The regrouped Ndwandwes attacked and drove the Zulus back to the Bulawayo kraal. More than 3,000 fresh enemy warriors threw themselves against the last remaining Zulu formation. Shaka rushed from one threatened point to the next with his ‘fire brigade’ of selected men, always managing to choke off the fatal breach in his lines. Then, his men who had slain the thirsty foe appeared in the rear of the attacking Ndwandwes. The enemy warriors tried to flee, but less than 1,000 of them escaped encirclement and death. Shaka’s casualties for the entire campaign totaled 1,500 killed and 500 seriously wounded. His opponent lost some 7,500 dead.

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The Mthethwa hegemony and many smaller ones now rallied to Shaka, enlarging his territory to more than 7,000 square miles. Soon Shaka had eight full regiments at his disposal, each 1,000 strong. His drillmaster mercilessly trained them to obey orders and fight at close quarters. Shaka then took them on 60-mile hikes, often at a fast trot, with any warrior failing to keep up being slain on the spot.

Chief Zwide, meanwhile, vowed revenge for his five lost sons and forged an alliance with the other tribes threatened by the meteoritic rise of the Zulu kingdom under the upstart Shaka. In the spring of 1819 he sent some 18,000 warriors under the command of the seasoned veteran Soshangane to eliminate Shaka. The invaders carried only enough food for their three-day march to the border, fully expecting to feast upon captured grain and cattle. Shaka, alerted by his spies, evacuated all his people, cattle and food within 40 miles of his threatened northern border to the Nkandla forest to the south. He planned to let hunger and exhaustion wear down his more numerous opponents before giving battle.

The invaders crossed the White Umfolozi and pursued the elusive Zulu regiment that retreated southward. Sham Zulu attacks that night frustrated the enemy’s attempts to sleep. The next day, when the invaders’ ox herd trailed too far behind, another Zulu regiment dashed out of hiding to capture it and fight a rear-guard action until darkness ended their efforts. That night Shaka had a large herd of oxen driven close to the enemy camp to give the impression that the entire Zulu nation and its cattle were fleeing to the safety of the southern forest, and Soshangane fell for this deception.

Daybreak revealed the Zulus and their cattle disappearing over a hill, about seven miles distant, and the famished foe set out in pursuit. The Zulus led them on a 35-mile chase to the Tugela River, then crossed over, wheeled about and stood their ground. The Ndwandwe warriors implored their chief to attack at once, but Soshangane refused, suspicious of the small number of warriors defending the fords. Instead, he ordered his army to camp for the night and called a council of war. The next morning, the Ndwandwe host began an apparent retreat but, late in the afternoon, hidden behind a dense screen of scouts, the main body turned sharply and disappeared into the Nkandla forest to await Shaka’s next move. Ndwandwe foraging parties ranged far and wide in search of food. Shaka selected 500 warriors to make infiltrating attacks through the night and keep the Ndwandwes from sleeping.

At daybreak, Soshangane led his exhausted, starving army to the safety of the open plain and a speedy retreat homeward. Shaka and his 10,000 Zulus swiftly caught up with the retreating army of 16,000, and the two bodies squared off. Shaka formed columns of five warriors abreast and sent them to outflank both the enemy’s wings. After stretching his front line to the danger point in the face of the solid phalanx of Shaka’s main force, Soshangane detached two regiments, sent them off to cover the flanking columns and ordered the rest of his army back to its original positions.

Shaka pretended to make a full-scale attack, but let only the two wings of his main body clash with those of the foe. Under cover of the resulting confusion, two Zulu regiments raced straight for the detached Ndwandwe regiments covering the initial outflanking Zulu troops. Soshangane could only watch helplessly as his doomed regiments formed lines facing both ways and fought to the last man. Shaka next disengaged the wings that had been pinning those of his foe, keeping them out of spear range. Soshangane soon gave up trying to force the Zulus to stand and fight, wheeled his army about and resumed his retirement, still in a battle formation. The Zulus trailed close behind, killing any stragglers.

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