whereas in 1914 the entire staff of engineer officers at G.H.Q. was one brigadier-general, in 1918 this staff was one major-general, two brigadiers and 19 other officers. Similarly the engineer staff of each army was increased from one to 1 1 officers one for water supply, another for bridging, others for mining, camouflage, stores and so on.
The field companies, whose losses in the first few weeks of the war were very great, were increased at once from two to three per divi- sion, and a pioneer battalion in addition gave each divisional- general a sufficient supply of both skilled and unskilled labour for him to make tactical use of engineering works. It was not intended that these troops should be used as infantry except in the gravest emergency, although in some cases this was not borne in mind, and the casualties which resulted made the want of such technical troops more acutely felt than ever.
Under the direct orders of the chief engineer of an army corps there were two or three army troops companies R.E., two or three tunnelling companies, a company or two of a labour battalion, and miscellaneous working parties and transport lorries.
Field Companies. As the field companies were the most numerous of all the RE. units (there were some 160 of them in France in 1918) as well as being the normal organization of military engineers corresponding to a battalion of infantry, a squadron, of cavalry and a field battery of artillery it may be as well here to say a little about their organization. The field companies of the regular army (of which there were 13 in 1914) were formed about 1879 by adding to a few selected fortress companies a section of mounted drivers with transport to carry ordinary entrenching tools, and the special tools needed for the various tradesmen of which the company was composed. At that time the companies were almost exclusively em- ployed on barrack maintenance, and, while subject to military discipline and trained as infantry in drill and musketry, they were given little or no special training as field engineers. But from the experience of the Egyptian and Sudanese campaigns of 1882-5 there began a steady improvement in their r&le as a valuable tactical arm. About 1885 each company was taken off the works annually for a course of field work instruction. In 1 889 continuous engineer s pay, instead of working pay for actual hours spent on works, was introduced, a matter of the utmost importance, for it enabled men to be taken for military training without penalizing them in respect of pay, while their trade skill could still be economically utilized on works when they were not otherwise employed. The gradual im- provement in the military training of this arm, and its cooperation with other arms, was, after the S. African War, still further developed by having the companies posted to army divisions under the direct responsibility of division headquarters, and by the participation, by all ranks, in the divisional training schemes. Further, young civil engineers were, by arrangement with the Institution of Civil En- gineers, given commissions in the R.E. Special Reserve, and after some preliminary training were attached to field companies.
Each company ccnsisted of six officers, all mounted, with about 220 other ranks, of whom about 75 % (dismounted) were tradesmen, the remainder being drivers. There were some 60 horses and mules, with the following vehicles: four double tool carts for tools and equipment, three pontoon and trestle wagons for bridging plant, and a special vehicle for explosives, sandbags, cordage, etc., with the general transport vehicles appropriate to a unit of this size and com- position. The company was organized in four sections, each under a subaltern, so that each section could be detached, with its own tools, for some specific task. There were also some pack animals to take tools, etc., to places where wheeled vehicles could not go. A certain number of the dismounted men were cyclists whose business it was to reconnoitre ahead and bring in information.
Although the greater part of the sappers (dismounted men) were skilled tradesmen, there was introduced, shortly before the outbreak of war, a certain dilution of skilled labour in the form of " pioneers," men who were trained in ordinary field work, but had not been taught a trade before entering the army. Whether this dilution was on the whole satisfactory is a matter on which there is difference of opinion. There is, however, no doubt that as regards the officers, the greater their knowledge and experience of engineering work the better, owing to the variety of the work that falls on a field company in war. Moreover, the development of weapons and the weight of guns, tanks, etc., -which came to be used in the war revolutionized much of the previous practice. No longer were combinations of timber, brushwood and earth sufficient for field defences, nor pontoons and spar bridges sufficient to cross rivers. Concrete and steel had come into the field, and the engineers accustomed to use these in peace had to take them in hand for war, and to see that rapidity of con- struction was combined with stability and strength.
Broadly speaking, the duties of the field companies were field defences, mining, demolitions, water supply and distribution, and temporary roads and bridges, in the fighting zone. Behind these came the army troops companies R.E. and the many special units whose duties are indicated by their nomenclature.
