Chinese Labour Corps

[Guest gen_wizard]

Hi Pals,

After along period of being off line due to the computer crashing i am so pleased to be back at the forum.

I have a question which came up in a discussion the other day that i hope my learn'rd Pals will be able to help me with. Was the Chinese Labour Corps part of the British Army and if not were they invited to come along and join the party by the Allied goverments. Where did they come from and if they were part of the British Army why aren't they listed on the CWGC site?

Again its great to be back with the Pals.

Regards to all

Mike

[Terry Denham]

The CLC was a British unit and they are listed by CWGC.

You will see their distinctive headstones with Chinese characters in several CWGC cemeteries. There is currently a great deal of research being undertaken to improve the presentation of these names in the database to ensure greater accuracy of the names of the unit's war dead.

They came largely from Northern China and were recruited through the former British possession of Wei-Hai-Wei.

China itself did join the war on the allied side but its troops saw no action as far as I am aware.

See this link for a typical CLC casualty

http://www.cwgc.org/cwgcinternet/casualty_...casualty=619470

There are approx 2000 CLC casualties in CWGC's database

[Ivor Lee]

Mike

Technically the CLC was made up of civilians employed by the British to act as labourers.

They did have British Officers and NCOs with them but their own chinese "NCOs" did not have ranks like corporal.

If you want to know more about the CLC read Mike Summerskill's "China on the Western Front" which you should be able to get through inter-library loan.

[Greenwoodman]

Hi Mike

More information can be found in the Forum archive as well - one thread took place about a year ago:-

chinese labour corps

And if you put "chinese labour corps" into the search engine, it will pull up three or four more threads worth exploring (among about two pages worth!)

Enjoy your digging around!!

[Guest gen_wizard]

Terry, As always you certainly are the one to ask about CWGC problems. Thanks so much for the imformation, it is invaluable for the British War Graves Project.

Ivor, Many thanks for the name of the book, i'll certainly try and get hold of a copy, its sounds a very interesting read.

Greenwoodman, I'm going to enjoy the digging, thanks for the thread, i'll be in the archives of thread city if i'm needed

Thanks again Pals, always say this but you lot always come up with the answers, must be because this is the best forum on the net.

Regards to all

Mike