3rd Division (Nigeria)

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3rd Armoured Division
3 Div NA - Camp Zairo, 2017.png
A military parade of the 3rd Division with its unit colours during an exercise in the Sambisa Forest in 2017.
Active1967–present
CountryFlag of Nigeria.svg  Nigeria
Type Mechanized Infantry
RoleCombat support
SizeDivision
Part ofFlag of the Nigerian Army Headquarters.svg  Nigerian Army
Garrison/HQ Jos, Nigeria
Engagements
Commanders
General Officer Commanding Major General Abdulsalam Abubakar
Notable
commanders

The 3rd Armoured Division is a division of the Nigerian Army. The division is headquartered at Jos, Plateau State.

Contents

History

Founding and Civil War

The 3rd Division of the Nigerian Army dates to August–September 1967 during the Nigerian Civil War. At that time 1 Area Command at Kaduna was redesignated 1 Infantry Division, 2 Division was formed under Colonel Murtala Mohammed, and the then Lagos Garrison Organisation was renamed 3 Infantry Division, later to be renamed 3 Marine Commando under Colonel Benjamin Adekunle. [1]

Then-Colonel Olusegun Obasanjo took over command of 3 Division from Benjamin Adekunle on 12 May 1969. [2] He carried out a thorough reorganisation of the division's administration and eliminated the sector level of command which had been operating between the division and brigade level. [3] He also formed a new reserve battalion, the Special Task Force, later to become 'Apollo Battalion' after the Apollo 11 Moon landing of 20 July 1969, which was not to be used for ground-holding duties. [4]

At the end of the Civil War, the three divisions of the army were reorganised into four divisions, with each controlling territories running from North to South in order to deemphasise the former regional structure. Each division thus had access to the sea thereby making triservice cooperation and logistic support easier. This deployment formula was later abandoned in favour of the present assignment of sectors to the divisions. Thus 1 Division with HQ at Kaduna is allocated the North West sector; 2 Division with HQ at lbadan South West sector, 3 Division with HQ at Jos North East sector and 82 Division with HQ at Enugu South East sector.[ citation needed ]

Later operations

3rd Armoured Division was responsible in April 1983 for the security of areas bordering Chad during the Chadian–Nigerian War. [5]

From October 22 to 24, 2001, several hundred Army soldiers of the Yola Brigade (23 Brigade) of 3rd Armoured Division killed more than two hundred unarmed civilians and destroyed homes, shops, public buildings and other property in more than seven towns and villages in Benue State, in central eastern Nigeria. The 72nd Special Forces Battalion appears to have tried to intercede with the Yola Brigade to avoid further killings, in the midst of the events. [6]

Divisional components

Structure

The division has the following structure: [7]

Equipment

Main battle tanks in Nigerian service include the T-72 and T-54/55 (together seemingly 36 vehicles in service) and over 100 Vickers Mark 3s.

Commanders

Notes

  1. General Olusegun Obasanjo, 'My Command: An Account of the Nigerian Civil War 1967-70,' Heinemann, Ibadan/London/Nairobi, p.18 (Via Joint Services Command and Staff College Library)
  2. Obasanjo, My Command, Prestige (paperback), 1980, 83-84.
  3. Obasanjo, 1980 paperback edition, 92-114, 123-126.
  4. Obasanjo, 1980 paperback edition, 126-7. This Special Task Force should not be confused with a previous Special Task Force that was a provisional brigade that was eliminated in the process of eliminating the sectors.
  5. Jimi Peters, The Nigerian military and the state, I.B. Tauris, 1997, p.174, via Google Books
  6. Human Rights Watch, [Military Revenge in Benue: A Population Under Attack, April 2002, Vol 14 (2) A.
  7. Nigerian Army 3 Division, verified October 2008

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References