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 The
war of 1914-1918 relied on engineering.
Without engineers there would have been no supply to the armies,
because the RE's maintained the railways, roads, water supply,
bridges and transport. There would have been no communications,
because the RE's maintained the telephones, wireless and other
signalling equipment. There would have been little cover for
the infantry and no positions for the artillery, because the
RE's designed and built the front-line fortifications. And
finally, without the RE's the infantry and artillery would
have soon been powerless, as they maintained the guns and other
weapons. Little
wonder that the Royal Engineers grew into a large and complex
organisation. |
| Manpower: how big was the RE? |
| On 1 August 1914, the RE
consisted of 1056 officers and 10394 men of the regular
army and
Special Reserve,
plus another 513 and 13127 respectively serving with the RE of
the Territorial Force.
By the same date in 1917, it had grown to a total manpower of 295668.
In other words, it was twelve times bigger than the peacetime establishment. |
| Pre-war |
| The officers
and men mentioned above manned 26 coastal defence Fortress Companies
(of which 15 were overseas); 15 Field Companies (2); 7 Signal Companies
(1); 3 Survey Companies, 2 Railway
Companies; 2 Cable and Airline (signalling) Companies and miscellaneous
other units. There were also 9 Depot companies carrying out training
and administrative duties and various Schools. The detailed sections
below describe how these numbers and types of unit expanded during
the war. |
| Fortress
Companies |
| Click here for
details of the
Fortress Companies |
| Field
and Signals Companies |
| The
most numerous of the Engineers units, the Field and Signals Companies
provided the technical expertise at the front-lines. Click here
for details of the units and here for details of their composition. |
| Field
Survey Units |
| Click here for
details of the Field
Survey Units |
| Special
Companies |
| Formed
following Germany's first strike using poison gas, at the Second
Battle of Ypres, the RE Special
Companies were chemical warfare engineers. |
| Tunnelling
Companies |
| As
war on the Western Front assumed siege conditions, mining operations
began and the Royal Engineers organised specialist tunnelling
units. |
| Railway
Companies |
| There were Railway
Operating Companies and Light
Railway Companies |
| Inland
Waterways and Docks
Companies |
| The specialist arm of the
IW&D constructed and
operated operated docks and waterways at home and overseas |
| Other
RE units |
| Click here for
miscellaneous other units of the Royal Engineers |