continued from: http://www.dawodu.com/omoigui27.htm
By
Nowa Omoigui
OWERRI, 1969 - PART 5
Although assisted by heavy
rains, poor federal logistics and coordination along with overextended lines of
communications, Madiebo’s plan for the encirclement of Owerri was by no means a
lightning strike. Because of the relatively limited combat resources available
to him, it was designed to be a slow process – aided no doubt by federal
ineptitude. To facilitate Biafran troop support during this ambitious scheme,
soldiers were expected to live off the land, harvesting what they could lay
their hands on to supplement provisions from the Biafran Food Directorate.
Careful preparations were made even as other developments favorable to Biafra
were occurring elsewhere. In the last two weeks of September, for example,
Colonel Adekunle, in an effort to get there before Colonel Shuwa’s 1st
Division, and at the same time present Major General Gowon with an Independence
day present, made a disastrous effort to capture Umuahia. He lost the equivalent
of four or more battalions in the process, trapped and destroyed as a result of
insecure lines of communication and supply. By mid-October advance Biafran
units were within five miles of Aba, probing along the Umuahia-Aba road. This
was when the proposal to change Colonel Adekunle as GOC, 3MCDO and/or split the
division into two was first broached with Major General Gowon, who initially
refused the recommendation of AHQ partly for political reasons. Thus, Adekunle
felt vindicated and made no efforts to adjust his tactics in light of the
terrible experience at Umuahia. The stage was thus set for the Owerri disaster.
The 3MCDO Division had
previously been reorganized after the initial fall of Aba and Owerri. Brigades
were grouped into four (4) sectors. The 15 and 16 Brigades in the Oguta-Owerri
axis comprised Sector 1 under Col. Godwin Ally, who had transferred to the 3MCDO
from the 2nd Division where he had commanded the 7 Brigade at Asaba.
The 14 and 17 Brigades were grouped in Sector 2 under Lt. Col. Alani Akinrinade
– another former Brigade Commander in the 2nd Division who left that
division after clashing with Colonel Mohammed over the Onitsha debacle and had
himself experienced a disaster at Onne. The 12, 13 and 18 Brigades - all badly
mauled at Umuahia - were in Sector 3 under Lt. Col. Alabi-Isama. Lastly, a
Sector was created in Calabar for rear administrative purposes. It was under the
command of Lt. Col. Ayo-Ariyo.
While Major General Gowon was
distracted by rear internal security dilemmas like the Omopupa and Agbekoya
“anti-tax” riots in the West, repositioning and battlefield preparation for the
first phase of Madiebo’s master plan to surround Owerri was being implemented
gradually but surely. The first sign of trouble detected by then Lt. Col. Etuk
was when he observed that whenever he sent his quarter-master (QM) from Owerri
back to Sector and Divisional HQ at Port Harcourt for supplies, the QM would
often be ambushed and his supplies retrieved by small Biafran patrols.
According to Col Etuk (rtd),
“Each time he was coming
back he would be ambushed. At times he escaped and a lot of goodies he collected
from them would be shared by the rebels and the balance he would bring to me.
So I reported back to my Divisional Commander, Adekunle. He didn’t take the
matter seriously and this continued until when supplies were no longer coming. I
couldn’t communicate with the outside since the battery of my radio was dead. I
couldn’t talk to anybody.”
By November 1st,
Etuk’s second-in-command, Major AT Hamman, who was leading those elements of the
federal 16th Bde responsible for protecting its southern flank, was
already filing radio reports saying his line of communication was threatened.
In fact, it is said that the International Military Observer Team mentioned
earlier was at one time briefly trapped inside Owerri with Etuk and his boys.
In desperation, a heavily armed 120-man federal rifle company was emergently
airlifted from Lagos to Port Harcourt, according to an account provided by Major
General Oluleye (rtd). When the Relief Company arrived, however, it found
itself enmeshed in the internal politics of the 3MCDO. Just as he did against
other Divisions when dealing with the Army HQ, Colonel Adekunle’s Brigade
Commanders were fighting one another for access to ammunition and fresh troops,
so they would often file false casualty, ammunition, and battlefield reports
with Division HQ in order to gain advantage. Rather than deploy the federal
company as a unit to link up with Major Hamman and Lt. Col Etuk at Owerri,
therefore, Adekunle split up the force into little bits and shared them out
among his warring Brigade Commanders. Eventually, only fifteen (15) soldiers
were given the task of securing the Port-Harcourt-Owerri road to link up with
the 16th Brigade!
