Wednesday, January 23, 2019

Zulu

In 1964, a very fine--and half-assed accurate--war movie called "Zulu" was in theaters. I must've been on Boot Camp leave around Thanksgiving of 1964 when my mother insisted we go see it. I loved it. I didn't realize at that time that the events portrayed were actual history. But, they were. Rourke's Drift had to be one of the most one-sided battles in history and followed the disastrous defeat of the Brits at Isandlwana by only a few hours (the sites were only six miles apart). This exemplifies why the British ruled "half of creation," as Kipling phrased it. Eleven Victoria Crosses (a fair comparison would be 25 or 30 medals of Honor) were awarded for this action. The whole true story is told in the dispatches and illustrated with clips from the movie starring Sir Michael Caine and Stanley Baker.

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