Combat
engineer training was some of the most advanced military training
of the day. It included many aspects. Everything from clearing
roads to reconnaissance patrols and beyond. All of these duties were
accomplished in addition to the duties of an infantryman. The 24th sustained many casualties in this role alone.
Engineer
training took approximately [1]574 hours, and it was conducted at
Camp Mackall, North Carolina.
In this post, I will go over some of the more common duties armored
engineers were called on to accomplish, as well as give examples from
primary source reports. They will be told from the point of view of
the other units about the work their engineers did for them. All
examples will be about the 24th
Armored Engineer Battalion (of course!).
Some
of the most dangerous work the engineers did was that of clearing
minefields. On the way to Stein Bockenheim, Germany [2]“Mines at
the crossroads help up the advance of the force until it could be
cleaned out... and engineers removed the mines under cover of the
infantry deployed ahead of the minefield.” And just like
they removed mines, they also planted them for Germans.
Armored engineers also had the vital job of keeping the roadways
passable for advancing armor and infantry. This includes tanks that
have been hit, and are blocking roadways. This is the reason they
almost always had a platoon of engineers close to the front of an
advancing column. They used Armored Recovery Vehicles, however it
was not uncommon for them to use bulldozers as well. During the
assault on Malbergweich, Germany the main road going north to south
[3]”was mined and A/37 had three tanks damaged at the
crossroads...the damaged vehicles formed a road block holding up the
company for time time. After the engineers cleared the road, “A”
Company succeeded in getting though the woods.” Occasionally there
would be craters from artillery and other explosives in the roadways
rendering them impassible for advancing armor. [4]”At 0930 an
impassible road crater was reported 2Km west of Ferle, and the
engineers started to bridge it.”
One obstacle the columns were constantly facing was streams and
river. They needed a bridge; however, the Germans were good at
blowing them to bits. The most commonly used bridging material used
by the 24th seemed to be inflatable pontoons. They could
be inflated fairly quickly to allow infantry across, and treadways
could be attached to allow light tanks and trucks to cross. On April
2, 1945 they ran into the Werra River at Creuzberg, Germany.
[5]”Engineers were brought up, and under the protection of a
rail-road grade, they inflated a pontoon which after being taken to
the river, served as a ferry to move the infantry across.” They
ended up putting treadways on these pontoons, with some complications, later in the day.
When infantry was needed across the river immediately, it was the
engineers responsibility to get them there. One of the commonly used
method was inflatable pontoon boats. When the 10th
Armored Infantry Battalion arrived at the bridghead west of Kunitz,
Germany, the bridges were all blown. [5]”Infantry was shuttled
across river in rubber ponton boat, cleaned Kunitz taking
approximately 150 PW's.” One of the most famous examples of this
would be the Waal River crossing made by 3/504 Parachute Infantry.
“C” Company of the 307th Airborne Engineer Battalion
used their boats and men to take them across.
Another especially high risk job of the engineers was participating
in reconnaissance patrols in advance of armor and infantry columns.
They would look for things that needed to be done so they could plan
their work, as well as see thing from a “mobility” point of view.
On 13 March, 1945 [6]“A
task force composed of D/37, assault guns
of 37th and 10th, and a platoon of B/24 moved
to the vicinity of Mahren, swept the area for possible enemy, and
found it occupied by friendly service forces.” This time they made
no contact with German forces however, they were not often this
lucky.
Knowing their duties of obviously critical to understanding these men and their actions during the war. I hope you found this information as useful as I did. Writing it was a blast.
Sources
[2],
[5] After-Action Report, 51st Armored Infantry
Battalion, 23 Aug. 1944 though 9 May 1945, P.5 Courtesy of the
National Archives and Records Administration
[3]
“After-Action Report for month of March, 1945”, 37th
Tank Battalion. P.6 Courtesy of the National Archives and Records
Administration
[4]After-Action Report, 51st Armored Infantry Battalion, 23 Aug. 1944
though 9 May 1945, P.26 Courtesy of the National Archives and Records
Administration
[5]“After-Action Report for month of March, 1945”, 37th
Tank Battalion. P.4 Courtesy of the National Archives and Records
Administration
[6]“After-Action Report for month of March, 1945”, 37th
Tank Battalion. P.7 Courtesy of the National Archives and Records
Administration
