Battle of Mutukula
Battle of Mutukula | |||||||||
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Part of the Uganda–Tanzania War | |||||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||||
Tanzania | Uganda | ||||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
Mwita Marwa Salim Hassan Boma |
Yefusa Bananuka Bernard Rwehururu Abdulatif Tiyua | ||||||||
Units involved | |||||||||
208th Brigade |
Gondo Battalion Suicide Battalion | ||||||||
Strength | |||||||||
1 brigade | unknown | ||||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||||
3 killed dozens wounded |
14 killed 2 captured 1 tank destroyed 1 tank damaged 1 tank captured 3 APCs destroyed |
The Battle of Mutukula (
Background
In 1971 Colonel Idi Amin launched a military coup that overthrew the President of Uganda, Milton Obote, precipitating a deterioration of relations with the neighbouring state of Tanzania. Amin installed himself as president and ruled the country under a repressive dictatorship.[1] In October 1978 he launched an invasion of Tanzania.[2] On 1 November he announced the annexation of the Kagera Salient, an 1,800 square kilometre (694.9839 square mile) strip of land between the Ugandan border and the Kagera River. Ugandan troops subsequently pillaged the area they occupied, murdering civilians, stealing cattle, and destroying property, triggering the flight of 40,000 inhabitants southward.[3] In November the Tanzania People's Defence Force (TPDF) launched a counterattack, retaking the salient, while the Ugandans withdrew to the border.[4] Tanzanian commanders nevertheless felt that as long as Ugandan troops controlled the high ground at Mutukula along the frontier they posed a threat to the salient. Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere toured Kagera in late November. Able to see Ugandan troops encamped on the high ground through binoculars, Nyerere was moved to agree with his officers and ordered them to capture Mutukula.[5]
While sporadic clashes occurred along the border over the next two months, the TPDF made preparations to attack Mutukula. The TPDF's Southern Brigade was renamed the 208th Brigade and its command was handed to
Battle
Tanzanian and Ugandan troops began exchanging fire at 22:00 on 21 January during a rainstorm. Rwehururu attempted to telephone the Uganda Army Chief of Staff,
Artillery struck near Bananuka's trench, burying him in soil. The soldiers in his vicinity believed him to be dead and subsequently fled while his deputy, Lieutenant Colonel Abdulatif Tiyua, allegedly issued orders to the Gondo Battalion to retreat, stating that the orders had been given by Bananuka. Bananuka was able to dig himself out and escape to his temporary headquarters in Kakuuto.[8] In the town Tanzanian tanks encountered a platoon of Ugandan M4 Sherman tanks. In a short battle, the Tanzanians destroyed one of the Shermans, whereupon the rest quickly withdrew.[12][9] The Ugandan tank commander, Captain Muzamir Amule, was able to tow his damaged tank away from the battle. By 11:00, Mutukula was overrun. Following a meeting with his officers, Rwehururu decided to move his battalion away from the frontlines to its headquarters in Sanje.[10]
Casualties
Three soldiers from Boma's battalion were killed in the attack, while several dozen were wounded.[13] A Ugandan tank and three OT-64 SKOT armoured personnel carriers were destroyed. The hasty Ugandan retreat left large caches of weapons and ammunition abandoned; the Tanzanians seized a tank, three 160 mm mortars, and three 120 mm mortars.[13][9][a] Rwehururu stated that 14 Ugandan soldiers were killed, while his artillery officer was wounded and two sergeants were taken captive.[10][b] Despite this defeat, the Ugandans subsequently claimed to have killed "hundreds" of Tanzanians at Mutukula.[9][c]
Aftermath
According to Rwehururu, at around 16:00 on 22 January, a helicopter carrying Brigadier Taban Lupayi and Lieutenant Colonel Godwin Sule touched down in Sanje. The two Ugandan commanders informed Rwehururu that the reinforcements Amin had promised him were coming from Lukaya, 120 kilometres (75 mi) north of Mutukula. The men of the Suicide Battalion were furious, and Lupayi and Sule quickly left. The First Infantry Brigade reached Sanje in the evening, but Rwehururu withdrew his battalion to its barracks in Masaka.[10] The Gondo Battalion also withdrew to Masaka, while Bananuka was arrested for apparently ordering a retreat against higher instruction. Amin later released him.[8] Demoralised by their defeat, elements of the Gondo Battalion fled from the frontline all the way back to their base at Moroto.[7] Other Ugandan forces retreated to the hills around Kakuuto.[15] Ugandan planes conducted sporadic, ineffectual attacks against Tanzanian forces along the border.[16]
After capturing Mutukula, the Tanzanians razed the town in revenge for the destruction wrought by the Uganda Army in Kagera. Bulldozers demolished homes, while soldiers shot elderly civilians who had been unable to flee. Nyerere was pleased by news of Mutukula's capture, but was horrified at his commanders' boastful reports of its destruction. He immediately ordered the TPDF to refrain from harming civilian lives and property from that point forward.[12] As of 1998, the border signpost at Mutukula remained riddled with bullet holes from the battle.[17] Tanzanian Prime Minister Edward Sokoine toured Mutukula on 23 January 1979.[18]
Later, Radio Uganda reported that Amin sent a message to the
Course of the war
Nyerere did not initially intend on expanding the war beyond defending Tanzanian territory. After Amin failed to renounce his claims to Kagera and the Organisation of African Unity offered only limited criticism of the Ugandan invasion, he decided that Tanzanian forces should occupy southern Uganda.[19] War correspondent Al J Venter argued that the Battle of Mutukula was the "first decisive Tanzanian blow" in the war, precipitating the later TPDF victories in Uganda.[20]
The Tanzanians constructed an air strip in Mutukula so transport aircraft could resupply the troops at the front lines.
