OPERATION OAU (September 2 – October 15, 1968)

Operation OAU was a move by the Nigerian troops to capture the three towns of Owerri, Aba and Umuahia. It was an intermittent battle that may have resulted in over 25,000 deaths on both sides. Although the Biafran soldiers were
outnumbered, they were able to retain control of Umuahia and eventually recapture the cities of Owerri and Aba.

On September 2, Nigerian artillery began shelling Aba while ground forces began to enter the city under heavy Biafran fire. For twelve days bloody house-to-house
fighting ensued and bodies filled Red Cross hospitals before the final Biafrans surrendered on the 14th September. On the 13th September the Biafran 14th Division came under heavy artillery fire from the Nigerian 16th Brigade under the command of Colonel E.A. Etuk.
On September 17, the Nigerian 3rd Marine Division began making their way towards Umuahia but were intercepted outside the city by a division of Biafran soldiers and a bloody battle ensued.

On September 18, after a fierce five-day stand, the Biafran 14th Division abandoned
fighting in Ohoba and Obinze and retreated from the city, leaving Owerri open to Col. Etuk's 16th Division. After Owerri's capture Colonel Ogbugo Kalu was made commander of the 14th Division and Col. Lambert Iheanacho was made commander of the 63rd Brigade.

Due to the swiftness
of the Nigerian advance the Biafran 63rd Brigade retreated from the Obiangwu airstrip on September 22, leaving the bulk of its equipment to the Nigerian 22nd and 44th battalions. The same day, the Biafran Maj. Joseph Achuzie attempted a counterattack at the Obiangwu airstrip, but
was swiftly repulsed by the Nigerian 22nd Battalion. On September 30, the Nigerian 21st battalion outflanked the defending Biafran 13th Division and captured Okigwe town. In mid-September, the French President Charles de Gaulle openly voiced his support for the Biafran cause and
began shipping weapons to Biafra.

The terrain around Umuahia consisted of areas of vast jungles and rivers that were littered with mines and Biafran soldiers. For 14 days, the two sides exchanged gunfire and artillery, resulting in mass casualties on both sides. Adekunle
radioed in that he needed reinforcements or his entire division would be at risk of annihilation, but they never arrived. Nearly 15,000 Nigerian soldiers had either been killed or wounded in the Umuahia sector and on October 1, the 3rd Marine Division retreated to Port Harcourt
while the 16th Division was left isolated in Owerri. Instead of pursuing the retreating Nigerians to Port Harcourt the Biafrans slowly made their way up the Aba-Umuahia road and managed to capture Aba on October 15.

#BiafraRemembranceDay

#CentreForMemories

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Centre for Memories

Centre for Memories Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @cfmemories

30 May
We have come to the end of today's event. We hope you have learnt a thing or two about the Biafra War and we immensely appreciate you for staying with us all day.

Daalụ nụ.

To close our event today, here is a gratitude video in honour of all who sent relief aid to Biafra
during the war. We are grateful to them all.

We also remember all who lost their lives during the war. May they Rest In Peace.

Kindly note that you can visit the Centre For Memories to see our ongoing exhibition on
the Biafra War titled “Ọzọemena".

#BiafraRemembranceDay

#CentreForMemories
Read 4 tweets
30 May
THE BIAFRAN AIRLIFT

The Airlift to Biafra is the second largest airlift in human history. It is known that about 3 million Igbo people died during the war but that number would have been a lot more if not the humanitarian activities of so many groups, organizations and national
governments who sent relief aid to Biafra.

Approximately 30 non-governmental organizations and several governments provided non-military direct and indirect aid through or in support of the Biafran Airlift. Major contributors of such items as food, medicine, transport aircraft,
air and ground crew included:

American Jewish Emergency Effort for Biafran Relief

Canada (financial, food, material, C-130 Hercules aircraft)

Canairrelief (a NGO organized by the Presbyterian Church of Canada and Oxfam Canada. Over 10,000 tons were carried in 674 flights)
Read 8 tweets
30 May
THE UGA AIRSTRIP

Many people are aware that Biafra had an airstrip in Uli but only a few know that there was another airstrip in Uga, Anambra State.

Uga, the second of the three sites originally selected as a bush airstrip, was hastily developed following the threatened loss of
Uli in September 1968. Like Uli, the airstrip at Uga was converted from a stretch of the main Orlu to Awka road but instead of creating concrete hard-standings, the Biafrans used a form of PSP (a pierced-steel planking system), although local reports at the time described the
material as 'perforated aluminium strip '. (It is very likely that the material used for developing Uga had originally been purchased via the Church Relief Service for use at Uli.

By the end of 1968 the strip was declared operational, but only as a secondary strip to Uli and
Read 6 tweets
30 May
THE ABAGANA AMBUSH

The Abagana Ambush (March 31, 1968) was an ambush by Biafran guerrilla troops led by Major Jonathan Uchendu that wiped out the Nigerian 2 Division. Of the 6,000 Nigerian troops ambushed, only a very small number survived, including
the 2nd Division's commander, General Murtala Muhammed.

On 31 March 1968, a convoy consisting of 106 vehicles belonging to the Nigerian 2nd Division transporting 6,000 soldiers, as well as armour from Onitsha to Enugu was ambushed and decimated in the town of Abagana by a small
unit of Biafran soldiers led by Major Jonathan Uchendu.

Homemade Ogbunigwe rocket missiles were launched by the Biafrans at a tanker truck carrying gasoline which caused an enormous explosion destroying many of the convoy's armoured vehicles and killing a large number of
Read 4 tweets
30 May
OPERATION HIROSHIMA

This was a military operation conducted by the Biafran 4th Commando Brigade in an attempt to recapture Onitsha from the Nigerian 2nd Division. The operation ultimately resulted in failure and ended in the deaths of numerous mercenaries and Biafran soldiers.
In early November 1968 the 4,000 strong Biafran 4th Commando Brigade moved northwards from Umuahia to Nkwelle, less than 10 km outside of Onitsha. On 15 November Colonel Rolf Steiner was ordered to launch an offensive operation coined "Operation Hiroshima". Steiner initially
objected on the grounds that his troops were trained for guerrilla tactics, but was overruled.

The operation was a full frontal attack across an open field. With no aerial support or any natural obstacles to hide behind the attacking Biafran brigade was decimated by Nigerian
Read 5 tweets
30 May
SOME OPERATIONS DURING THE BIAFRA WAR

OPERATION TIGER CLAW (October 17–19, 1967)

This was a military conflict between Nigerian and Biafran military forces. The battle took place in the major port of Calabar. The Nigerian were led by Benjamin Adekunle while the Biafrans were led
by Maj. Ogbo Oji. The aftermath was a major loss to the Biafrans because it cost the Biafrans one of their largest ports.

In October 1967 a Nigerian Navy armada on a naval campaign left the port of Bonny en route to Calabar. Inside the ships were the heavily armed troops of the
Nigerian 3rd Marine Division under the command of Gen. Benjamin Adekunle. At the time Calabar was defended by the Biafran 9th Battalion under the command of Maj. Ogbo Oji, who was responsible for the defense of Biafra's entire southeast coastline from Opobo to the Cameroon border
Read 6 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(