[ Part 2] The foreign soldiers who fought and died for Biafra

The foreign soldiers who fought and died for Biafra Part 2: Taffy Williams with Biafran troops

Following from our earlier report The foreign soldiers who fought and died for Biafra, The Biafran brings the second part of the report.

Major Taffy Williams

The Welsh-born Taffy Williams was a field Commander during the first Biafra-Nigeria War. Noted for his bravery while under fire he served two tours of duty with the Biafran Army, rising to the rank of Major. He was noted to be the last white soldier to leave the Biafran Republic as Nigerian troops closed in.

Williams received military training in South Africa before going to the Congo. Some people believe that Taffy Williams is thought to be the Mercenary that Frederick Forsyth based his character Carlo Channon on, in his famous book “The Dogs of War”. 

Williams found his Biafran troops to be completely different from those who 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".

Williams was assigned one hundred Biafran commandos in early 1968, and managed to keep two battalions of black mercenaries from Chad serving with the Nigerian Army at bay for twelve weeks using only the crudest of weapons. After Williams redeployed his forces in early April, the Chadian mercenaries crossed the Cross River at two locations, and captured Afikpo.

Finishing his first contract and following a brief stay in the UK, Williams returned to Biafra on July 7, 1968. He was assigned to the 4th Commando Brigade led by Lt. Col Rolf Steiner. Steiner had command of 3000 men, and was assigned to the area around the Enugu to Onitsha road. Williams, who liked to joke that he was "half-mad" would personally lead his troops into battle, sometimes standing in a hail ofNigerian gunfire, just to prove to his troops that he was indeed "bullet-proof". His resolve under fire would often unnerve the more superstitious of Nigerian troops and serve to rally his own.

On 24th August, 1968 Williams was drawn into a critical battle of the war. At this point he had 1000 soldiers under his command which threw themselves head first against two Nigerian Battalions, which had crossed the Imo River Bridge along with Soviet Soldiers. For three days their light machine guns and repeater rifles did not stop. When Williams returned to Aba for additional ammunition to continue the fight, he was told that there was simply none to be had. The Nigerian Air Force had become quite successful in blocking supplies into the beleaguered state. Some of Williams' men had but two bullets left in their magazines and they were eventually forced to withdraw.

He was renowned as the only foreign soldier to stand by Biafra for the full duration of the conflict and spent over twelve months in combat.

Alexander Gay

Alexander Ramsay Gay was born in Glasgow, Scotland and fought under Bob Denard at the Battle of Bakavu (Congo). After the town fell he crossed over the border into Rwanda. Where he was interned in a camp along with several 100 other soldiers. 

On the 4th April 1968 he was flown out of Rwanda later that  year joined the Biafra military, fighting under Frenchman Robert Faulques who he had met  in the Congo. During his stay in Biafra he met up with and made friends with Rolf Steiner and Frederick Forsyth, leaving the country in 1969.