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Company staff
Captain James Grant
1st Lieutenant John Mackay
2nd Lieutenant Peter Broetz
Warrant Officer 1st class Edmund Phipps
Warrant Officer 2nd class Richard Brittanique
Serjeant Robert Barton
Corporal Gerold Cooper
Corporal John Stern
NCO and Officers only shall be shown.
Company Ranks
Captain;Cpt
First Lieutenant;1Lt
Second Lieutenant;2Lt
Non-Commissioned Ranks.
Warrant Officer first class;WO1
Warrant Officer second class;WO2
Staff Serjeant;SSjt
Serjeant;Sjt
Corporal;Cpl
Enlisted men.
Lance Corporal;LCpl
Trooper;Tpr
Recruit;Rct
*Essentially using infantry ranks because
with the FLH being an irregular regiment
it is likely they used such.
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Crossing the plateau, Weatherley encountered Barton. The Border Horse then fell in behind the FLH, and together they made their way along the plateau and started to descend along the eastern trail. Halfway down, they met the impi coming up. The lower slopes of Hlobane seemed to have turned into a seething mass of black fury.
They tried to flee via Ityenka Nek but once again found themselves cut off by the abaQulusi. Trapped the small cavalry force had no choice but to charge, but the abaQulusi stood fast and but twenty horsemen made it through the forest of Assegai. Barton and Weatherley were amongst the survivors but Weatherley had lost his son, turning around he saw Rupert lieing dazed or unconscious on some open ground. He hoisted the boy onto his horse but once again found himself confronted by the abaQulusi, he clutched the boy to his chest and bravely charged his native foes. The two were swiftly cut apart by the swift blades.
The remaining survivors with Captain Barton soon came across some mounted skirmishers of the Umcijo Amabutho who attacked and killed most of Barton's party. Barton once again survived and ran with one other but it was not long until his wounded horse fell beneath him as the UmCijo fell above him.
Trapped at the edge of the cliffs Buller had no choice but to descend the unkind slope. First he sent the men of the Natal Native Contingent (NNC) and though they descent went without trouble about 100 of them were overtaken and killed on the long trek back to Khambula. After that a small rearguard of the Frontier Light Horse held off the quickly growing Zulu horde. One young new recruit by the name of George Mossop (pictured right, above) rode up to join Buller and captain Brown and could see that even if he and his pony could make it down the 130 feet to the ridge, they would still have to descend 700 feet more to reach the valley below–and then somehow make the 20-mile trek to Khambula.
It was a daunting proposition. Men and horses were rolling down into the pass as the abaQulusi crawled over the rocks, jabbing at the horses with their assegais. Several troopers were captured by the abaQulusi, only to be summarily hurled to their deaths from the mountainside. Mossop asked a man standing next to him, 'Can we get down?' 'Not a hope,' the trooper replied. He then placed the muzzle of his carbine in his mouth and pulled the trigger.
Mossop gave one yell and bounded down the slope, leaving Warrior, his horse, to his fate. Suddenly, an arm gripped the boy and he looked up into the enraged face of Colonel Redvers Buller. 'Where is your horse?' Buller yelled. Mossop pointed back up toward the plateau. 'Then go and get him,' shouted Buller, 'and don't leave him again.' More terrified of Buller than the abaQulusi, Mossop started back up the pass for Warrior.
By now, most of the men still on the cliff top were corpses. As the abaQulusi came ever closer, Mossop scrambled down again, dragging Warrior behind him. Although the pony lost his footing and rolled down to the ridge, on inspection he seemed to be all right.
Back on the plateau, Buller worked desperately to save as many of his men as he could. Many of them had fought their way down the deep rocky pass, and so long as there was one man left, Buller would not flee. Time and time again he plunged into the pass to rescue more of his men, take them to the safety of the lower plateau and send them on their way to Khambula. Others were similarly snatched from certain death by Major Leet and Captain Browne.
With all the men down from the pass, Buller finally made his way over the plateau on to the plains, back to Khambula. What had started as a straightforward raid against the abaQulusi that morning had turned into a bloody massacre of the British forces, thanks to the unexpected arrival of Cetshwayo's main impi.
Some of the British units had fared better than others. Colonel Russell, whom Wood had expected to provide Buller with some support, had misconstrued a dispatch from his commander and evacuated his position, descending from the lower plateau at the western end of Hlobane onto the plain, and then proceeding in a northwesterly direction to Khambula. Some of the survivors of the Hlobane debacle later regarded Russell's actions as bordering on cowardice. Russell's friendship with the Prince of Wales, however, averted any possibility of a court-martial.
British casualties on Hlobane numbered 17 officers and 82 enlisted men killed, along with some 100 irregular and native troops. One officer and seven other ranks were wounded. Of the 750 black volunteers of Wood's Irregulars, only 50 remained after the battle; of the rest, those who had not been killed had deserted. Precise Zulu statistics for the battle are unknown, but they described their own losses as 'negligible.'
The next day however the Frontier Light Horse would be merciless in their revenge when the Zulu attacked the camp at Khambula, the Light Horse fell upon the fleeing Zulu and paid them back in kind as they would do several more times in the war.
About the Frontier Light Horse.
The Frontier Light Horse is a small regiment I'm running on the side of the 60th for the Anglo-Zulu war mod, this won't be a full time regiment but will likely attend one or two events per week and will be mostly composed of men from the 5/60th. Anyway that's that, not really got much to say about this one.
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