Talk:Battle of Masaka/GA1

GA Review

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Reviewer: Peacemaker67 (talk · contribs) 07:07, 12 January 2019 (UTC)

I'll take a look at this article. Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 07:07, 12 January 2019 (UTC)

This article is in pretty good shape from a quick read through, nice work so far. This will take a few bites, and I might need to come back to the Lead section once I've been through the body in detail. I have some comments:
Lead

• state that Amin was a colonel? and armed forces commander, or state that it was a military coup, or both
  • Stated that he was a colonel who launched military coup.
• given it is important in respect to the destruction of the town after its capture, perhaps mention here what the Ugandans did in northern Tanzania when they tried to invade (this is also relevant in the body)
  • Added that Ugandan troops occupied the Kagera Salient and subsequently murdered local civilians and destroyed property.
• meticulous seems puffery, "careful" perhaps?
  • Done.
• "elite" also seems puffery, there is no evidence they were elite based on their performance in battle. Elite is usually reserved for special forces and those that have proved themselves repeatedly in combat. I'm not seeing that here, but military-savvy sources might have described them as such, so feel free to raise them if I've got that wrong.
  • The sources describe them as elite, or at least much better than the rest of the Ugandan Army which, by comparison, had suffered greatly due to purges and Amin's preference to command through channels of officers personally loyal to him, not necessarily according to their position in the military hierarchy.
    • Perhaps better to describe them as "among the best in the Ugandan army"? Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 09:06, 19 January 2019 (UTC)
• missile barrage? Wasn't this just rockets? I would just leave it as artillery barrage. Rockets are artillery, missiles are a thing distinct from rockets in this context.
  • Done.
• "towards the village of Villa Maria" as it isn't clear from the name if this a house, a locality or what?
  • Done.
• what was the international reaction to the burning of Masaka, if any?
  • I haven't found any contemporary comments on the matter. I did add some info on a Masaka politician opposing Nyerere's beatification by the Catholic Church in 2016 due to his town's destruction.
• suggest linking the Battle of Lukaya to "was defeated at Lukaya"
  • Done.

Background

• give a rank to Amin
  • Done.
• suggest linking the Uganda–Tanzania War to "invasion of Tanzania"
  • Done.
• mention here what the Ugandans did in northern Tanzania that was later used to justify the razing of Masaka
  • Done.
• I'm left wondering what the international media had to say about the Ugandan invasion of Tanzania. We shouldn't be relying just on Avirgan & Honey here.
• The situation was incredibly confused at the time, as Amin was claiming Tanzania had provoked the invasion and Tanzania did not comment on the outbreak of hostilities for several days. I haven't really found much so far about the medias reaction, but I suppose I could dig deeper?

More to come. Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 07:54, 12 January 2019 (UTC)
Prelude

• What is really interesting here is that the Tanzanians intended to seize the two towns in part "in order to incite a rebellion", but surely razing the place wasn't likely to incite a rebellion, except against them? If it was their intention to raze the place in revenge, it wasn't a smart idea and doesn't fit with this intent, if it wasn't, it indicates poor discipline of the Tanzanian troops. Either way, this aspect needs more work to explain the thinking and execution.
  • It does seem to be strange logic indeed. Avirgan and Honey state that the Tanzanian troops were "under orders" to destroy the town, though whether this came from Nyerere or from field commanders (who may not have known about the larger hopes for a rebellion) is unclear. I've added info about Nyerere fearing the international reaction to Masaka's destruction and thus having Obote forge a document on behalf of the Suicide Battalion claiming mutiny, but even so I can't ascertain whether or not this was poor planning or if he was trying to cover up an embarrassing impulse of his officers. Some post-war sources note the irony of Masaka's destruction, as Nyerere had originally told his troops not to destroy Uganda and embarrass Tanzania when they invaded, but this does not make his overall role in the affair any clearer.
• Professing publicly... Were Tanzanian troops on Ugandan soil at this point? If so, when did they invade?
  • Removed that part, as it seems irrelevant. The TPDF was it seems for the most part at least still on only its side of the border (its possible they had occupied the high ground at the border town of Mutukula at this point, I don't recall). I've instead added info about Tanzanian evasions to questions about their activities once the real offensive began.
• "scrupulous" seems puffery. I suggested above that careful(ly) might be more neutral.
  • Done.
• a division seems a large formation to not have an article. Redlink?
  • Adapted from a comment at the A-class review for the Battle of Entebbe: While it played prominent roles in the Uganda-Tanzania War and would qualify under WP:MILUNIT #2, it was an ad hoc formation assembled solely for the purpose of invading Uganda and only Avirgan & Honey really give it much of an operational history. I think if enough of the articles related to the war were fleshed out you would basically have all the information about it. That, combined with the fact that I've only found the one source that covers it in detail, leads me to conclude that its best to not redlink it or give it its own article.
• suggest using convert templates for distances
  • Done.

