Part One The Zulu army is a pet interest of mine, and I have over the past couple of years written a couple of experimental Lists, for use with WRG 7th, to play as an Ancient army. There are many problems involved with creating an army list, so I have decided to turn it into a National Project. In this and future issues Information and possible Army Lists will be published, until a working list can be finalised. "..a report by his 'Intelligence Department' - compiled mainly by seasoned border agent named Bernard Fynney, who had a penchant for collecting facts about Zulu arms.." The Zulu army is drawn from the entire male population, every male between the ages of sixteen and sixty-five being called upon to serve without exception. The military force (i.e. the effective field force) consists of fourteen corps or regiments divided into wings, right and left, and the latter into companies. These, however, are not of equal strength, but vary immensely, even from ten to two hundred (men), according to the numerical strength of the corps to which they belong. In fact, the companies and regiments would be more correctly termed families, or clans, and each corps possesses its own military headquarters, or kraal, with the following hierarchy: namely, one commanding officer, or chief, or Induna-Yesibaya; one second-in-command, major, or Induna-Yohlangoti, who has charge of the left wing; two wing and company officers, according to the need of the battalion. As a rule, all these officers have command of men the same age as themselves, and the method of recruiting is as follows: At stated and periodic intervals, usually from two to five years, a general levy takes place, when all the youths who happen at the time to have attained the age of fifteen are formed into a regiment and undergo a year's probation, during which time they are supposed to pass from boyhood to manhood. As the regiment becomes disciplined and seasoned, it receives large drafts from other corps, so that as the elders die out young men come in to fill the ranks. The entire Zulu army consists of thirty-three regiments, married or unmarried. No one in Zululand, male or female, is allowed to marry without the king's permission, and this is never granted till the men are forty years of age. Then they have to shave the crown of the head, put a ring round it, and carry a white shield, in contradistinction to the unmarried regiments, who do not shave their heads, and who carry coloured shields. Many of these regiments are too young for active service, others are too old. We have heard a great deal about the drill of these, but their movements, so far as we can learn, are few and very simple, but very quickly performed in their own way. They form circles of regiments in order to outflank the enemy. From this formation they break into columns of regiments, or companies, and from these into skirmishing order, with supports and reserves. The sole commissariat (logistical support) of the Zulu army consists of three or four days' grain, carried by the lads who follow each corps, and, if necessary, of a herd of cattle driven with each column. From: Lloyd, A. 1973. The Zulu War 1879. Hart-Davis, MacGibbon: London. Part Two: The Rise of Shaka Dingiswayo started by reorganising the army. In place of the undisciplined 'mobs' referred to by Shepstone, he instituted a regimental system (thus giving rise to the supposition that he was following an outside example). Young Mthethwa warriors were conscripted into regiments of a disciplined force - each regiment distinguished by its dress and the colour of its shields - and became part of what, in effect, was a standing army. The regiments were made up of men of roughly the same age and, for youngsters, enrolment in a regiment served an initiatory purpose, similar to that of the circumcision schools which Dingiswayo abolished. His conquests went much further than those of any other Nguni chieftain. And as his influence extended, so his army grew. Young men of the clans he overpowered were conscripted into the Mthehthwa age regiments and their traditional clan ties were consequently weakened: adherence to the regimental system gave rise to a new concept of loyalty. Shaka's residence among the Mthethwa began before Dingiswayo assumed chieftainship. He therefore witnessed the inauguration of this novel experiment in Nguni military ... tactics. There was much to be learned from the remarkable achievements of Dingiswayo and Shaka proved an apt pupil. Dingiswayo's innovations were to provide him with both the knowledge and the organisation he required to realise his own, more bloody ambitions. As far as is known, Shaka was conscripted into the Mthethwa army when he was in his early twenties. He was then, by all accounts, a magnificent looking young man; six foot three, loose limbed and solidly muscled. Life as a herdboy had done much to develop his physique and his natural abilities: he had learned to handle an assegai, to track and tackle wild animals, to rely on his wits. All this contributed to his rapid advancement as a warrior. He was recognised as a brave and resourceful leader and was soon promoted to command his regiment. Not only his courage but his ingenuity singled him out as an exceptional soldier. He had his own ideas about how battles should be fought. To Dingiswayo's military reforms, he added some valuable innovations of his own. He was quick to recognise the disadvantage of going into battle armed solely with the traditional throwing assegai. This longshafted spear, thrown from a distance, was useless in hand-to-hand combat; it was too flimsy to be used as a thrusting weapon and once it had been hurled a warrior was left defenceless. Shaka devised a new weapon: a short broad-bladed stabbing spear, which he called iKlwa - a unique word, said to be an onomatopoeic term imitating the sucking sound made when it was withdrawn from a