On the Biafran side, while
still trying to infiltrate the Midwest, Ojukwu announced in November that he had
dismissed eight (8) white mercenaries, including Colonel Rolf Steiner, following
allegations of indiscipline and piracy, including the waylaying of CARITAS
relief supplies. Steiner apparently encouraged his special 4th
Commando Brigade to commandeer not only food and drink, but also women. These
acts did not go down well with regular Biafran units who were already seething
with envy over Ojukwu’s preferential treatment of Steiner and his unit. In fact,
according to Mr. Jensen of Radio Denmark, Steiner had been ordered to use the 4th
Commando Brigade to lead “Operation Hiroshima” – the unsuccessful Biafran
attempt to recapture Onitsha. When he lost over half of his troops in that
operation, Steiner accused Ojukwu of murdering his men and slapped him in anger.
But for Ojukwu’s intervention Steiner would have been shot immediately by
Ojukwu’s bodyguards. He was, however, arrested and then expelled from Biafra
the following day. Brigadier Conrad Nwawo took over command of the 4th
Commando Division. [Nwawo is a former Nigerian Defence Attache in London. He
was the one who secured the surrender of Major CK Nzeogwu to Major General
Ironsi in January 1966, and was the last Commander of Midwestern 4th
Area Command prior to the Biafran invasion of the Midwest in August 1967.]
After this “house-cleaning”
in the High Command, on November 27, the “Umuahia Brigade”, which was actually a
special 500-man battalion led by Major Njoku, repulsed a federal attack launched
from Awka toward Agulu and Adazi junction. Njoku completely destroyed the 81
Battalion of the 1st Division in the process. The significance of
this battle is that Nnewi, Ojukwu’s hometown, as well as Uga Airport were
directly threatened. If federal forces had prevailed, the HQ of the Biafran 11
Division would have been put out of business.
With these loose ends tied
up, then Colonel Ogbugo Kalu’s 14 Division was finally ready to move on Owerri.
The 63 Brigade under Colonel Lambert Ihenacho launched a diversionary attack
aimed at Elelem and Eziama on December 3rd. The main thrust of the first stage
of the Biafran siege of Owerri later began on the 5th of December
1968, led by the 60 Brigade under Colonel Asoya. During the first week of the
operation, 50,000 rounds of rifle ammunition, 200 rounds of 105-mm howitzer
shells, 300 rounds of mortar bombs, 20 rounds of anti-tank rockets, along with
grenades were supplied to the Biafran units involved. All of this ordnance was
thrown against Etuk’s 16th Brigade in one week or less as they were
dug in and around Owerri.
According to Madiebo,
“60 Brigade moved with a battalion each on three
fronts. On the left, a battalion moved to clear Izombe and Obudi. From there,
while a part of it moved to clear Ogbaku on the Ihiala road, the rest of the
battalion moved to Ofogwe. From the centre, another battalion moved from the
area of Okwuzu and Mgbede and took Obigwe and, shortly after, were in full
control of Okuku. This particular move was so swift that the enemy Battalion
Headquarters at Obudi did not realise for some time that it had been cut off
together with most of the battalion sub-units. Thus many enemy soldiers and
vehicles, which were either moving to Obudi or returning from there fell into
our hands in the area of Okuku. The third battalion of 60 Brigade moving on
both Ohoba-Umukanne road and Asa-Awarra road, took Umuakpu quite easily. Thus,
in the first three days, the 60 Brigade had completed their tasks in the first
phase, resulting in the clearing of several hundreds of square miles of enemy
occupied territory.
68 Battalion was equally
successful in clearing all enemy held areas left of the Port Harcourt road down
to Mgbirichi, thus establishing a permanent link with the 63 Brigade. The 68
Battalion success left us completely in control of all areas southeast of Owerri
town down to Owerrinta Bridge to a depth of about ten miles. The 52 Brigade
facing the enemy forward concentrations made only small gains as expected. Once
or twice they cleared Orji but lost it again. At the end of one week, the first
phase was considered to be over and the results, particularly in 60 Brigade area
were very encouraging.”
On the diplomatic front,
however, all was not well with the Biafran leadership. Raph Uwechue, Biafra’s
envoy in Paris, resigned in protest against Ojukwu’s approach to leadership.
Meanwhile, on the battlefield the 16th Brigade regrouped and fought
back. For example, Abiaka was retaken on December 19, while Avu and Afrola were
regained on December 29, even as Imu-Ikwe was being seized by Biafran troops.
The fits and starts of French
ordnance supply and inability to use captured but incompatible federal
ammunition had compelled Madiebo to make changes in his original plans. He
proceeded to carry out the second phase “with only one brigade fighting at a
time, and as soon as its objectives were completely attained, the next brigade
or formation would start”. In other words, a rolling choreographed offensive
(like the first week of American attacks on Iraq during the 2nd Gulf
War), rather than a decisive coordinated massive application of force exploiting
the principle of momentum. Therefore, 60 Brigade began by once again
assaulting Avu and Obinze while other units adopted a defensive posture. Each
time, though, elements of the 16th Brigade would successfully
counter-attack from Owerri, using armored personnel carriers, Ferrets and
Saladin vehicles.
