Tanebourne

HQ Patrol

What this roll records

AN OFFICIAL RECORD FOR HIM AT LAST, AND THE FIRST FOR ANY OF THE MEN ADDED THAT DAY. Ian Chard, 19 September 2026: he is NOTED AS A DRIVER IN OPERATION INSTRUCTION 72, held at The National Archives under WO 201/815. THIS IS A DIFFERENT DOCUMENT FROM THE ONE ALREADY ON THIS CARD, which cites Operation Instruction 75 of 1 January 1943, so he is named in the operational record more than once. IT CORROBORATES RATHER THAN CORRECTS: the role field here already reads Driver, taken from the L.R.D.G. P.S. Troopers roll, and a War Office operation instruction says the same thing independently. Nothing is changed on this card because there is nothing to change — what has changed is that the claim is now documented rather than listed. THAT MATTERS PARTICULARLY HERE. This is among the thinnest cards on the roll: no forename, no rank and no service number, and a surname this card itself flags as an uncommon spelling that may be a transcription of something more usual. A FILE REFERENCE IS THE FIRST REAL FOOTHOLD ANYONE HAS HAD ON HIM, and WO 201/815 is where to begin. WHAT IS NOT CLAIMED: the document has not been read by this site, and nothing here settles his forename, his rank, his number or the spelling of his name. Recorded from Ian Chard, 19 September 2026, supplied by Tony Moore and entered on his instruction of the same day.

ADDED TO THIS ROLL ON 11 SEPTEMBER 2026. A DRIVER at HEADQUARTERS in the desert, with one dated entry against him: “Op In 75, 1 Jan 43”, an operation instruction of 1 JANUARY 1943 — which is the Group working west through Tripolitania ahead of the Eighth Army. HIS CORPS IS QUERIED AND IS NOT ENTERED: the roll reads “RASC?”, with the question mark in the source, and the Royal Army Service Corps is where the Group’s drivers usually came from, so the reading is likely and unproved. He has NO FORENAME, NO RANK and no dates of service. NO SERVICE NUMBER IS RECORDED FOR HIM, on that roll or anywhere on this one, so he cannot be searched at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission or in the service records. That is the first thing anyone working on him will need. THE SURNAME ITSELF IS WORTH A SECOND LOOK: Tanebourne is an uncommon spelling and could be a transcription of something more usual, which is the kind of thing a service number would settle at once. If you can add anything about him and his LRDG service, please email the roll keeper. Recorded from Ian Chard’s red-line corrections to the L.R.D.G. P.S. Troopers roll of 11 September 2026 (LRDG_IanChard_Troopers_redlines_vs_roll_2026-09-11.xlsx), supplied by Tony Moore.

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Not By Strength But By Guile