I am researching a campaign based on Nigerian-Biafra civil war, circa 1967 with scenario for French and Soviet escalation.
The combat reports filed on the web list armour as ; Ferrets, Fox and Saladin AVFs. The Biafra forces had a range of home made AVFs which could be scratch built from the likes of Pz 1 Bison type body.. No tanks appear to be involved!
Is there any source on the web that shows OOBs for this conflict ?
You could try BGMR group, but I suspect the actual answer is no.
Also "The Strategic Balance" for 1968 (if it exists) will be some help - it will give kit lists, and may give numbers of units and formations.
IanS
Quote from: Sunray on 07 March 2014, 04:10:28 PM
I am researching a campaign based on Nigerian-Biafra civil war, circa 1967 with scenario for French and Soviet escalation.
The combat reports filed on the web list armour as ; Ferrets, Fox and Saladin AVFs. The Biafra forces had a range of home made AVFs which could be scratch built from the likes of Pz 1 Bison type body.. No tanks appear to be involved!
Is there any source on the web that shows OOBs for this conflict ?
From the little I know of this war "Order of" any sort is the last thing you will find ;)
Having lived in Nigeria and visited the Igbo areas, most of which would have been involved in the Biafran War, any AFVs etc would have been largely confined to the roads. The terrain would be reminiscent of Vietnam in many places with very dense undergrowth in large areas. As such AFVs would be pretty useless other than for moving troops and supplies.
As for OOB, there would be nothing set for the Biafran forces, many of whom were child soldiers and used anything they could get their hands on. I worked with a few and they never discussed the war. So for the Biafrans the choice is your really. You could try the Nafziger Collection to see if he has anything of use for either side as well as Mark Bevis and his Micromark lists.
Hope this helps?
My Grandad was Abu Baka's First Secretary during independence and shortly up to Biafra.
He lost a good many friends then, including the man himself. He always refused to talk about it, think it hit him badly.
Some very interesting comments here. Thank you gentlemen.
Shell Oil was a big player and the British gave a lot of covert help to the Nigerians. This included "advisors". The amphibious assault by the Nigerians was an outstanding achievement by a Third World country and reeks of professional know how.
I will give it a counterfactual tweak where French supplied armoured cars tangle with Soviet supplied T34s.
Mercenary Taffy Williams spoke very highly of the Biafra troops he commanded.
You could have 'smuggled' French vehicles from Cameroon as the Igbos lived both sides of the border due to the usual artificial colonial boundaries.
From memory there were pilots who flew from the Sao Tome & Principe islands to supply the Biafran forces, so you could upgrade their efforts to full on air support.
Riverine gunboats a la Vietnam would be perfect for the delta areas and major rivers that are very, very wide, even a long way inland.
Most of the senior officers probably attended Sandhurst, given that they had only recently gained independence, so in theory should be pretty proficient at military operations. I knew a Lt-Col from the North who fought in the war and he was trained at Sandhurst.
The Igbos hated the Yoruba for siding with the Hausa in the war, so you should try and represent this somehow. Even 30 years later the feelings were still raw for the Igbos at the perceived betrayal.
The Nigerians had mostly Soviet weaponry with some British arms. And were well equipped.
Most of the soldiers in the Nigerian army were combat troops, however in Biafran army that were x-Nigerian army were, technical troops engineers etc,etc. and were quite ingenious
in making improvised weapons , such as " Ogbuniwe" Which is a form of IED.
The French supplied them with weapons in small quantities, and also bought on the underground arms market.
They also fought on home territory -very thick jungle.
The largest number of mercenaries to have fought a war were in Biafra, some were also pilots.
And the most famous being Mad Mike Hoar....
At the beginning of the war the Biafrans made a surprise advance west and only stopped to negotiate with the Yoruba`s to join their secession.
At that point the road to Lagos the Capital was open, however the Hausa`s had also made a deal with the Yoruba`s.
And this mean`t that the Biafran`s had stretched their lines of supply and had to retreat as the momentum had been lost.
The Nigerian army then attacked from the South, with the 3rd Marine Commando and from the North with the main mechanised and infantry Divisions.
The Biafran`s fought on their home territory against the superior fire power and the Nigerian army and air-force for three and a half years ; in thick jungle.
The Nigerians had Soviet and British armoured cars and troop carriers, no tanks were involved.
The Biafrans had a B25 Bomber which flew to Lagos and got shot down on its first mission...
I hope this helps....
Thanks for this. The air force elements are easy to nail. Count Carl Gustav von Rosen makes an interesting google with his MFI Minicones- There were two B25 and a B26 in the Biafra air wing. The Nigerians had only 20 odd Do 27 s, C47s and a few Wessex Whirlwinds before the Soviets supplied the MiG 17 and Il-28s.
Interesting Biafra was cash rich in Nigerian currency at the start of the war, and used it to good effect.
Need to check your facts on Mike Hoare's involvement. My sources claim that he went had one look and quickly departed. The French encouraged a mercenary force but no more than 53 were recruited. Rolf Steiner headed up 4 Commando - an indigenous unit with several white "soldiers of fortune" - some actually fought for the cause- acting as officers. Men like Williams and Goosens led from the front.
As Steve says, it provides a useful scenario base line.
Hi Sunray, yes my husband was there at the time of the war, he was in his last years of school,
the Biafran raiders often came through the school grounds, as some of the Nigerian older students were also soldiers...
I can recommend this book on the war (well it's the only one I've read on it!). I can remember one bit (IIRC) where a mortar bomb landed on a petrol tanker, turning into a massive flamethrower, that torched everything behind it for some distance!
http://www.amazon.com/BIAFRA-STORY-Making-African-Legend/dp/0850528542
As for escalating the war into British and Soviet involvement, a few thoughts:
- The terrain in the 'North' of the country is Sahel Savannah which is just low scrub and grass. Kaduna where I was is a prime example. Visibility at ground level very limited.
- Any movement by vehicles off road in the dry season kicks up large dust clouds; think North Africa in WWII.
- In the rainy season, off road movement very limited due to the sheer amount of rain in the South.
- The rains in the North certainly cause massive erosion, leading to huge balkas/wadis etc that are impassable to all vehicles unless bridged. They are nigh on invisible until you happen upon them in the bush.
- The rivers are either too wide or too deep to be crossed without bridges. Even little streams are the same due to the aforementioned soil erosion.
- The dry river beds etc make perfect trench systems for defence, but with very limited visibility due to the scrub.
- The Soviet planes supplied had a lot of the 'radar systems' etc removed (An Air Commodore told me this) before being supplied, so they should be rather basic in their performance.
- The main roads and railways probably functioned reasonably well at this time as it was so soon after independence. Any logistics off the main routes would be slow and limited for the reasons mentioned above.
- IIRC the British government was reluctant to get involved in her former colonial territory. This contrasts with the French who kept much closer links with the likes of Cameroon etc.
Hope this helps?
My thanks to the forum for these helpful comments, links and ideas. On reflection I will probably keep to the era but create a fictitious conflict - with France and the Soviets as supporters. I plagiarise the AK 47 Republic rules and have dice decide off table events such as arms embargos and UN resolutions. I also will have several templates of terrain as I like the mechanised movement possible on the bush as opposed to thick jungle.
AK47 is a great set of rules!
My NVA often double up as Peoples Popular Liberation Front...
People's Front for the Liberation of Nububuto! 8)