Military history of Chad

Chad achieved independence in 1960.^[1] At the time, it had no armed forces under its own flag.^[1] Since World War I, however, southern Chad, particularly the Sara ethnic group, had provided a large share of the Africans in the French army.^[1] Chadian troops also had contributed significantly to the success of the Free French Forces in World War II.^[1] In December 1940, two African battalions began the Free French military campaign against Italian forces in Libya from a base in Chad, and at the end of 1941, a force under Colonel Jacques Leclerc participated in a spectacular campaign that seized the entire Fezzan region of southern Libya.^[1] Colonel Leclerc's 3,200-man force included 2,700 Africans, the great majority of them southerners from Chad.^[1] These troops went on to contribute to the Allied victory in Tunisia.^[1] Chadians, in general, were proud of their soldiers' role in the efforts to liberate France and in the international conflict.^[1]

The military involvement also provided the country's first taste of relative prosperity.^[1] In addition to the wages paid its forces, Chad received economic benefits from three years of use as a major route for Allied supply convoys and flights to North Africa and Egypt.^[1] By 1948 about 15,000 men in French Equatorial Africa (Afrique Equatoriale Française, AEF) were receiving military pensions.^[1] Many Chadian southerners, finding military life attractive, had remained in the French army, often becoming noncommissioned officers (NCOs); a few had earned commissions as well.^[1] The French wars in Indochina (1946–53; see First Indochina War) and Algeria (1954–62; see Algerian War) also drew on Chadians in great numbers, enlarging the veteran population still further.^[1] Those men receiving pensions tended to form the economic elite in their villages.^[1] As southerners, they did not become involved in later insurgent movements that developed in central and northern Chad.^[1]

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o Collelo, Thomas, ed. (1990). Chad: A Country Study (2nd ed.). Washington, D.C.: Federal Research Division, Library of Congress. pp. 175–179. ISBN 0-16-024770-5. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)

[Collelo-1990-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o Collelo, Thomas, ed. (1990). Chad: A Country Study (2nd ed.). Washington, D.C.: Federal Research Division, Library of Congress. pp. 175–179. ISBN 0-16-024770-5. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)

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