1977 war plan

The Camels of Cal madow

Porcupine and proud
Why didn't siad barre first convince Djibouti to unite and then invade through the Awash river valley if his intention was to take over Addis Ababa it bores deep into the mountains of Ethiopia.
 

QueenofKings

Kick in the door wavin the .44
Why didn't siad barre first convince Djibouti to unite and then invade through the Awash river valley if his intention was to take over Addis Ababa it bores deep into the mountains of Ethiopia.

Jabuuti ( let’s stop disrespecting ourselves by naming our brothers by their opressors language) - did try and unite with Somalia on several occasions but their efforts were thwarted by the French, I believe they even went as far as to assassinate the president or Vice President who was pro reunification. Equally a proposal by the U.N. for Jabuuti to reunite with Somalia was vetoed by France. Referendums for reunification were held and rigged thanks to the French (and also afar who didn’t want to be a minority within a greater Somali majority).

I guess by 77 MSB didn’t think it was likely France would allow reunification. Besides as Jabuuti is independent their fate was in their own hands, while Somalis in Ogaden where under the whip of the Habesha, and therefore perceived as being more oppressed. Hence it would be easier to rally people to a war of liberation.
 

convincation

Soomaali waa Hawiyah Iyo Hashiyah
VIP
The war strategy wasn’t perfect but the fact that we reached from dire dawa and harar in the north to negele in the south while the Somali army was smaller than the Ethiopian one which was backed by foreign troops, I honestly count that as a win
 

OffTheDome

Proud American
It’s cause Afweyne rushed everything. The only reason the ‘77 war happened was bc afweyne was very hated around the country. The 77 war was a way to get public onside and stay on the chair for longer.
 

OffTheDome

Proud American
Jabuuti ( let’s stop disrespecting ourselves by naming our brothers by their opressors language) - did try and unite with Somalia on several occasions but their efforts were thwarted by the French, I believe they even went as far as to assassinate the president or Vice President who was pro reunification. Equally a proposal by the U.N. for Jabuuti to reunite with Somalia was vetoed by France. Referendums for reunification were held and rigged thanks to the French (and also afar who didn’t want to be a minority within a greater Somali majority).

I guess by 77 MSB didn’t think it was likely France would allow reunification. Besides as Jabuuti is independent their fate was in their own hands, while Somalis in Ogaden where under the whip of the Habesha, and therefore perceived as being more oppressed. Hence it would be easier to rally people to a war of liberation.
That doesn’t even make sense cause Somalia was called La Somalia Italiana. -ia at the end is an italian suffix.
:mindblown:
 

QueenofKings

Kick in the door wavin the .44
That doesn’t even make sense cause Somalia was called La Somalia Italiana. -ia at the end is an italian suffix.
:mindblown:

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Royalflush

novacane
my strategy wouldve involved the eritreans since we helped them get independance. they can attack from the north of ethiopia at mek'ele and draw some of the troops to engage them.
their goal should be to eliminate major military bases using planes and artillery and capture addis ababa. to do that id have some of the somali troops come in and do an amphibious assault from eritrean waters and enter ethopia and take dire dawa. the other somali ground troops- some light infantry and light armour can enter from luuq and go to west ehtiopia where there are plenty of forests and national parks-
and set fire to them. create a huge wildfire which prevents the ethiopians from attacking gedo and forcing them to meet the main army between dire dawa- in the east and the wildfire. so its a mostly mountainous and dry region. the aim is to push them from the flank and south all the way to addis abba.

the eritreans should then switch to guerilla warfare and attack and burn farms which are near the addis abba region, blocking off the ethopians retreat. any major road which serves as a supply line to the residents of central ethiopia should be destroyed. therefore starving them and causing their troops and general citizens to be weaker. finally a 3 pronged assault should be waged on the main city, capturing it and making them sue for peace

@Hot Ballah what do you think of my strategy:childplease:
 

Caaro

I do something called "what I want"
2021 GRANDMASTER
VIP
my strategy wouldve involved the eritreans since we helped them get independance. they can attack from the north of ethiopia at mek'ele and draw some of the troops to engage them.
their goal should make be to eliminate major military bases using planes and artillery and capture addis ababa. to do that id have some of the somali troops come in and do an amphibious assault from eritrean waters and enter ethopia and take dire dawa. the other somali ground troops- some light infantry and light armour can enter from luuq and go to west ehtiopia where there are plenty of forests and national parks-
and set fire to them. create a huge wildfire which prevents the ethiopians from attacking gedo and forcing them to meet the main army between dire dawa- in the east and the wildfire. so its a mostly mountainous and dry region. the aim is to push them from the flank and south all the way to addis abba.

the eritreans should then switch to guerilla warfare and attack and burn farms which are near the addis abba region, blocking off the ethopians retreat. any major road which serves as a supply line to the residents of central ethiopia should be destroyed. therefore starving them and causing their troops and general citizens to be weaker. finally a 3 pronged assault should be waged on the main city, capturing it and making them sue for peace

@Hot Ballah what do you think of my strategy:childplease:
Eritrea didn’t have fighter planes in ‘77. Also, they didn’t get independence until ‘91.