For this reason Madiebo
decided to modify stage two (2) of his plan by cutting off the Port-Harcourt-Umuahia
road further southwards. Along these lines, beginning on January 6th,
early in the New Year (1969), the 60 Brigade took Umuakpu, Umuagwo and Omanelu
from Umukanne on their right, while 68 Battalion detachment of “S” Division,
under Major Ikeji seized Obinze. Every attempt, though, to retake Avu from
Obinze was beaten back by Etuk.
At this point, Madiebo
recalls,
“By the end of the day we were controlling over 20
miles of the road which was before then the last link between Owerri and Port
Harcourt, thereby having the enemy brigade at Owerri completely surrounded. In
order to ensure that the enemy on both sides of the corridor did not link up
ever again, we used several hundreds of civilians to render that stretch of road
absolutely impassable using mines, ditches and heavy trees felled across the
road. Thereafter, the 68 Battalion which had grown gradually and been renamed
the 68 Brigade, took charge of the defence of the Port Harcourt road (inclusive)
westwards to 63 Brigade, while the 60 Brigade defended eastwards to Orashi
River. From the 8th of January, 1969, the enemy began his
counterattacks to reopen the road. These attacks, which came from the Port
Harcourt end, persisted for several months unsuccessfully until we cleared
Owerri town itself.”
The Biafran units involved
were, however, experiencing some internal difficulties. Fatigue from the month
long offensive, ups and downs with logistic support and illness resulting from
hunger and inadequate clothing undermined morale. But the effort was continued
by determined Biafran troops urged on by their commanders. On January 15, 1969
the final phase “to clear Owerri” was launched. 60 Brigade was to take the Holy
Ghost College, the Cathedral and the Progress Hotel after which it would swing
rightwards toward the Clock Tower and Motor Park, destroying the bridge over the
Otamini river in order to prevent armored counter-attacks.
However, once they came upon
abandoned Federal supplies of ammunition, food and clothing near the Holy Ghost
College, rather than maintain hot pursuit, hungry and naked Biafran troops
ignored their commanders. They stopped short of the Otamini Bridge not only to
eat but also to “evacuate enemy abandoned food” and “change into the newly
captured uniforms”. But while they happily savored the liberated food and
clothing a federal armored counter-attack across the Otamini Bridge swept them
out of Owerri back to the previous jump-off lines at their trenches in the
perimeter.
This became the established
pattern. Every week, Biafran units would launch a number of attacks in a
vicious dialogue of attack and counter-attack with Etuk, all the while hoping
that the 16th Brigade would eventually run out of ammunition. On
January 16th, the 16th Brigade retook Afaha-Ise. But a
week later on January 23rd, Otoro fell to Biafran units. The next
day, on January 24th, a new federal offensive – including air strikes
- was launched by the AHQ. But by January 29th, having sifted
through the maze of Biafran propaganda on one hand, and the serious internal
problem of false reporting by federal officers on the other, it became apparent
to senior federal commanders in Lagos that Owerri was indeed encircled, except
for small breaches here and there.
On February 7th,
federal L-29 Delphin armed jet trainers, Mig-17 fighters and IL-28 Ilyushin
Bombers destroyed Umohiagu village near Owerri – prompting yet another round of
international press accusations that Nigerian (and Egyptian) pilots were
indiscriminately bombing civilian targets while supposedly mounting military
operations to relieve Owerri and take Umuahia. Outside the immediate War
Theater, Nnamdi Azikiwe published a 14-point peace plan during a speech at
Oxford on February 10th. A few days later a US Congressional delegation visited
Biafra just as Maurice Foley, UK undersecretary of State for Foreign Affairs,
was openly accusing Nigeria in the House of Commons in London of indiscriminate
bombing. After Umohiagu, for example, federal jets went further to level the
village of Ozu Abam.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Chief
of Staff (Army), then Brigadier Hassan Usman Katsina called an urgent
“coordination and unity” meeting in Lagos of all federal divisional
commanders. As of that time rivalries between the various Divisions had become
very bad. Each division was procuring its own weapons independently from Europe
and sending “patrols” to mount surveillance at the Lagos Port for incoming Arms
Shipments. They even laid siege on the Shell depot at Apapa in order to corner
fuel supplies for themselves. Weapons and fuel meant for other divisions were
often hijacked.
