Nigerian Civil War

===Foreign mercenaries===
Outmatched by Nigeria's superior firepower, Biafra hired foreign mercenaries for extra support.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,900387,00.html|title = Biafra: The Mercenaries|magazine = Time|date = 25 October 1968}}</ref> Mercenaries with prior experience fighting in the [[Congo Crisis]] were eagerly drawn to Biafra. German mercenary [[Rolf Steiner]] was placed in charge of the 4th Commando Brigade of the Biafran Armed Forces and commanded 3,000 men. Welsh mercenary [[Taffy Williams]], one of Steiner's subordinates, was in command of one hundred Biafran fighters. Steiner's other subordinates were a mixture of adventurers consisting of the Italian Giorgio Norbiato; the Rhodesian explosive expert Johnny Erasmus; the Scotsman Alexander "Alec" Gay; the Irishman Louis "Paddy" Malrooney; the Corsican Armand Iaranelli who had been able to enlist in the Foreign Legion by pretending to be Italian; and a Jamaican bartender turned mercenary who called himself "Johnny Korea".{{sfn|Jowett|2016|p=15}} Polish-Swiss pilot [[Jan Zumbach]] formed and commanded a ragtag air force for Biafra. Canadian pilot [[Lynn Garrison]], Swedish pilot [[Carl Gustaf von Rosen]], and Rhodesian pilot [[Jack Malloch]] served as leaders of Biafran air operations, attacking Nigerian forces and also supplying weapons and food aid. Portuguese pilots also served in the Biafran Air Force, transporting weapons from Portugal to Biafra. Steiner established a [[brown water navy]] by converting some [[Chris-Craft Boats]] into gun boats, which turned out to be successful in launching surprise raids for weapons and supplies.{{sfn|Venter|2016|p=95}}

It was hoped that employing mercenaries in Nigeria would have similar impact to the Congo, but the mercenaries proved largely ineffective since the Nigerian military received much more professional and adequate training compared to the Congolese militias.{{sfn|Baxter|2015|p=49}} Despite some initial early successes (such as [[Operation OAU]]), over half of the 4th Commando Brigade was wiped out by Nigerian forces during the disastrous [[Operation Hiroshima]] of 15–29 November 1968, resulting in Steiner experiencing depression and a nervous breakdown, leading to his eventual expulsion and replacement by Taffy Williams. Although Nigeria appeared to be a tougher opponent, commentators observing the war noted that the remaining mercenaries appeared to have developed a personal or ideological commitment to Biafra's cause, which is a rare trait for mercenaries.{{sfn|Baxter|2015|p=50}} Belgian mercenary [[Marc Goosens]], who was killed by defensive Nigerian forces in a [[suicide mission]] during Operation Hiroshima, was reportedly motivated to return to Africa after a dispute with his girlfriend.{{sfn|Baxter|2015|p=50}} Goosens was photographed in the moments before and after his death.{{sfn|Baxter|2015|p=50}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jeremy-duns.com/blog/2014/5/30/the-real-dogs-of-war |title=The real dogs of war — JEREMY DUNS |website=www.jeremy-duns.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160323040031/http://www.jeremy-duns.com/blog/2014/5/30/the-real-dogs-of-war |archive-date=2016-03-23}}</ref> Steiner claimed to have fought for Biafra for idealistic reasons, saying the Igbo people were the victims of genocide, but the American journalist [[Edward P. Morgan|Ted Morgan]] mocked his claims, describing Steiner as a militarist who simply craved war because killing was the only thing he knew how to do well.<ref name="Morgan">{{cite news |last1=Morgan |first1=Ted |title=War Is Heaven |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/07/09/archives/war-is-heaven.html |access-date=11 April 2020 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=9 July 1978}}</ref> Journalist [[Frederick Forsyth]] quotes Taffy Williams speaking of his Biafran subordinates, "I've seen a lot of Africans at war. 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".{{sfn|Baxter|2015|p=50}}

After the war, [[Philip Effiong]], the chief of the Biafran general staff was asked by a journalist about the impact of the mercenaries on the war, his reply was: "They had not helped. It would had made no difference if not a single one of them came to work for the secessionist forces. Rolf Steiner stayed the longest. He was more of a bad influence than anything else. We were happy to get rid of him."<ref name="Oyewole">{{cite journal |last1=Oyewole |first1=Fola |title=Scientists and Mercenaries |journal=Transition |year=1975 |volume=48 | pages=64–65}}</ref>