Operation Hiroshima

Part of Nigerian Civil War

Date	November 15–29, 1968 (2 weeks)
Location	Onitsha
Result	Nigerian victory

Belligerents

Nigeria

Biafra

Commanders and leaders

Ibrahim Haruna
Idris Garba

Rolf Steiner
Taffy Williams
Marc Goossens †

Strength

unknown

4,000

Casualties and losses

unknown

2,000

Operation Hiroshima(November 15–29, 1968) 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 October 1967 the Nigerian Gen. Murtala Mohammed began a bombardment of Onitsha and later lead a 10 boat armada across the Niger River into the city. Nigerian soldiers looted and burned the Onitsha market to the ground, which gave the Biafrans time to re-organize and mount a counter-attack. The Biafrans managed to re-capture the city after a pincer movement from north and south devastated the Nigerian 2nd Division. After two more failed invasion attempts Gen. Mohammed moved north and crossed the Niger River at Idah. The Nigerian 2nd Division and 6th Battalion moved south-west from Enugu and managed to get within 20 km of Onitsha by January 1968. On March 24 the final battle for Onitsha lasted less than 24 hours before the Biafrans were forced to retreat to Nnewi. Ever since the beginning of the war both Biafran and white mercenary officers had been struggling against each other for various reasons. In November 1968 the Biafran Gen. Alexander Madiebo and Vice President Philip Effiong managed to convince President Odumegwu Ojukwu to order the 4th Commando Brigade at Umuahia to mount an offensive against Nigerian positions at Onitsha through open terrain.

In early November 1968 the 4,000 man Biafran 4th Commando Brigade moved northwards from Umuahia to Nkwelle, less than 10 km outside of Onitsha. On November 15 Col. 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 Biafrans were decimated by Nigerian machine gun fire and suffered heavy casualties. The South African mercenary Maj. Taffy Williams ordered a unit of Biafran soldiers under the Belgian mercenary Marc Goossens to attack a Nigerian defensive position but were almost immediately forced to retreat after Goossens was shot dead. On November 29 the remaining 2,000 soldiers of the Biafran 4th Commando Brigade retreated from Onitsha, leaving Onitsha under Nigerian control for the rest of the war.

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Wikipedia