Fall of Enugu

The Fall of Enugu, (1–4 October 1967), was a military conflict between Nigerian and Biafran forces. Enugu was invaded after the Biafran retreat from the Mid-Western Region only 14 days earlier after the Nigerian 2nd and 3rd Marine Divisions cleared them from the area.

Fall of Enugu
Part of Biafran War
Date26 September – 4 October 1967
Location
Enugu, Nigeria
Result Nigerian victory
Belligerents
 Nigeria  Biafra
Commanders and leaders
Theophilus Danjuma Alexander Madiebo
Strength
1 division 1 brigade
c. 10,000 armed civilians
Casualties and losses
unknown unknown

Background

In the late 1960s ethnic tensions rose dramatically in Nigeria. Many Igbo people of eastern Nigeria feared domination and discrimination from other ethnic groups. In September 1966 soldiers of the Nigerian Armed Forces inflicted a series of massacres against easterners residing in the northern portion of the country, triggering the flight of thousands more to the eastern city of Enugu. On 30 May 1967, Nigeria's Eastern Region declared that it was seceding from the country to become the independent state of Biafra. Enugu was made Biafra's capital, and the state was led by the former Eastern Region Military Governor, Lieutenant Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu.[1] The Nigerian government planned to suppress the secession in a four-phase operation that would last one month. Their first major goal was to secure Enugu and Nsukka.[2] On 6 July Nigerian federal troops launched their offensive to recapture Biafra, initiating the Nigerian Civil War. Federal officials initially declared that their forces would seize Enugu "in 48 hours", but the conflict soon developed into a stalemate, with heavy fighting taking place near Nsukka.[1]

At the start of the war, Enugu was home to almost 140,000 residents,[3] mostly Christian Igbos. Once conflict broke out, they started leaving the city in search of refuge deeper in Biafran territory.[4] Foreign nationals were advised by their own government to leave Biafra, and by late July only about 50—most of them journalists, arms dealers, diplomats, and traders—remained in Enugu.[1]

Prelude
Satellite image of Enugu and other communities neighbouring it.

When Nsukka fell to the Nigerian 1st and 2nd Brigades, Ojukwu knew that his capital would be the Nigerian's next target. In an attempt to distract federal attention away from Enugu, Ojukwu ordered an invasion of Nigeria's Mid-Western Region. Biafran troops began their offensive in August and made steady progress, capturing Benin City and nearly coming within 100 miles of Lagos before being halted at Ore.[5] Federal forces were reinforced by redploying troops from the Nsukka front, delaying progress on the attempt to capture Enugu.[6] The Nigerian 2nd Infantry Division led a counteroffensive in the Mid-Western Region and by late September had recaptured Benin City.[7] The commander of Nigerian troops stationed in Nsukka, General Mohammed Shuwa, was relieved of his command and replaced with Lt. Col. Theophilus Danjuma.

The Biafran 53 Brigade under Colonel Alexander Madiebo, the newly appointed head of the Biafran Army, was tasked with defending Enugu, but the unit had been exhausted by previous engagements and was unable to call upon reinforcements. In an attempt to bolster the city's defence, Ojukwu ordered all able-bodied men mobilised in Biafra. Approximately 10,000 arrived in the capital. Aside from a handful of dane guns in their possession, the men were unarmed and the Biafran administration struggled to feed them. According to Madiebo, Ojukwu intended to equip them with machetes and move them through Eke from where they would swarm federal troops at Abor. Madiebo doubted the plan's feasibility.[8] In contrast to the motley defenders of Biafra's capital, the unit tasked with attacking Enugu, the 1st Division,[9] was the most experienced force in the Nigerian Army. It included large numbers of World War II veterans.[10]

Nigerian offensive

Nigerian forces in the Nsukka area began advancing in earnest towards on Enugu on 12 September. Biafran forces counter-attacked,[11] but by the latter portion of the month were in retreat. By the end of September, Enugu was within shelling range;[12] federal artillery began bombarding the capital on 26 September.[13] The Nigerian Air Force also raided the city, temporarily forcing Biafran radio offline.[14] Just after midnight on 1 October, Ojukwu delivered a speech over radio pledging not to abandon the city.[15] On 3 October, the Biafrans began evacuating Enugu.[16] On 4 October, federal air and ground forces attacked the city.[14] Ojukwu was asleep in the Biafran State House when the federal troops attacked, and awoke at the sound of gunfire and mortar explosions to find the building deserted of his guards and aides and surrounded by the federal forces. Disguising himself as a servant, he was able to walk past the cordon without incident and escape.[17] The Nigerian 1st Division successfully occupied the city.[9]

