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Date	Original Topic
27th March 2004	NNC By Andrew Holliday What was the NNC, and what units made it up, because in books they always say that these men turned and ran at Isandhlwana?
Date	Replies
27th March 2004	Chris NNC means Natal Native Contingent, they were locally raised units of black levies and white officers/ncos. They were poorly trained, had no uniforms (the white officers and ncos had uniforms, but not the blacks) and only 1/10 had a rifle (usually a musket).
28th March 2004	Justin Young Hi Andrew As Chris sais, the NNC were very poorly trained in a very short space of time indeed. It was felt that they should be trained as the British Infantry were but without the time and the qualified NCO's to do this, it was an impossible task and not surprisingly did not perform well at Isandhlwana.Many of these men had joined up enthusiastically to fight the Zulu but were very badly let down by the Colonial authorities. For the second invasion, the NNC was totally reorganized, the higher authorities realising how best to use the NNC and they a force the Imperial troops could not have done without. At the end of the day, many books have even hinted at the NNC being partially responsible for the disaster at Isandhlwana but who do you blame the poorly trained soldier or the guy that trains him??
28th March 2004	Julian whybra The NNC were only recruited in December. Admittedly but unsurprisingly they were still poorly trained by 22 Jan but that situation would change with those that remained in British service for the rest of the war. Don't be too quick to damn the trainers and the trained.
28th March 2004	Andrew Holliday Was Durnford's native cavalry among the NNC or were they independant?
29th March 2004	John Young Andrew, For some background on the various units take a look at: http://www.rorkesdriftvc.com/isandhlwana/durnford.htm John Y.
30th March 2004	Julian whybra The 'native' elements consisted of footsoldiers (the NNC), native horse (NNH) and a pioneers corps (NNPC).