Army chiefs have issued a last-minute plea for white female soldiers to appear in a recruitment campaign after focusing 'too hard' on finding ethnic minority troops for the TV adverts.

Filming of the £1million 2020 Army Belonging campaign will begin in Morocco tomorrow on a sandy set intended to recreate the battlefields of Afghanistan.

But just days before cameras were due to roll, top brass realised they had not recruited enough white women to take part – while all the roles for troops from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds were filled.

The oversight appears to be the latest in a series of blunders as part of a drive by General Sir Nick Carter, Chief of the Defence Staff, to make the Army more politically correct.

Top brass have previously come under fire for dropping the 'Be The Best' slogan and a controversial 'Snowflakes' campaign earlier this year.

Last night, squaddies blamed the shortage of white women taking part in the campaign on the Army's 'obsession' with appearing diverse.

Commanders are under pressure to meet a target of ten per cent of troops from BAME backgrounds – currently only seven per cent of personnel are non-white.

The oversight appears to be the latest in a series of blunders in a drive to make the Army more politically correct. Their previous television campaign that was echoed in a series of posters, aimed at millennials, was widely criticised

Six posters, echoing Lord Kitchener's famous 'Your Country Needs You' slogan, depicted serving soldiers as 'snowflakes', 'phone zombies', 'binge gamers' and 'selfie addicts'

An Army source said: 'They left it very late finding white female soldiers for the adverts. They had to scour the Army and twist arms because not enough women came forward.

'Perhaps some people were put off by a feeling that the diversity agenda has become almost an obsession.

'Last year's TV ads included a British-Asian soldier praying on the battlefield, and was widely mocked for being completely unrealistic.

'They want to engineer these adverts to present a certain perspective of the Army in terms of its make-up which just isn't the case. They're trying too hard.'

The SOS, which appeared on the Army's intranet system, read: 'Please advertise this throughout your chain of command as a matter of urgency – Army National Recruiting Campaign Casting for TV and Online Adverts.

'There has unfortunately been a limited response to this call for volunteers and the roles for the TV adverts have not all been filled. In particular, please target white, female soldiers as this demographic is currently under-represented…

'Filming will be in the UK and Morocco. Interested personnel are to obtain permission from their chain of command.'

The adverts are set to be screened from January.

The Army's most recent TV campaign, which was aimed at millennials, was widely criticised.

Six posters, echoing Lord Kitchener's famous 'Your Country Needs You' slogan, depicted serving soldiers as 'snowflakes', 'phone zombies', 'binge gamers' and 'selfie addicts'.

The Mail on Sunday revealed how one Scots guardsman resigned in disgust when his picture was used below the word 'snowflake'.

Last night an Army spokesman said: 'We routinely work with contracted agencies to fulfil their casting requirements with serving personnel.'