Battle of Rorke's Drift day after the battle an improvised gallows was used "for hanging Zulus who were supposed to have behaved treacherously". Eleven Victoria Crosses were awarded to the defenders of Rorke's Drift, seven of them to soldiers of the 2nd/24th Foot – the most ever received for a single action by one regiment (although not, as commonly thought, the most awarded in a single action or the most in a day: sixteen were awarded for actions at the Battle of Inkerman, on 5 November 1854; twenty-eight were awarded as a result of the Second Relief of Lucknow, 14–22 November 1857). Four Distinguished
Direct action (military) Direct action (military) Direct action (DA) is a term used in the context of military special operations for small-scale raids, ambushes, sabotage or similar actions. The US Department of Defense has defined direct action as "Short-duration strikes and other small-scale offensive actions conducted as a special operation in hostile, denied, or politically sensitive environments and which employ specialized military capabilities to seize, destroy, capture, exploit, recover, or damage designated targets. Direct action differs from conventional offensive actions in the level of physical and political risk, operational techniques, and the degree of discriminate and precise use of force to achieve specific