The Martini Henry Rifle That Rescued The British At Rorkes Drift

The Battle of Rorkes Drift is undoubtedly one of the more well-known actions from the records in the British Army. On 22 January 1879, just hours immediately following the Zulu success at Isandlwana, nearly 4,000 Zulu warriors attack the mission station at Rorkes Drift just along the Buffalo River in Natal.

With around 140 men defending Rorkes Drift, you would be pardoned for guessing the men had little possibility of survival, especially bearing in mind what happened with their fellow soldiers at Isandlwana. Of course, along with being very brave troops, the defenders of Rorkes Drift were in possession of a weapon what would give them an advantage over the Zulu warriors. That weapon was the Martini Henry rifle.

The .45 calibre rifle was very effective at inflicting awful injuries and when fired at a range of under 200 yards, a round may well easily pass through a body and strike the man behind as well. The Martini Henry was a single shot, breech loading rifle and offered the British a major advantage over the Zulus who were basically armed with short stabbing spears (iklaws).

Even if the Martini Henry was held responsible partly for the defeat at Isandlwana, when properly taken care of, it had been a superb rifle. To single the rifle out for the defeat at Isandlwana is severe as there were a number of other factors that contributed towards the defeat.

At Rorkes Drift, the rifle was essential to the British. As a store, there was clearly a good amount of ammo as well as extra rifles plus the defensive area was a great deal more compact and for that reason was less difficult to defend in comparison to the site at Isandlwana. Introduced to the British Army in 1871, the Martini Henry may well fire up to ten rounds per minute in the possession of a skilled soldier. The rifle had an efficient range of around 500 metres which resulted in providing the British could identify the Zulu warriors, they might possibly start eliminating them long before they got close enough for hand to hand fighting.

Despite the tremendous odds at Rorkes Drift, the British only lost nearly 10% of their men while at the same time, they buried almost 400 Zulus and it was thought a similar number might have later died of their wounds. The soldiers had beaten back the Zulu assault and were grateful to the Martini Henry rifle.