This is a war cemetery unlike most others you will see in France.British Ordnance Collectors Network
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Noyelles Sur Mer Chinese cemetery, Somme
- Thread starter AMMOTECHXT
- Start date
This is a war cemetery unlike most others you will see in France.
The Chinease cleaned up the battle fields after the war and also dug trenches during WW1
I note from the info that the officers & NCOs were British, so wonder if there was any kind of war diary for the Chinese Labour Corps. If I get a few minutes spare I might have a check of The National Archives (TNA) catalogue via their web site.
I've had a quick look at TNA website and there are many references to the Chinese Labour Corps. One is WO 106/33 and concerns the organisation, recruitment and history of the Chinese Labour Corps 1916 - 1920. It does not expand much on what is in it and I guess to obtain more info you would need to contact TNA. The catalogue also lists references to hospital admissions to various General Hospitals eg 2nd, 18th & 19th, where Chinese Labour Corps men, among others from many other places, were admitted. Some Cabinet Office papers that are referenced give snippets of info, such as men were recruited from Northern China because the climate in that part of the country was more similar to that of the Western Front and people recruited from the South would have suffered in such a different climate from the one they were used to. The then Chinese government was perceived as thinking that there would be financial benefits to the country if they allowed their citizens to be recruited as labourers. However after the war there were papers that stated the USA and UK were concerned about repatriation of Chinese `coolies' who had been working in Bolshevist Russia. Oh, and the China / Tibet thing isn't new either but that is a different story. I have also found references to medal record cards of British officers & NCOs who served with the Chinese Labour Corps. Many were attached from other regiments. From previous research in family history I would suspect that many of them would have been wounded and medically downgraded but were still fit for a military role, like those who were re-allocated to the Labour and Pioneer battalions.
There are also links to the Access To Archives (A2A) network. One of those documents mentioned that Chinese Labour Corps men were banned from using a particular brothel (maison tolerees).
I've had a quick look at TNA website and there are many references to the Chinese Labour Corps. One is WO 106/33 and concerns the organisation, recruitment and history of the Chinese Labour Corps 1916 - 1920. It does not expand much on what is in it and I guess to obtain more info you would need to contact TNA. The catalogue also lists references to hospital admissions to various General Hospitals eg 2nd, 18th & 19th, where Chinese Labour Corps men, among others from many other places, were admitted. Some Cabinet Office papers that are referenced give snippets of info, such as men were recruited from Northern China because the climate in that part of the country was more similar to that of the Western Front and people recruited from the South would have suffered in such a different climate from the one they were used to. The then Chinese government was perceived as thinking that there would be financial benefits to the country if they allowed their citizens to be recruited as labourers. However after the war there were papers that stated the USA and UK were concerned about repatriation of Chinese `coolies' who had been working in Bolshevist Russia. Oh, and the China / Tibet thing isn't new either but that is a different story. I have also found references to medal record cards of British officers & NCOs who served with the Chinese Labour Corps. Many were attached from other regiments. From previous research in family history I would suspect that many of them would have been wounded and medically downgraded but were still fit for a military role, like those who were re-allocated to the Labour and Pioneer battalions.
There are also links to the Access To Archives (A2A) network. One of those documents mentioned that Chinese Labour Corps men were banned from using a particular brothel (maison tolerees).
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I was going through some magazines from the last few years and saw an article from the Royal Logistic Corps museum, now at Worthy Down. They have acquired a Chinese Labour Corps cap badge. It is a metal oval, on its side, having a raised edge, with the inscription C.L.C. in the centre. The article says that the first members of the CLC arrived in France in April 1917. They had British officers, some of whom were former missionaries, and British NCOs, although they had their own rank structure that included Lance Corporals, known as "Gangers". They were issued blue uniforms with felt caps and were relatively well paid by Chinese standards. They usually worked behind the lines, digging trenches, building roads and railways, and repairing tanks. After the war they cleared ordnance, buried the dead and restored the land to agricultural use. There were strikes due to insufficient rice rations and like most soldiers there were occasionally discipline - related problems, mostly due to gambling and petty theft. The Chinese labourers were generally tall and strong, due to a rigorous recruitment and selection process, although an eye condition called trachoma was prevalent. Their bravery was rarely officially recognised - the CLC was awarded 52 MSMs (Meritorious Service Medals) but only five of those went to Chinese soldiers. 66475 First Class Ganger Liu Dien CHEN was recommended for a Military Medal for encouraging other CLC to continue work while shells were exploding nearby. Regulations, however, prevented this and he was awarded a MSM instead. The last CLC returned to China via Canada in 1920. The CLC were members of the Labour Corps and as such are considered predecessors of today's RLC.