Aftermath

Situation in Enugu

Danjuma described the fall of Enugu as "an anticlimax".[4] His troops garrisoned the city in the immediate aftermath of the battle,[4] while Ukpabi Asika, an Igbo professor at Ibadan University, was appointed to lead the civil administration in the locale and surrounding areas held by federal forces.[18] The Nigerians seized one Biafran Douglas A-26 Invader.[19] After its capture, buildings in Enugu were ransacked by looters and federal troops, including the Presidential Hotel and the United States Consulate.[3][4] The vast majority of the population fled, and only approximately 500 civilians remained, most too ill, old, or young to leave. Nigerian federal officials unsuccessfully appealed for residents to return to the area.[4] Over a year after the battle, the city remained mostly deserted, and of the few hundred civilians in Enugu most were being sheltered and cared for by Catholic missions. The International Red Cross established a station in the locale, and used it to direct the distribution of relief supplies to the surrounding area.[3] As late as 1978, signs of damage from the battle remained in the city.[20]

Course of the war

Many Nigerians hoped that Enugu's capture would convince the Igbos' traditional elite to end their support for secession, even if Ojukwu did not follow them.[21] The 1st Division halted its operations at Enugu to rest and resupply and let Ojukwu consider abandoning the rebellion.[22] This did not occur; Ojukwu relocated his government without difficulty to Umuahia, a city positioned deep within traditional Igbo territory.[21] The fall of Enugu contributed to a brief destabilisation of Biafran propaganda efforts, as the forced relocation of personnel left the Ministry of Information disorganised and the federal force's success undermined previous Biafran assertions that the Nigerian state could not withstand a protracted war.[23] On 23 October the Biafran official radio declared in a broadcast that Ojukwu promised to continue resisting the federal government, and that he attributed the loss of Enugu to subversive actions.[4] Biafran radio moved its broadcasting station several times throughout the war, but would often pretend that it was still headquartered in Enugu to maintain morale. As a result, many Biafrans were not aware of the city's capture until the end of the war.[24] The federal forces pressed on with their offensive throughout the month, securing Asaba and Calabar, further encircling Biafra.[25] Umuahia was not taken by Nigerian government troops until 22 April 1969.[26]

References
  1. Garrison, Lloyd (29 July 1967). "Eastern Nigerian Rebels Weather Their First Test". The New York Times. pp. A1, A3.
  2. Gould 2015, p. 59.
  3. Emerson, Gloria (13 October 1968). "Enugu, Nigeria: Silence in War's Wake". The New York Times. pp. A1, A3.
  4. "Nigerian Civil War Makes Enugu a Ghost Town". The New York Times. 24 October 1967. p. A20.
  5. Moses & Heerten 2018, pp. 412–413.
  6. Gould 2015, p. 65.
  7. Moses & Heerten 2018, p. 413.
  8. Momoh 2000, p. 74.
  9. Jowett 2016, p. 6.
  10. Jowett 2016, pp. 9–10.
  11. Venter 2016, p. 208.
  12. Forsyth 2015, Chapter 9: Thirty Months of Fighting.
  13. Moses & Heerten 2018, p. 160.
  14. Nigeria's War 1970, p. 9.
  15. Meisler, Stanley (1 October 1967). "Nigerian Troops Open Siege of Biafra Capital". The Los Angeles Times. p. F2.
  16. Stremlau 2015, p. 97.
  17. Baxter 2015, p. 23.
  18. Gould 2015, p. 75.
  19. Venter 2016, p. 155.
  20. Lamb, David (18 November 1978). "Ibos Rebuild: Time Fades the Bitterness of Biafra War". Los Angeles Times. pp. A1, A11.
  21. Stremlau 2015, pp. 97–98.
  22. Venter 2016, p. 209.
  23. Stremlau 2015, p. 111.
  24. Omaka 2018, p. 574.
  25. Stremlau 2015, p. 98.
  26. Stremlau 2015, p. 218.

Works cited
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