body thrust. There were obovious advantages to be gained from such a weapon. Once the preliminary rain of flung assegais was over, the Mthethwa could charge their enemy and use their stabbing spears to deadly effect at close quarters. Simple as this break with tradition appears, it required Shaka to initiate it. He also advocated relinquishing ox-hide sandals to ensure greater speed and mobility: a suggestion which is said to have met with opposition until its effectiveness was shown in battle. Tradition has it that Shaka demonstrated his new fighting methods in a clash with the Butelezi. The initial stages of this battled followed the usual pattern of inter-clan conflicts. Dingiswayo advanced a Mthethwa regiment to within a hundred yards of the Butelezi and then despatched a messenger to demand an immediate surrender. The Butelezi replied with a stream of shouted abuse. This was the traditional signal for outstanding warriors on either side to engage in single combat before the battle began in earnest. It was the accepted test of champions. A Butelezi warrior quickly stepped forward with a challenge. He was answered by Shaka. To everyone's astonishment, Shaka strode towards the enemy ranks without stopping to hurl an assegai. He was a mere thirty-five yards from the Butelezi before his opponent, recovering from his surprise, flung the first spear. It glanced harmlessly off Shaka's shield. At that Shaka, tilting his shield so that he could see ahead, broke into a run. Deftly warding off a second spear with his shield, he continued his charge until he was close against the startled warrior. Instantly hooking his shield into his opponent's, he wrenched both shields to the left. With this one movement he was protecting himself from the last spear in his opponent's right hand and, at the same time, exposing the man's left armpit to the thrust of his stabbing spear. So powerful was this thrust that it passed through the warrior's heart and lung and burst out on the other side. As the man dropped, Shaka leaped over his body and rushed at the bewildered Butelezi alone. Only then did his own regiment realise what was happening. They joined in the charge. The Butelezi broke ranks and fled. Taken from: ROBERTS, B. 1974. The Zulu Kings. Hamish Hamilton: London.ž Part Three : "The Zulu People - as they were before the white man came" So, from emaHlabaneni, the Zulu army, by this time, we may assume, utterly invincible, sped away to victory. In pre-Shakan times, when the clans were tiny independent states, and their armies proportionately small, it looks very much as though tactics hardly had a place in warfare, the clans simply clashing together in irregular mass-formation, or in the still more primitive fashion already described. But Shaka, the all-conquering chieftain of the Zulu clan, changed all that. For the first time in Nguni history, he had brought a Nguni nation suddenly into being, and he now found himself in command of a real standing army comprising 10,000 to 15,000 soldiers, divided into some half-dozen large regiments, each with its further subdivisions into sections. Isaacs tells us that he once saw on review "seventeen regiments of Amabootoes with black shields, and twelve regiments with white ones... There appeared about 30,000 fighting men." We think some of these so-called 'regiments' must have been rather sub-regiments or regimental sections, and that the number of fighting-men was over-estimated. Farewell, a trained Naval officer, estimated Shaka's army at about 14,000, which we consider more likely. Shaka's natural martial genius was not long in lighting upon the idea of more orderly planning, and the advantage of employing more crafty tactics when waging war. So with him we find the Zulu army normally divided into three main divisions, of which the central (termed the isiF—ba, or chest) contained the veteran or older regiments, who bore the brunt of the fight; while the two supporting wings (termed izi-mPondo, or horns) consisted of the more agile and fiery younger men. From the 'horns' were sent out parties (izinJola) for the purpose of encircling or circumventing the enemy. The 'chest' or veteran division comprised of 'white regiments' only (amaButo aMhlop‚) carrying white shields, and consisting (in later times, anyway) solely of ringed men (amaKehla). The younger warriors of the 'horns' belonged all of them to younger warriors' 'black regiment' (amaButo aMnyama), carrying always dark coloured shields, and wearing no head-rings (izinTsizwa). The weapons carried in the earlier clan-days or pre-Shakan times, were of the hurling of javelin type (isiJula); but in Shaka's campaigns, after he had introduced the close-quarters system of attack, the principal arm was the heavy-bladed iKlwa spear, and is somewhat smaller brother, the uNtlekwane. An isisJula, however, was also always carried in case of need. The extra assegais were borne in the left hand, along with the great ox-hide war-shield (isiHlangu), 4 to 4,5 feet long, in shape an elongated oval slightly pointed at the ends, and therefore somewhat resembling, though much larger than, the shields used by the Ganda Bantu. The Zulu, when grasping the assegai for hurling or stabbing, held his hand, not upright (as we might be inclined to do), but bent at a right-angle from the wrist, the assegai thus resting flat upon the horizontal palm. This seems to be the normal Negro method; since Mecklemburg shows it to be in use also in Equatorial Africa. The battle-axe of the Sutus, Swazis and other neighbouring Bantu, though known to the Zulus by importation (and called an imBemba), was never one of their war weapons. The same may be said of the bow and arrow, a weapon still in use among some Bantu tribes further north. When the invasion of any foreign tribe was contemplated, spies (inTloli) were despatched well beforehand to see how the land lay; and the Zulu spies were