BIAFRA HERO: HUGH TAFFY WILLIAMS

  • Lady Bianca Odumegwu Ojukwu shared stories about some Biafra heroes in comemoration of the 50 years of the war
  • TellAfrica brings some of these heroes to your door step;
  • MeetΒ HUGH “TAFFY” WILLIAMS

Hugh β€˜Taffy’ Williams was born in Wales in 1933 and grew up in, as well as received his military training in South Africa. Noted for his bravery he served two tours of duty with the Biafran Army, rising to the rank of major, and was the last white mercenary to leave the country as secession ended.

Williams found his Biafran troops to be completely different from those whom he commanded in Katanga. “I’ve seen a lot of Africans at war,” he was quoted as saying. “But there’s nobody to touch these people. Give me 10,000 Biafrans for six months, and we’ll build an army that would be invincible on this continent. I’ve seen men die in this war who would have won the Victoria Cross in another context”. An irascible man, he was known for constantly screaming at his men . Williams also was known in Biafra as being “bullet proof” due to his ability to survive multiple wounds and was five times reported to be killed in action between December 1967-October 1968, only for him to turn up alive.

Williams was assigned one hundred Biafran fighters in early 1968, and managed to keep two battalions of Chadian mercenaries serving with the Nigerian Federal Army at bay for twelve weeks with only antiquated weapons. After Williams redeployed his forces in early April, the Chadians forded the Cross River at two locations, and captured Afikpo, a main town on the western side.
Taffy Williams died in 1996.

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