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Date	Original Topic
22nd April 2003	Take cover under those mealie bags By Miguel Watching ZULU I realized of yet another unaccuracy. The actual mealie bags were said to be 'very heavy affairs' weighting 200 pounds (100 kg.) each. No way in hell a sargeant could have carried TWO of them on his shoulders (OK, we have seen ex-SAS guys do the impossible, but that was too much). The mealie bags portrayed in the film didn't look too dense, so I wonder if they could have actually stopped a bullet instead of letting it pass through. To be honest, I wonder if the real ones were good at that too, because while in Hollywood movies an inch of wood can stop a bullet aimed at the good guy taking cover behind it, in the real world it takes way more than that to stop a bullet, even the old, unarmoured types used in 1879.
Date	Replies
22nd April 2003	Gary Laliberty Hi Miguel, That is a very good question. Here is my opinion on that: The mealie bags were put into place as a barricade, not something to stop a bullet. Remember, the Zulu warriors fighting technique was hand-to-hand, with the stabbing spear and shield. So, the mealie bag barricade made it more difficult, but not impossible to close in with the British soldier. The mealie bags, some boxes and a few wagons, and the buildings were the only things that were at hand. Well, that's it...I am sure that someone else here will have a different opinion on this. Gary
22nd April 2003	AMB An interesting question. Having toyed with the bullet stopping properties of many materials, including sand, ice, wood, etc, I would conclude that a 200lb mealie sack would offer quite a good protection againest the relatively low velocity rounds fired in 1879. AMB
23rd April 2003	Joseph Obviously its hard to believe a man could lift two bags at once weighing 200 lbs each. Its interesting to note that in the movie at the exact moment you see the sargeant lifting and moving the two bags you hear the comment... "Who's the sargent with the muscles?" Its my opinion that yes a 200 pound mealie bag could stop a bullet, but as stated previously... the main Zulu fight came from close quarters-spear stabbing combat and the bags were meant to obstruct them from this attack. There were Zulus with rifles, but not in the same numbers as those with assegais.