helinues:


Why not write in Igbo..

Even the pidgin na wayward

LLiKYekoba:


Dot-head, heavy military equipments such as expensive naval ships, amoured tanks, MIGs and heavy artilleries do not come in through an emergency air strip that is constantly under attack by enemy forces.

Planes flew at night mostly to drop foods, medicines and light weapons meant for survival on that Uli strip. They do it most times without landing. Do you drop heavy amoured tanks from the sky?

Just be very thankful to the British for assisting you to keep together the biggest cesspit they ever created.

Ewedu man wan change narratives.

baralatie:
Weapons and Warfare
Mercenaries and the Uli Airstrip
MSW MSW
6 years ago
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Great Nigerian troops celebrating the surrender of Biafra at Uli airstrip.


biafran_war-1024x645

Uli airstrip that handled the second highest number of flights in Africa in that period next to Johanesburg.


landing-at-uli

THE AIRLIFT TO BIAFRA

The Uli Airstrip was the most important link between Biafra and the outside world during the Nigerian civil war. [b]Most of the major airfields in Biafra were captured by government forces early in the war. Had the Nigerian government destroyed the Uli Airstrip, the war and the humanitarian catastrophe that accompanied it probably would have ended very quickly. Unfortunately, the government was dependent on mercenary pilots who were skilled enough to target the airport at night. When mercenaries working for the government refused to destroy the airport, Biafra was able to continue its resistance (De St. Jorre 1972, 318).

Why were the mercenary pilots unwilling to strike an obvious military target? There are two basic reasons. First, the mercenaries working for the government knew that relief planes would be flying into the Uli Airstrip at night. It was not the cargo of these planes that concerned the mercenaries; instead, it was the pilots. Many of the pilots who transported relief supplies to Biafra were also mercenaries hired by various relief organizations. As many of the relief mercenaries had worked with the government mercenaries in the Congo, there was a gentlemen’s agreement that mercenaries would not intentionally target each other.

In addition, there was a basic financial incentive not to destroy the airport. Mercenaries from both sides knew that the end of the Uli Airstrip would mark the end of the rebellion. In this context, the destruction of Uli would have been bad for business. In the end, the rebels used the Uli Airstrip successfully until the last days of the war. Although the airstrip allowed valuable assistance to reach starving people, it also was a key factor in allowing the rebellion to last well beyond what most observers expected. The irony of Uli, as critical as it was to the final outcome, is one of the more poorly documented events of the war (De St. Jorre 1972).

The Relief Effort: Highs and Lows

The effects of both the war itself and the blockade imposed by the Nigerian government took a heavy toll on civilians in Biafra. As the war lingered on, the UNHCR estimated that more than 3 million children in Biafra were in danger of starving (Goetz 2001). In response to the crisis, several international relief organizations attempted to deliver food and supplies to civilians in Biafra. The relief effort had mixed results.

On the positive side, relief organizations delivered as much as 500 tons of food and supplies into Biafra daily in what became known as the Biafran Airlift. The size and scope of the relief effort was the largest undertaken since World War II (De St Jorre 1972, 238). Catholic and Protestant relief organizations, at times in coordination with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), were involved in the relief effort. It is clear that these supplies saved countless civilians from starvation.

At the same time, owing to both a lack of funds and a lack of supplies, smaller relief agencies were often forced to book space on the same aircraft that were smuggling arms into Biafra. The Nigerian government believed that arms shipments disguised as humanitarian aid shipments were a boon to the rebellion. The government placed a ban on nighttime flights in Biafra and shot down a Swedish ICRC aircraft. The ICRC made the critical mistake of sending the same negotiator to both sides of the dispute in an attempt to secure safe passage for relief flights. Each belligerent party suspected the ICRC of working for the other side (De St. Jorre, 1972; Goetz, 2001).

It is widely known that, in addition to arms transfers, mercenaries were a source of potential military strength for the secessionists. In the final analysis, however, mercenaries played a relatively small role in the war. Part of this was because the Biafran forces were suspicious of mercenaries after having fought against many of them as part of the Nigerian military contingent dispatched to fight in the Congo. In addition, many mercenaries were reluctant to come to Biafra because there was a distinct possibility that they would be called on to fight against “brothers in arms” hired by the government (De St. Jorre 1972, 313). Ironically, the main role played by mercenaries during the war may have been the failure of government mercenary pilots to destroy the makeshift Uli Airstrip, which was located about halfway between the cities Onitsha and Oguta.

Nigerian Civil War

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July 12, 2020
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Carl Gustav von Rosen and Biafra

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Nigerian Civil War – Air War

October 12, 201

LLiKYekoba:


See this Ile kewu nincompoop trying to teach me English.

A seaaoned murderer and slaughterer of the language is pointing out grammatical errors? Wonderful!

