| Director | Cy Endfield |
|---|---|
| Budget | $1.7 million |
| Box office | $8 million |
In January 1879, following the defeat of 1,300 British soldiers at Isandlwana, Zulu warriors scavenge the battlefield. At a mass Zulu marriage ceremony witnessed by missionary Otto Witt and his daughter Margareta, Zulu King Cetshwayo is informed of the great victory. Witt and Margareta flee to their missionary station when they realise the Zulus will attack the remote outpost at Rorke's Drift in Natal. A company of the British Army's 24th Regiment of Foot are using the station as a supply depot and hospital for British forces in Zululand.
Receiving news of Isandlwana from Natal Native Contingent Commander Adendorff and warnings that a force of 4,000 Zulus is approaching, Lieutenant John Chard of the Royal Engineers assumes command of the station's 150 men, 30 of whom are sick and wounded. He is slightly senior to their direct commander, Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead. With no time to evacuate, Chard decides to stay and fight and fortifies the station with upturned wagons, sacks of mealie, and hardtack crates formed into a defensive perimeter. A contingent of irregular South African cavalry arrives but refuse Chard's pleas to reinforce the station. Enraged by Chard arming the hospital's patients instead of evacuating them, Witt persuades the locals serving in the Natal Native Contingent to desert. Chard orders Witt locked in the chapel's supply room.
The first attack of the Zulu impis is repelled by British fire. Adendorff explains they're probing for weak points. A drunken Witt proclaims the soldiers will all perish in the coming battle and Chard permits Margareta to take him away. The Zulus let them pass. Chard realises the Zulus are aware of the weakly protected northern wall and fears attack from all sides. Under cover fire from Zulus armed with British rifles, waves of Zulu warriors attack the station. The hospital's hay roof is set alight by the Zulus, and Private Henry Hook rallies the patients to repel the Zulus and escape the burning building. Sergeant Robert Maxfield, Hook's mentally broken commanding NCO, is killed as the hospital burns down during the night.
The next morning a formation of Zulus approaches and sings a lament for their dead before launching again into their war chant. The British respond by singing the Welsh song "Men of Harlech". The Zulus launch another assault, threatening to overwhelm the dwindling defenders who fall back to a small redoubt in front of the chapel. They deploy their reserve, form three ranks and fire continuous volleys into the Zulus until they retreat.
Bromhead calls the roll, revealing the cost of the defence. When the Zulus re-form on the Oscarberg, the British prepare for another assault, and are astonished when the massed Zulus instead sing to honour the defenders' bravery. A closing voiceover lists the eleven Victoria Crosses awarded for the battle as Chard plants a Zulu shield in the ground.