Invasion of Umuahia
1969 invasion in the Biafran War
The Invasion of Umuahia (March 20-December 24, 1969) was a military conflict during the Biafran War between Nigerian and Biafran soldiers. The Invasion of Umuahia occurred during the final stages of the Civil War and happened eight months prior to the Biafran surrender.
Background
Ever since the early stages of the Nigerian Civil War, both sides had been fighting for control of the Imo State. The Imo State was particularly important due to its capital, Owerri. Owerri was first invaded by the Nigerians on September 17, 1968, during Operation OAU and it was kept under Nigerian control until the Capture of Owerri in early 1969. Oguta had been attacked many times before and it became an important city during the war. It lay directly in the path of Owerri but it was heavily fortified by Biafran soldiers. Many roads connecting Oguta and Owerri to Nigerian-controlled cities were purposely destroyed by Biafran soldiers to delay attacks by the Nigerian army. After the large Nigerian loss at Owerri, Col. Benjamin Adekunle was replaced by Col.
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This entry incorporates text from “Invasion of Umuahia” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.