The School of Military Engineering. It is evident that to train officers and men the former especially for the varied tasks that lie before them in war, some very special instruction is needed in peace. This is supplied by the School of Military Engineering at Chatham, to which every R.E. officer after receiving his first com- mission is sent for a course of instruction, lasting normally two years.
This school owes its origin to the Peninsular War. In that cam- paign at first there were no trained sappers, and the officers of the R.E. were woefully ignorant of such military subjects as the de- molition of bridges. As a result of Lord Wellington's representations, and the advocacy of an able engineer-officer, Col. Pasley, a school of instruction in siege works was begun in 1812 at Brompton barracks, Chatham. In course of time instruction in other branches, e.g. construction, surveying, electrical and mechanical engineering, chemistry, astronomy, etc., was added; and in spite of certain dis- advantages, e.g. the growth of houses and establishments round the school, and the absence of troops of other arms with whom com- bined training could be carried out, the work done at this school has been of the utmost value both in war and in peace, for officers and men trained there have gone to all parts of the Empire and made their mark in works of public utility and permanent value.
The training in the pre-war period was as follows : The two years' course is approximately divided into four equal parts under each of the chief instructors, in field fortification, construction, surveying and electricity. The officers are attached to depot companies in one or other of the battalions of R.E. under training, and thus, con- currently with their technical training, they learn the routine of military administration, discipline and drill. As regards the four main courses of instruction it is evident that in the short time available only the rudiments of each subject can be taught. In a profession which admits of so many different avenues of service to the country it is evident that the preliminary course of instruction should include that which is likely to be of value in each and every capacity. There must be a difficulty in arranging such a course when it is borne in mind that one officer may devote his life to purely military studies, another to the scientific work of, say, the Survey of India, another to railway constructions, another to electric de- velopments and so on. Yet there is doubtless some common ground in which all must be trained before diverging, and this is the object of the Chatham training. In field fortification, besides the prin- ciples of defence, already learned by the officers in the cadet stage of their career, there is the practice of entrenchments, redoubts, military mining and demolition; there is, further, construction of light railways and of field shelters, water-supply expedients, and other miscellaneous subjects. This course is largely out of doors, and is specially valuable in teaching young men how to organize and handle skilled and unskilled labour. The survey course includes instruction in all surveying instruments and in the practice both of large sur- vey operations and of the rapid operations frequently necessary in military exploration, and in combining the work of several observers in an unknown country. In the construction course lectures are given on building materials and builders' trades, on applied me- chanics and hydraulics, on water supply, sanitary engineering, roads and railways, the design of structures, including bridges, reservoir walls, etc., and the ordinary methods of execution. Visits to engineering works in progress are included in the course.
Theory and practice are combined in this as well as in the mechani- cal and electrical engineering courses, the details of which are on similar lines. Care is taken to keep in close touch with the best civil-engineering practice in the country; eminent civil en- gineers are invited every winter to deliver lectures, and after the completion of the course selected officers are sent to work for six or eight months on one of the great railway lines, either to learn traffic control, or to be more thoroughly equipped in mechanical engi- neering in the railway workshops. Other officers go to the electric light school at Portsmouth for special training. (G. K. S.-M.)
United States. The army which in its circumstances bears the closest resemblance to the English is that of the United States. Both countries recruit their armies by voluntary enlist- ment, and both use to some extent their military engineers, after completion of their training at a military school, in some form of civil-engineering service in peace.
From 1901 to 1916, the maximum authorized strength of the Corps of Engineers was 248 officers of all ranks, and 1,968 enlisted men forming 3 battalions of 4 companies each. The officers not needed for service with the troop units were employed on civil public works, inasmuch as the Corps of Engineers is charged with the improvement of harbours and rivers, both coastal and inland. As in the case of English officers in the civil- engineering departments in India and the colonies, this employ- ment proved to be of great value in war in that it had trained them " to take heavy responsibilities; in the habit of making weighty decisions; meeting sudden emergencies; in the organiza- tion, operation and care of large bodies of men; and working with men not familiar with or subject to [army] discipline."
In the United States, officers for the Corps of Engineers are obtained from two principal sources, namely, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and the leading civilian engineering colleges. The Military .Academy is not an engineering school, and, although the course furnishes a good foundation for an
