Text supplied by Zulu War Author Ian Knight.
By about 6pm the Zulu attacks had extended all around the
front of the post, and fighting raged at hand-to-hand along the mealie-bag
wall. Lieutenant Chard himself took up a position on the barricade, firing
over the mealie-bags with a Martini-Henry, whilst Lieutenant Bromhead
directed any spare men to plug the gaps in the line. The men in the yard
and on the front wall were dangerously exposed to the fire of Zulu
marksmen posted in the rocky terraces on Shiyane (Oskarsberg) hill behind
the post. Several men were hit, including Acting Assistant Commissary
Dalton, and Corporal Allen of the 14th. Surgeon Reynolds treated the
wounded as best he could despite the fire. Once the veranda at the front
of the hospital had been abandoned, the Zulus had mounted a determined
attack on the building itself, setting fire to the thatched roof with
spears tied with burning grass. The defenders were forced to evacuate the
patients room by room, eventually passing them out through a small window
into the open yard. Shortly after 6pm Chard decided that the Zulu pressure
was too great, and ordered a withdrawal to a barricade of biscuit boxes
which had been hastily erected across the yard, from the corner of the
store-house to the front mealie-bag wall. In this small compound the
garrison would fight for their lives throughout most of the coming night.
The VC Winners:
Lieutenant J.R.M. Chard, R.E.; Lieutenant G. Bromhead,
2/24th; Surgeon J.H. Reynolds, A.M.D.; Acting Assistant Commissary J.L.
Dalton, C. & T.D.; Corporal Allen, 2/24th; Corporal C.F. Schiess,
N.N.C.; Privates F. Hitch, A.H. Hook, R. Jones, W. Jones, J. Williams,
2/24th.
The DCM Winners:
Col. Sgt. F.E. Bourne2/24th; 2nd Corp. F. Attwood, A.S.C.;
2nd Corp. M. McMahon, A.H.C.;Wheeler J. Cantwell, R.A.; Pte W. Roy,
1/24th.
