War Office: French Tchad [Chad] Other Ranks: Service Records

This series consists of 131 service records of soldiers (not officers), who served in the 2004 Pioneer Company as part of the British Army.

These individuals were of Chadian origin and who had originally served as part of the Third Fighting French battalion of de Marche, part of Free French forces in Africa during the Second World War. It had taken part in the East African Eritrean campaign (June 1940-November 1941) and played a significant role in the Western Desert in 1941 to 1943.

These individuals had deserted the Free French and were eventually integrated as a Pioneer Company in the British Army. The unit was originally posted from Egypt in January 1943, and was disbanded in December 1944.

The types of documents that are most commonly found within the service records comprising this series are:

• Attestation forms, which are the documents signed by the new recruit, or created upon transfer between units.
• Statement of service, which outline an individual's postings whilst in service.
• Discharge forms, which were issued when a soldier left the regiment.
• A variety of supporting correspondence.

Some pieces appear to have been organised according to surname or date of birth, however for large parts of this series there is no discernible order to the pieces

In 2020 Ministry of Defence

Topics

Army

Conflict

Middle East

Armed Forces (General Administration)

Operations, battles and campaigns

Africa

The service records for individuals in these units were originally administered by East Africa Command and held at the Military Record Office, Nairobi. This Record Office provided a location for the administration of service (as well as other) records to a number of units recruited and/or administered in East Africa during and immediately after the Second World War. In 1959, instructions were issued relating to records held overseas in various records offices across former United Kingdom territories. Records of locally enlisted personnel were offered for ultimate custody to the Colonial Governments concerned. Those which were not accepted, or included personnel of British origin, were transferred to record offices in the United Kingdom and, ultimately, to Ministry of Defence custody.