After this “peace meeting”,
Major General Gowon finally paid his long awaited first official visit to the
warfront in late February, during which he encouraged Lt. Col. Etuk to hang in
there. Determined efforts were being made to relieve the beleaguered 16th
Bde, just as Russian warships visiting Lagos were feting the public.
Interestingly, bothered by international accusations the NAF HQ issued
instructions to NAF units on March 5th, ordering them to avoid
bombing civilians. Nevertheless, bombing continued.
In an article published by
the UK Guardian on March 13, 1969, for example, Harvard Professor Mayer wrote,
among other things:
“Hospitals, schools,
refugee camps and markets have been and are being systematically attacked by the
Nigerian Air Force. We witnessed such attacks and saw hundreds of casualties
from previous attacks. The red crosses are now camouflaged on the roofs of the
hospitals (and on the roofs of the headquarters of the International Red Cross)
because they obviously attract bombing and strafing, even when (if not
particularly when) the hospital buildings are isolated and far from any town,
cross road or any installation even remotely of military significance. Refugees
– most of them children and many of them elderly, all of them famished – who
number at least four million – have to be fed at night because during the day
feeding lines were systematically strafed by MIG 17s of the Nigerian Air Force
or bombed by its Ilyushins.”
But by March 14th
in spite of strong efforts to reopen the Omanelu-Umuakpu and
Elele-Ubimini-Awarra roads the Biafran encirclement of Owerri was total.
Without airdrops, the 16th Brigade was completely cut off.
Gradually but surely it was being cut to pieces.
Yet another among many
Biafran efforts to wipe out the 16th Brigade began on March 15th,
when two additional battalions of the “S” Division were transferred from the Aba
sector to Owerri. Ojukwu overruled Madiebo’s proposal to concentrate all the
battalions of the “S” Division - under Colonel Onwuatuegwu - move through 68
Brigade area and attack Etuk from the rear. He reportedly preferred a direct
frontal assault from Emekuku in the northeast. After heavy casualties, this
unwise attempt stalled against fierce federal resistance, combined with some
command and staff problems with Onwuatuegwu’s outfit. Thus, Onwuatuegwu was
asked by Ojukwu to cede command of part of the “S” Division to Colonel Joe
“Hannibal” Achuzia. Using the “S” Brigade under Major Atumaka, Achuzia broke
through federal lines at Egbu and reportedly got within a mile of Owerri City
Center after heavy casualties. At this point Achuzia wanted complete control of
the entire “S” Division in order to sustain his momentum. However, Onwuatuegwu
refused, and both men almost shot one another, drawing their handguns. Ojukwu
then ordered Onwuatuegwu to cede complete divisional control to Achuzia for one
week. But all subsequent bloody attempts by Achuzia to take Owerri failed.
The “S” Brigade Commander, Major Atumaka died in the process along with many
other Biafran soldiers. At this point Ojukwu ordered all frontal assaults by
Achuzia to stop, restored Onwuatuegwu to his command of the “S” Division, and
asked Madiebo to revisit the old plan of hitting Etuk from the rear.
Meanwhile, on March 24th,
Haiti recognized Biafra. On March 29th 1969, Prime Minister Harold Wilson of
Britain paid a visit to Nigeria during which the issue of indiscriminate bombing
was again discussed with the federal government - leading to the eventual
replacement of many Egyptian pilots. Allegedly, in the absence of stand-off
precision-guided munitions, most of those involved were neither good shots nor
were they willing to risk their lives attacking well defended military targets
in another man’s war. So they “offloaded” on civilian targets and then returned
to base to file false bomb damage assessments. However, it cannot escape
suspicion that some bombing raids were calculatingly deliberate, aimed at the
Biafran Organization of Freedom Fighters (BOFF), an irregular-fighting outfit
that had thoroughly infiltrated civilian areas, as well as Relief Organizations
suspected of providing cover for weapons shipments.
On March 31st,
1969, referring no doubt to Achuzia’s breakthrough at Egbu, Ojukwu made an entry
into his Diary saying that “70%” of Owerri Town was now in Biafran hands
following an assault by the 14 and “Thunder” Divisions. (“Thunder” Division was
how Ojukwu sometimes referred to what many others called the “S” Division,
perhaps to distinguish it from an earlier secret military formation also called
the “S” Division, a special personal security unit dedicated to his
protection.)
Biafran Engineers constantly
monitored desperate Nigerian radio transmissions by wireless intercept. Citing
additional “reconnaissance reports”, Madiebo claims that “the enemy was so short
of food that he was compelled to kill most of his Biafran prisoners of war and
civilian detainees inside Owerri because there was not sufficient food with
which to feed them.“ There is no independent confirmation of this assertion.
LIFE IN THE 16th
BRIGADE UNDER SIEGE