You’re also giving them way too much “take out major military bases and capture the capital” kulaha. At that point the war is over lol

Also, this wildfire would harm the Somali troops more than the ethiopian troops. Creating a giant wildfire in a forest just to stop ethiopian troops from attacking gedo? We’re on the offensive, the battlefield is in Ethiopia, not in Somalia. Why would you worry about defense? You’re just blocking your own retreat route.

Your plan is pretty bad, I’m not a military strategist but even I know that this is just wishful thinking. Siad Barre was doing a good job and would have won the war, but because of foreign entities the war was turned around and somalia was doomed to lose regardless of what it did.

Only thing I would have changed would be to strengthen diplomacy to prevent that.
 

Amazonian

Cirka Gacan Saarte 💪🏾🇸🇴
Let's be honest, we didnt lose that war all the way lol. Somalia managed to landlock Ethiopia, if we didnt get the Ogaden back at least we were able to equip the Eritreans and give them freedom. They continued the legacy even after our war with Ethiopia was over. They would still be a colony of Abyssinia if never supplied Eritrea's independence.
 
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World

VIP
The reason we failed is because the Soviet Union and their allies(South Yemen, Cuba, etc) gave huge support to Ethiopia with tens of thousands of troops, military commanders, air support etc. Siad Barre didn't think they would do such a thing. If they hadn't, then no doubt the Ethiopian regime would have eventually collapsed and Ogaden would be part of Somalia.
 

Royalflush

novacane
Eritrea didn’t have fighter planes in ‘77. Also, they didn’t get independence until ‘91.

You’re also giving them way too much “take out major military bases and capture the capital” kulaha. At that point the war is over lol

Also, this wildfire would harm the Somali troops more than the ethiopian troops. Creating a giant wildfire in a forest just to stop ethiopian troops from attacking gedo? We’re on the offensive, the battlefield is in Ethiopia, not in Somalia. Why would you worry about defense? You’re just blocking your own retreat route.

Your plan is pretty bad, I’m not a military strategist but even I know that this is just wishful thinking. Siad Barre was doing a good job and would have won the war, but because of foreign entities the war was turned around and somalia was doomed to lose regardless of what it did.

Only thing I would have changed would be to strengthen diplomacy to prevent that.
slight oversight, we couldve armed them to rebel set the wheels in motion be more imaginative :childplease:
take out military bases is a priority its part of the war but the war would end after the capture of the capital.

the wildfire would harm them more than us, it burns their food supply and it forces them to go east to fight us while we can remain back till they cross through the bottleneck. we wouldnt be blocking anything, if a retreat is needed we just go back but they cant go east to cut us off.

sxb this is ingenious battle strategy, but the whole thing would be so much easier with some napalm:banderas:

and "strengthen diplomacy" kulaha we got caught up in the cold war sxb, russia made ethiopia a new ally theres no negotiating with them.
 

Caaro

I do something called "what I want"
2021 GRANDMASTER
VIP
slight oversight, we couldve armed them to rebel set the wheels in motion be more imaginative :childplease:
take out military bases is a priority its part of the war but the war would end after the capture of the capital.

the wildfire would harm them more than us, it burns their food supply and it forces them to go east to fight us while we can remain back till they cross through the bottleneck. we wouldnt be blocking anything, if a retreat is needed we just go back but they cant go east to cut us off.

sxb this is ingenious battle strategy, but the whole thing would be so much easier with some napalm:banderas:

and "strengthen diplomacy" kulaha we got caught up in the cold war sxb, russia made ethiopia a new ally theres no negotiating with them.
I don’t mean diplomacy right in the middle of war. I mean before the war, it’s far too late for diplomacy in ‘77. Maybe in ‘70 if they strengthened ties with Russia.
 

libaaxad

boqorada burco ✨
In hindsight somalis won the 77 war if they had left addis ababa alone, but we were too greedy.

many somalis were sent to djibouti to vote for the union (some stayed), and speaking to some people from that country they feel like they dodged a bullet by losing the vote. If all regions were were united, the civil war would have been even more gruesome than what it was.
 
Djibouti Kulaha 68 iq strikes again :mjlol:

Djibouti was only independent for 16 days when the war began.

Btw the Eritreans were fighting the Ethiopians at the same time in coordination with us and the rebels captured nearly all of Eritrea in 77. The defeat of Somalia in 78 freed military resources and the Ethiopians recaptured Eritrea shortly afterwards
 

Yahya

2020 GRANDMASTER
VIP
The war strategy wasn’t perfect but the fact that we reached from dire dawa and harar in the north to negele in the south while the Somali army was smaller than the Ethiopian one which was backed by foreign troops, I honestly count that as a win
The fact that the entire Ogaden region as retaken in one month was impressive. Said barre should have stopped there and negotiated with the Russians.
 

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