The Port Harcourt Sector of the Civil War is one of the heaviest battlefields in Biafraland during the war. Port Harcourt holds the distinction as the only city in the present South-South Region to see extended confrontation. Even among hinterland Igboland, Port Harcourt ranks high in the conflict. In fact, the fighting in Enugu the capital of Biafra fell short of the clash in Port Harcourt. Perhaps only the Owerri and Onitsha sectors of the war saw more battles and stories than the Port Harcourt Sector of the war.

First, as a background, we would highlight what made Port Harcourt tick.

What Made Port Harcourt Important During the War?

There are a few reasons why Port Harcourt was important during the war and it ranges from geography to size to strategy.

Port Harcourt gave Biafra access to the sea: Technically.  By the time war broke out between Biafra and Nigeria, the entire naval forces of the old Republic were in the hands of Nigerians headquartered in Lagos. With these ships and other naval weapons plus reinforcement from the UK and the Arab League, Nigeria was able to completely blockade Biafra by sea. Suffocation is the best word actually.

Port Harcourt thus was the only hope Biafra had for the outside world via the sea. Biafra had make-believe navies in its lakes and the River Niger but their hope for a true naval force was Port Harcourt. It is nearly impossible to draw up a plan of naval thrust from Port Harcourt but it was there all the same.

With towns and villages in what is now Cross River/Akwa Ibom getting captured with heartbreaking rapidity, the importance of Port Harcourt grew for both sides of the war.

Port Harcourt was Biafra's only source of electricity: As the war raged, Biafra's access to power was the power plant at Afam, near Port Harcourt. Of course, electricity wasn't a rural thing in those days and raids by Nigerian Air Force had hurt a lot of power lines in Biafra, yet there were places with power. It wouldn't also be cool for Biafra's morale to be in darkness not because power lines were bombed by "cowardly" Nigerian forces but because of conquest which was what losing Port Harcourt/Afam would mean.

Biafra just had to keep Port Harcourt.

Port Harcourt's big-city status: Every big city was important for Biafra to keep and besides the obvious eating into Biafran territory that ant area lost meant, big cities hold special importance for two reasons:

i) For morale

ii) To avoid the huge refugees that capturing a big city would mean for the crazily densely populated rest of Biafra.

On their part, Nigeria needed any Biafra space they can capture but big cities are special for the following reasons:

i) For their large spaces which can serve as convenient bases for their forces

ii) As evidence that Biafra should give up their resistance. "Port Harcourt, Owerri, Enugu, and Onitsha are in Nigerian hands, so what are you still resisting?"

Continue reading https://www.anaedoonline.ng/2021/05/13/port-harcourt-sector/

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This kind of dumb post is becoming annoying