulu military history by those who know the topic best, Lee Stevenson and Ian Knight. This updated edition of the classic work of the same name includes even more first-person accounts from the combatants on both the British and Zulu sides. Providing personal, microscopic accounts of events, while at the same time presenting a clear overview of the battle in its entirety, readers will gain an impressive, unique breadth of knowledge about one of the most awe-inspiring battles in British history. AUTHORS: Lee Stevenson has a long-standing fascination with the Defence of Rorke's Drift thanks to his late father, Ray, who sparked his interest with a gift of a book about the Anglo-Zulu war when Lee was fourteen. Forty years later he is still researching the lives of the men who fought and has written numerous articles for magazines and regimental journals. In 2003, along with his friend and fellow Rorke's Drift enthusiast Alan Baynham-Jones, he published their joint collection of first-hand accounts and stories written by the defenders, Rorke's Drift - By Those Who Were There. This is an expanded and updated version of that book. Ian Knight is internationally recognised as a leading authority on the Anglo-Zulu War. He has contributed to numerous TV documentaries on the subject, including the BBC's Timewatch and Channel 4's Secrets of the Dead. In 2000 he was the historian attached to the archaeological dig at the iSandlwana battlefield. He has written numerous books on the subject including Zulu Rising; The Epic Story of iSandlwana and Rorke's Drift, The Anatomy of the Zulu Army, The National Army Museum Book of the Zulu War, and is co-author of The Zulu War; Then and Now and Fearful Hard Times. He is a recipient of the Anglo-Zulu War Historical Society's Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi Award for a lifetime's achievement in the field. 40 b/w illustrations
