Battle of Rorke's Drift close to defeating the much smaller garrison, but were ultimately repelled. Eleven Victoria Crosses were awarded to the defenders, along with a number of other decorations and honours. Rorke's Drift, known as "kwaJimu" ("Jim's Land") in the Zulu language, was a mission station and the former trading post of James Rorke, an Irish merchant. It was located near a drift, or ford, on the Buffalo (Mzinyathi) River, which at the time formed the border between the British colony of Natal and the Zulu Kingdom. On 9 January 1879, the British No. 3 (Centre) Column, under Lord Chelmsford, arrived and encamped
Zulu (1964 film) made it, Cy Endfield and Stanley Baker, have done about as nifty a job of realizing on the formula as one could do." "Variety" praised the "intelligent screenplay" and "high allround standard of acting," concluding, "High grade technical qualities round off a classy production." Richard L. Coe of "The Washington Post" wrote that the film was "in the much-missed tradition of 'Beau Geste' and 'Four Feathers.' It has a restrained, leisurely tension, the heroics are splendidly stiff-upper-lip and such granite worthies as Stanley Baker and Jack Hawkins head the cast." Whitney Balliett of "The New Yorker" wrote that the film