More to come. Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 08:28, 12 January 2019 (UTC) I'm away for a few days coming up, so probably won't respond much to anything here (or progress this review) during that time. We'll see, depending on internet access. Will be back on the 18th (my time) to continue. Cheers, Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 09:32, 12 January 2019 (UTC)

@Peacemaker67: I've responded to your initial comments. -Indy beetle (talk) 00:21, 16 January 2019 (UTC)

Battle

• "Nyerere was extremely displeased" Why? Because he was concerned about the OAU meeting/international response, or because it might affect his military operations?
  • Probably the former, but Avirgan and Honey do not specify why.
• did David Oyite-Ojok have a rank at this point?
  • Added Lieutenant Colonel
• did all the Ugandan troops go to Boma hill?
  • Clarified the Ugandan troops from the barracks
• if the hill positions provided sufficient cover, why did some troops move elsewhere? Or do you mean insufficient cover here?
  • Clarified Feeling that the hill positions offered them sufficient cover for an extension of their deployment, some of the soldiers relocated to a pineapple field
• link Sudanese and Congolese?
  • Done
• suggest "and were not committed to a battle"→"and their hearts were not in the fight"?
  • If I recall that's basically what Rwehururu said, but it sounded a little euphemistic.
• we've got 1st Infantry Brigade and also First Infantry Brigade. Choose whichever is most common in the sources.
  • Rwehururu calls it the First; changed accordingly.
• did John Walden have a rank?
  • Added Brigadier.
• tanks? what sort of tanks were they?
  • The TPDF was operating at least T-59s and T-62s at the time, but the source does not specify which were used in this instance.
• "The Ugandans then took up positions" do you mean the Suicide Battalion here? I thought the rest had withdrawn to Lukaya?
  • Changed to The unit.
• I assume there was only one Chief Magistrate, so Chief Magistrate's rather than Chief Magistrates?
  • Probably, but the source has no apostrophe. Could be a typo for all I know.

Ok, more to go on with. Will take a look at some more tomorrow. Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 09:06, 19 January 2019 (UTC)

• @Peacemaker67: I've responded to your second set of comments. The thoroughness is most appreciated. -Indy beetle (talk) 01:36, 20 January 2019 (UTC)

Aftermath

• link morale
  • Done.
• "several Ugandan rebels" how about "several Ugandan rebel units"?
  • Avirgan and Honey estimate that 80 rebels participated in Mbarara's capture. Changed to several dozen Ugandan rebels.
• "the destruction of the town" isn't it two towns by now?
  • Changed town to Masaka. It seems Nyerere was only concerned about how Masaka would appear to the international community.
• "The capture and destruction of the Masaka and Mbarara"?
  • Typo removed. The relevant source says nothing about the destruction affecting the disruption.
• "According to the militant"
  • Done.
• "The Jjournalists Toney Avirgan and Martha Honey" this dropping of the definite article before a noun has other examples.
  • Done.
• was there any destruction by TPDF in Kampala?
  • Further information on that can be found at Fall of Kampala. Aside from damage caused by artillery bombardment and actual fighting (which was not insignificant), no. Nyerere actually issued instructions to his troops to try and capture key landmarks in the city with as little collateral as possible. The city was roiled by destructive looting in the aftermath, but most of this was perpetrated by the civilian population. British diplomat Richard Posnett, noting the devastation in Masaka and Mbarara, states that little destruction (deliberate or otherwise) occurred after Kampala was taken.

General

• the formatting of the isbns should be consistent, either with hyphens or not
  • Hyphens added.
• the sources all seem reliable at first glance, except I did wonder about the use of Rwehururu, which is a primary source given he was a participant. It appears that his opinion isn't being used much, mainly bare facts about unit deployments, so it might be ok if you attribute him in-line where he is making an observation rather than reporting factual matters of troop movements etc. Otherwise we are giving him Wikipedia's voice, which is inappropriate. For example, I suggest "According to the Ugandan Major Bernard Rwehururu, the fall of Masaka... He observed that it surprised and deeply troubled..."
  • According to Rwehururu, the fall of Masaka greatly hurt the morale of the Ugandan forces. He elaborated that it surprised...
    • I think you need to go further and establish in-text that Rwehururu was a Ugandan army officer, which is sort of my point. With just "According to Rwehururu", people might think he was unconnected to the events. Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 07:12, 20 January 2019 (UTC)
      • @Peacemaker67: It already says in text Major Bernard Rwehururu, the commander of the Suicide Battalion, so I think his position is quite clear.
        • Good point. My mistake. Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 07:32, 20 January 2019 (UTC)
• there's a need for a tweak in the lead regarding "elite" per my additional comment above. I think it is an extraordinary claim given their performance and the common meaning of elite, and needs a either a really high quality source, or rewording as I've suggested.
  • Removed elite.
• there is only a location map in the reviewed article, which doesn't require a PD tag. I just wondered if there might be some photographs of the fighting or aftermath that could be used?
  • Photojournalist S. I. Mmbabdo included one picture of Masaka's leveled downtown in his compilation, The Tanzania-Uganda war in pictures. Unfortunately it is very much under copyright, and Commons has no photos of rebuilt Masaka. Heck, it seems all of the photos of the war are rights restricted.
• are there any casualty estimates?
  • None found.
• can you work in a link to counter-attack at first mention in the body?
  • Done.

That's me done, placing on hold for these last things to be addressed. Cheers, Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 03:23, 20 January 2019 (UTC)

• @Peacemaker67: I've responded to your comments. Thank you for a very comprehensive review. -Indy beetle (talk) 07:06, 20 January 2019 (UTC)

• This article is well-written, verifiable using reliable sources, covers the subject well, is neutral and stable, and contains no plagiarism. No images require licensing. Passing. Nice work! Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 07:33, 20 January 2019 (UTC)