Rocket Batteries and other Artillery of the Anglo-Zulu War 1879

The 1879 Anglo-Zulu War was one of the many small Empire building wars in which William Hale’s war rocket was deployed. Throughout the various chapters this book examines it’s successful use in most of the battles as well as the conventional artillery with which it served.
However, the exact details concerning the destruction of Brevet Major Russell’s rocket battery at the British defeat of iSandlwana has always been hotly debated and is shrouded in mystery.
Until now.
Using accounts that have remained hidden in various archives for decades, the mystery of what happened to that small artillery detachment is finally answered.
With colour printing throughout, its 546 pages contain over 350 maps, diagrams, unique colour artwork and photographs. Printed on glossy, photo quality paper and bound in a luxurious hard back, the extensive source material is listed at the end of each chapter for easy reference.
This is the first book in 146 years to examine in detail, the role of the rocket batteries and other artillery used in this short but bloody campaign.
The British Army had been using war rockets since the beginning of the 19th Century. Victorian inventors and scientists would continue to develop and improve on the design over the coming decades in an attempt to perfect this new technology. This development would culminate in the stickless Hale rocket which would be used in countless imperial conflicts, not being declared obsolete until 1919.
However, as with all new military ideas and weaponry they were looked on with a certain suspicion by conservative traditionalists and as such gained a reputation of being unreliable, ineffective and of more danger to the user than the enemy.
But why, if they were so ineffective, did they continue to be called for and used by British officers, and do they deserve this unfair reputation?
The letters and official reports by those who used them in anger, not just in the AZW but also in campaigns before and after, tell a very different story and examination of these accounts sheds new light on this much maligned and misunderstood weapon system.
In most instances rockets did not act alone and, with the disbanding of the independent Rocket Troop in 1847, would be incorporated into conventional gun batteries. As a number of artillery batteries took part in the Anglo-Zulu War these are also examined in great detail in an attempt to see how the war rocket compared to their more traditional counterparts.
Having studied the Anglo-Zulu War and walked its battlefields for over thirty years, the author provides, for the first time, an in-depth look at the use of rockets and other artillery during the campaign.

Publisher -

Language -

Hardback

Contributors

Author

Kate Birbeck

Steve Noon

Published Date -

ISBN - 9781999958794

Dimensions - 29.7 x 21.0 x 3.1 cm

Page Count - 546