Tag: Combat Engineering
UK Military Bridging – World War II (The Far East)
UK military bridging enjoyed several finest hours during WWII and it would be impossible to describe every single operation. Instead, I am going to look at a significant operation in the three theatres of North West Europe, Italy and the Far East. The Far East Operations in the Far East were very different to those [...]
UK Military Bridging – WWI
As the Boer War drew to a close most of the Royal Engineer units returned to the UK and a period of re-organisation followed that culminated in the formation of three bridging Companies, allocation of Field Companies to Divisions and additional units to take responsibility for searchlights, air, works and telegraph signals. A number of [...]
UK Military Bridging – Early Days
Anything to do with ancient China always seems to elicit a great deal of discussion and debate so the historical reference points for the emergence of military bridging are varied but most historians see China as the first recorded place that military bridging used pontoon bridges several hundred years BC These were commonly called a [...]
UK Military Bridging – Definitions and General Terms
Any military commander will always strive for freedom of movement and the opposing commander will equally strive to deny that freedom. Obstacles may be natural or man-made. Mobility and counter mobility is the core role of military engineers. Breaching those gaps, providing the force with that essential mobility and freedom of movement is as old [...]
UK Military Bridging – Introduction
One of the great unsung success stories of British military endeavour is that of gap crossing, or perhaps more commonly known as military bridging. In the next series of posts I am going to shine a light on this little known subject, concentrating on UK aspects but touching on other nations where I think it [...]
The Changing Fortune of Pill Boxes
Thought I would drag an article out of the archives and republish/recycle, because it’s such a good one i.e. not from me! Pillboxes are the iconic symbol of WW2 anti-invasion defences so I thought a post on their use, with reference to Suffolk, during WW2 may be of interest. As I said in my earlier [...]
On Soft Ground
Continuing my quest to find the most obscure subjects to write about, the next in line is Trackway and Matting. Vehicles Soft ground obviously creates problems for all types of vehicles reducing mobility and access to key points or routes. In the preparations for D Day and as a result of some very brave reconnaissance [...]
The Miracle that is HESCO
I am working on a post about another marvel of British combat engineering expertise, the HESCO Bastion. As a taster
Gap Crossing with Sticks
A fascine is simply a bundle of brushwood lashed together to form a lightweight gap crossing. It can also be used to secure the banks of rivers or other construction uses but for the purposes of this post it is the former. They have been used since the early days of warfare , in the [...]
Can We Have Our Bridge Back Now Please
When I looked at military bridging in august last year the Mabey Logistic Support Bridge was used as an example of the semi permanent bridge types used by military engineers. The Barker Crossing and was erected by 3 Armoured Engineer Squadron, 22 Engineer Regiment, to reunite the two halves of Workington after the original bridge was [...]
In An Age of High Technology
In an age of increasingly high technology warfare it is interesting that centuries old skills are still relevant. The MoD reported this week on sappers from 9 Parachute Squadron Royal Engineers repairing a bridge in Afghanistan. Using nothing but hand tools, sweat and the natural skill of the Sapper they repaired a local bridge. Soldiers [...]
D-Day – After
We thought we would look at a few of the lesser known aspects of the D-Day landings, before, during and after. There are so many aspects of Operation Neptune (the assault phase of Overlord) that are worthy of telling but in this series we look at the weather (before the landings), armoured combat engineering (during [...]
Recent Comments