MPISHI ANAPIGA MUCHAWI !

MPISHI ANAPIGA MUCHAWI!

ON THIS DAY in 1879.

A British expeditionary column of 2000 men were slaughtered almost outright by a powerful Zuli impi because of the incompetence of a pompous English git, one Lord Chelmsford, making yet another military fuckup, one of many in the History of the Great (fuckedup) British Empire. Isandlhwana was the place. Chelmsford had previously said at the outbreak of war: 'I shall strive to be in a position to show them how hopelessly inferior they are to us in fighting power, although numerically stronger.', yeah, what an arsehole.

FOUR THOUSAND of the 20,000 strong impi marched on to Rorke's Drift, a small outpost and temporary hospital for sick British soldiers, loosely defended by a skeleton force of some 150 men who just happened to be there at the time. 140 against 4000, helluva fight! Anyway this was Holywoodized in Zulu with Michael Caine and Stanley Baker. There must be something in my Welsh blood and a past life calling to me, because I posted THIS a few days ago just on a whim. The 140 were mostly from a Welsh regiment (fighting the English bloody wars for them!).

There are two scenes which actually bring tears to my eyes, one is when the Zulus are in full voice, one of the soldiers at the front says something like, "Do you think the Welsh can do better than that, Owen?" Owen replies with, "Well, they've got a very good bass section, mind, but no top tenors, that's for sure", and they proceed with Men of Harlech. The other is when the Zulus are singing in beautiful melodic harmony, thousands of deep baritone voices, the lads are preparing for the final assault, when they would probably be sliced open by the assegai, when one of the older ones recognizes the Zulu song and begins to laugh hysterically, he's finally flipped the others reckon. No, he says, they are giving us a salute to brave warriors and withdrawing.

Pass the freaking hankies again! sniff.

izimpondo zankomo