98% of the proper tenses you use, you learned from this forum, with people like us still tutoring you everyday with heavy knocks on your empty agbari to drive home the lessons.

Werey dey clutch straw.

Naff off!

EraseTheDot:

You were NOTHING without the help of France. Biafra pilots were foreign mercenaries. Even the biafran combatant troops were led by Yorubas.

Gowon being a Christian was very magnanimous to biafrans, otherwise, Nigerian Government would not have sent food and medical aids to an enemy during a war.



- erase the dot

helinues:


Relax your mind,it's weekend.

And thank Goodness you are one of the living witness of the progress which means we moved..

baralatie:

For all to read and understand

LLiKYekoba:


Good a thing, you did not deny that we gave you the trainings. 'It's our work o'

Those trainings your teachers and parents refused to give you at home, we will give to you here with all pleasure, including home training and otherwise.

Enjoy!

LLiKYekoba:



Majority of the Air pilots in Nigeria as at then were of Igbo origin, there were many of them, but few planes to fly. In contrast, the northern abokeys and their slave yoruba forces had all the planes but few or no proper pilots to man them. Gowon Yakubu had to bring in Egyptian pilots to man them and Arab flight Engineers to maintain them.

Oga go and read and stop looking for cheap human skulls to sell at the oshogbo market.

helinues:


We are grateful to be a good learner,learned and made use of what learned.

The learning put us at the high ranking. Meaning undeniable progress in life and everything.

Always grateful

Karlovych:
Typical sophisticated aphonjer glory hunter, backstabbing everyone to win favors from their masters but when it landed on Abiola they were all mute like a scared cat.

EraseTheDot:

Stop lying to yourself. No ibo man was trained as a fighter pilot before the war. None.
Biafra fighter planes called Biafra babes were manned by european pilots. Some were mercenaries from France and Sweden. it was only willy Murray Bruce, a SS, that was a member of the crew. Ibo played waka pass role during the war.



- erase the dot

esnbrutality:
Afonja fullishness sef.

Obasanjo, that has a "bullet" in his left ynashh. An Obasanjo that "Buhari" whitewashed at the book launch of "retired drug barons" ...Chai!!!...its very obvious that these Afonja miscreants are senilee and very shallow!! Did the Biafra Ideology die??..That is the pertinent question zombie.

@Erasethe.dot....Look for sense as...Ibadan and Osun are useless.

itsme01:




Gallant General Obasanjo, unlike Ojuckwu that ran off , leaving 1 million people to starve to death and engage in cannibalism
But I heard that tgey cannibalized otu nne gi too. Abi na lie


.

EraseTheDot:

Okpe & Bruce were only crew members who were being trained by the Europeans mercenaries. Europeans pilots were hired to lead biafran air combat. Planes were assembled in Gabon and flown in by some swedes pilot who fought on behalf of biafra.

Sit down and be humble.. ibos are waka pass.



- erase the dot

MICHEALADEX:
Reno may be murdered someday and police won't be able to unravel it. He shakes too many tables in the party hall.


Why talk about baifra fall at that delicate time?

helinues:


Soro Soke, we can't hear you from the back

seunmsg:
Kudos to General Alani Ipuola Akinrinade for leading the battle to capture Uli airstrip that consequently led to the end of the civil war. Kudos also to General Alabi Isama for developing the war strategy that was used by the 3MCDO to capture Uli airstrip. Alani Akinrinade and Alabi Isama are the real heroes of the success of the Uli capture and not Obasanjo that got lost on his way to Uli after the capture and surrender.

AsampeteNwaanyi:
I'm watching you

LLiKYekoba:


Werey don dey change mouth. When you hammer their thick gbegiri skulls with hard facts they begin to mellow small small.

I go pummel that your thick skull with more hard knocks.

Conrod:
And something tells me you love the "backward" position.

Conrod:
That airport was built in record time despite the threats of deaths from the sky by(egyptain airforce and their british military advicers)....nigeria after over 50years hasn't beaten that record.

baralatie:

Ulli was nothing other than a make shift air strip built by and for meceneries that were engaged to make supplies to the Biafra soldiers!
The fg already had marked that air strip to be destroyed but there was a gentleman agreement not to attack nor kill the mercenaries!
Therefore the logical thing for Colonel Obasanjo (back then) was to seize control of that air strip having won the war against the failed Biafra attempt.
This automatically made the mercenaries fighting on behalf of Biafra not to venture or continue the war!
Obviously Obasanjo was smart

LLiKYekoba:
Rare video..

Fulani officer Col Ali threatens to shoot yoruba soldiers who cowardly ran away from the from Biafran bullets at the frontlines.

Watch from 4:50 mins.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qauxgIpsZXQ