Warriors: Extraordinary Tales from the Battlefield. Max Hastings

the strongest personality among the defenders, a forceful, leathery old soldier who knew exactly what he was doing. Surgeon-Major Reynolds noted the opinion of all the officers that if either hospital building or storehouse fell to the Zulus, the whole British position must collapse. But as the little garrison weighed their chances against those of their comrades at Isandlwana that morning, they told each other that their ramparts vastly improved the odds, compared with those facing the victims of the morning, caught in the open. They were right.