| Black Beach | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| African Unification War | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| African Confederation | African Union | ||||||
| Commanders | |||||||
|
Admiral Siphiwe Ngeyo General Wikus Grobbelaar General Samuel Masoko |
General Sebhat Afewerki | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 96,750 | 67,800 infantry, 20 artillery bunkers, 85 pillboxes, 40 artillery pieces, 16 mortar pits, 25 anti-tank guns, 45 rocket launcher sites, 285 machine gun sites, 45 tank turrets | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 39,569 | 47,000 | ||||||
The Battle of Black Beach is one of the most famous battles of the African Unification War. The Beach was the easternmost of eight beaches along the southern coast of Nigeria that were assaulted as part of the Confederation's "Operation Easel". It was the largest beach, and was the most heavily defended, casualties in the first wave were extreme, with certain areas of the beach being covered in bodies up to "five deep". The beach was eventually taken from the Union, and a large beachhead was established, which became crucial for the Confederation's northern campaign.
"The Watery Grave of Heroes"[]
The assault on Black Beach saw entire regiments decimated, and both sides paid a terrible price in terms of equipment and human life. Even the Confederation's legendary General Wikus Grobbelaar, who considered high casualties as part of a "job well done", was awed by the sheer human cost of the battle. Survivor's reports told of a beach "sodden with blood and dyed a dark red" and "mounds of corpses, as high as a man's shoulder". It was decided by Admiral Siphiwe Ngeyo that burying all the dead would take too long, and so, despite Grobbelaar's insistence that all the men be buried, no matter how long the job took, Ngeyo had all the Confederation dead loaded onto warships and buried at sea in a location just off the coast. Today, that entire area is designated as a war-grave, and all ships that pass through it must leave wreaths as a sign of remembrance.