past-masters at the art. There was nothing Shaka did not know about his enemy and the enemy country before he ventured on a campaign. And were it later discovered that the report had been false (to the Zulus always signifying a concoction of 'lies', they never making any allowance for mistakes), both Shaka and Dingane were wont to relieve the offending spies of their eyes, as useless organs and public danger. Already on the march within the enemy country, the army was always safely convoyed by numerous scouts (inTsaba), dispersed, individually, in every possible direction, ahead, on flanks and rear. These were the army's eyes. As occasion demanded, especially when Shaka was in command, they were employed also as decoys, to lead the enemy onward into traps. Were an attack anticipated from the enemy on the home country, stationary observers (imBonisi) were sent to take up positions on every point of vantage, so as to give a timely warning, the alarm being given by the observers (always posted on elevated spots) shouting out to the neighbouring kraals, 'Ka-yi-Hlome! Nantsi iMpi bo!' (To-arms! Here-is-the-enemy coming!) Similar precautions seem to have been customary also among the natives of Guinea. While the Zulu army 'marched on its stomach' as truly did any of Napoleon, it never encumbered itself with any commissariat. It simply 'lived on the land', wherever it might be, as it passed along. When starting forth on a distant campaign, each Zulu warrior usually took the precaution of carrying a supply of substantial food for himself in a skin sack (inTlanti), sufficient for a few days on spare rations (to which latter he had already become well inured by his Spartan barrack training). A cooked cow's liver and maize-grain were the favourites on such occasions. Even in times of peace, whenever a Zulu warrior passed a kraal on his travels (going to camp or returning therefrom, or when sent on an errand), he was legally entitled to demand board and lodging, or to commandeer it if refused - which, however, none ever dared to do in Shaka's time. The opposing hosts, then having at length somewhere met and clashed (since in Shaka's time the older fashion of hurling javelins at their foes from a distance had largely been abolished and replaced by onrushes and close-quarters contests), the armies at once broke up into opposing pairs or parties, and the general conflict resolved itself into numberless individual combats. Having slain his man, the warrior at once ripped up the abdomen (ukuQuqa) of the fallen, on the principle that prevention is better than cure; for, did he fail to do so, the corpse would 'swell' (ukuQumba), and he swell, sympathetically, with it. Then, snatching one of his enemy's assegais (now called an iSimula) from his hand, to serve 'as a sign', off he would dash to engage another foe; until at last one or other of the contending armies found its numbers so depleted and its strength so reduced, that is was forced to fall back (ukuHlehla) and eventually to flee (ukuBaleka), either back to camp, or if a rout to home or hiding. A single engagement between two conflicting hosts was termed an isiWombe (an onrush, charge?) Both sides being temporarily exhausted without any decisive result either way, they might retire for a time, and thereafter re-engage. Some battles, therefore, comprised two of three such isiWombe. Upon occasion, when circumstances seemed to favour or demand, the whole Zulu army was suddenly thrown bodily upon an enemy; simply let go, as it lied, in one great overwhelming onrush, which was termed an uTela-wa-Yeka. On the way back to their comp, all so ever as had killed a foe (such a one was called an iNxeleha or inGwazi) at once made themselves apparent by doffing their skin-girdles (iBeshu) and penis-covers (umNcedo) and carrying them in their raised right hand, along with assegai (also called an iNxeleha), blade upwards, that had done the deed. Arrived in camp, the captains called upon all such forthwith to fortify themselves (ukuQunga) against all evil consequences by various processes of ukuNcinda (to suck from their finger-tips a hot concoction of certain medicinal herbs, uZanklemi, etc.) and ukuCintsa (to spit out from their mouths other mixtures in the direction of the sun), the whole procedure having the effect of cleansing them of all umMnyama (any dark or obscure evil) following from their deed. The warriors were now adjudged sufficiently 'clean' to re-don their girdles and penis-covers, and sufficiently 'safe' to venture into the presence of his majesty; to whom they now betook themselves. While the good-for-nothings, who had succeeded only in saving their own skins or getting themselves incapacitated, were at once dismissed and went off home, all those of more honourable mention (amaQawe), with one or more victims to their credit, in company with the army captains and the loot, marched straight away to the Great Place of the king. Such warriors were easily picked out from the crowd owing to their wearing on their heads, as a distinguishing mark, a sprig of wild-asparagus (iPingantlola), one sprig for each victim. Furthermore, besides their own assegai, borne point upwards, they carried as many captured enemy-assegais (amaSimula) as they had had victims. In this honourably decorated state, they went ukuPumputisa inKosi (to-hoodwink the king). They entered the kraal, shouting NgaTi! NgaTi! NgaTi! (By us! By us! By us! i.e. we were the victors! - whatever may have been the drubbing they had received by the foe), and took their station in the great central cattle-fold. From: Bryant, A.T. 1949. The Zulu People. Shuter & Shooter: Pietermaritzburg. Zulu Parts 4 - 6 in Lone Warrior 123 Back to Table of Contents -- Lone Warrior #122 Back to Lone Warrior List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1998 by Solo Wargamers Association. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com