The Importance of Military Engineers During Operations
- Military engineers have had prominent roles in warfare since the beginning of organized conflict. They helped construct and operate the sophisticated siege technology of the Roman Empire, employing assault towers, battering rams, ballistas and catapults to devastating effect against adversaries. The role of engineers in helping men and equipment move toward an objective was firmly established in the early annals of warfare.
- As industrial warfare began to take shape in the late 19th century, engineers continued to be important to tactical success. As high rate-of-fire weapons such as the machine gun were used, engineers were employed to create proper emplacements for those weapons and to create structures to defend against them. This was the main role of engineers during the First World War, when they were instrumental in building trenches, placing wire and laying mines.
- In World War II, engineers were an important component of maneuver warfare, going in with infantry and armor units in order to remove obstacles and build temporary fighting positions. One of the more important and riskiest missions for engineers was popularized in the movie "Saving Private Ryan." Bangalore torpedoes (explosive charges placed by extendable tubes) were used to clear the way for troops landing at Normandy during D-Day. This mission remains the same today, where combat engineers, often called "sappers," are trained in some of the same techniques and with equipment similar to what was originally developed during the world wars.
- The importance of engineers to military operations lies in their ability to help combat forces perform their assigned mission. The use of engineers is thus subject to the conditions prescribed for military victory. In a peacekeeping operation, the role of engineers might be humanitarian, while in a conventional war, their task might be exclusively to help troops advance.
- In the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the engineer is not only required to fulfill the combat tasks described above, but also to help rebuild much of the infrastructure of those countries. This entails helping with the civilian construction projects that are deemed crucial to securing the support of the population.