Notes
- ^ The Tanzanian state-owned newspaper, Daily News, stated that two tanks, six armoured personnel carriers, three Land Rovers, and several jeeps and lorries were captured.[14]
- ^ The Daily News reported that "Mutukula was littered with the dead bodies of [Ugandan] soldiers."[14]
- ^ Rwehururu wrote that his men had inflicted "hundreds" of casualties on the Tanzanians, and that "their bodies littered the Mutukula Prison grounds". He wrote that furthermore, "intercepted messages revealed that they needed at least 10 lorries to transport the dead and the wounded".[10]
- ^ Political scientist Daniel Acheson-Brown wrote that this "seems to be a contradiction of Nyerere's earlier order not to destroy civilian areas."[21]
Citations
- ^ Honey, Martha (12 April 1979). "Ugandan Capital Captured". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 16 April 2019. Retrieved 7 November 2018.
- ^ Honey, Martha (5 April 1979). "Anti-Amin Troops Enter Kampala". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 25 November 2018. Retrieved 7 November 2018.
- ^ Roberts 2017, p. 157.
- ^ Avirgan & Honey 1983, pp. 67–69.
- ^ a b c d e f Avirgan & Honey 1983, p. 69.
- ^ Cooper & Fontanellaz 2015, pp. 28–29.
- ^ a b Avirgan & Honey 1983, p. 170.
- ^ a b c d Kasasira, Risdel (27 February 2017). "Life as an Amin army commander". Daily Monitor. Archived from the original on 1 March 2017. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f g Cooper & Fontanellaz 2015, p. 29.
- ^ a b c d e f "Fighting for Amin". The East African. 8 April 2002. Archived from the original on 8 March 2008. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
- ^ Avirgan & Honey 1983, p. 81.
- ^ a b Avirgan & Honey 1983, p. 70.
- ^ a b Avirgan & Honey 1983, pp. 69–70.
- ^ a b c "Tanzanian troops raiding Uganda, Nyerere says". The Guardian. Reuters. 27 January 1979. p. 3. Archived from the original on 7 June 2019. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
- ^ Mzirai 1980, p. 52.
- ^ Mzirai 1980, p. 49.
- ^ Nandawula, Jane (17 August 1998). "Uganda: Mutukula: A little heaven at the border". allAfrica.com. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
- ^ Kigadye 1984, p. 40.
- ^ Avirgan & Honey 1983, pp. 77–78.
- ^ a b Venter 1979, p. 59.
- ^ a b c Acheson-Brown 2001, p. 8.
- ^ Avirgan & Honey 1983, p. 85.
- ^ Cooper & Fontanellaz 2015, p. 31.
- ^ Roberts 2017, pp. 162–163.
- ^ Roberts 2017, p. 160.
- ^ Avirgan & Honey 1983, pp. 232–233.
References
- Acheson-Brown, Daniel G. (2001). "The Tanzanian Invasion of Uganda: A Just War?" (PDF). International Third World Studies Journal and Review. 12: 1–11. ISSN 1041-3944. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2011-06-12.
- Avirgan, Tony; Honey, Martha (1983). War in Uganda: The Legacy of Idi Amin. Dar es Salaam: Tanzania Publishing House. ISBN 978-9976-1-0056-3. Archivedfrom the original on 2024-01-22. Retrieved 2019-05-13.
- Cooper, Tom; Fontanellaz, Adrien (2015). Wars and Insurgencies of Uganda 1971–1994. ISBN 978-1-910294-55-0.
- Kigadye, Albert Ndayagilante (1984). Edward Moringe Sokoine: kiongozi wa watu aliyejitolea (in Swahili). Dar es Salaam: Black Star Agencies. from the original on 2023-11-25. Retrieved 2019-05-13.
- Mzirai, Baldwin (1980). Kuzama kwa Idi Amin (in Swahili). Dar es Salaam: Publicity International. OCLC 9084117.
- Roberts, George (2017). "The Uganda–Tanzania War, the fall of Idi Amin, and the failure of African diplomacy, 1978–1979". In Anderson, David M.; Rolandsen, Øystein H. (eds.). Politics and Violence in Eastern Africa: The Struggles of Emerging States. London: Routledge. pp. 154–171. ISBN 978-1-317-53952-0. Archivedfrom the original on 2024-01-22. Retrieved 2019-05-13.
- Venter, Al J. (October 1979). "The War is over – What next?". Soldier of Fortune. 4 (10). Soldier of Fortune: 58–59, 77, 84–85.