A book came out abt 5 yrs ago that told stories abt the engineers. It was an excellent bk., IMHO. I think U will like it. God bless all of our Vets, active duty, and their families.
Excellent, my late dad was an engineer. Badly wounded in Africa he finished the war as an acting Major training men in Wales (Pembrokeshire) on the erection of Bailey Bridges for the invasion of Japan. He was a good father and a gentleman.
Imagine planning D-day with no email, no Excel spreadsheets, no Microsoft Project, no SAP material control system, no zoom meetings, limited phone call capabilities, no PCs, etc., etc. Those guys were amazing!
You know, that might have been a good thing. Eisenhower had enough to deal with without every officer with any responsibility being able to blast thousands of CYA emails and text messages around.
Unfortunately my Uncle who was a Sapper in Normandy died of his wounds despite being flown to England after being caught in the chest by machine gun fire. 👍🏻🏴🇬🇧
My father was a American combat engineer on the first suicide wave at Omaha. He never talked about it until he was on his death bed and I asked him? He said that his landing craft had a Gurkhas fighter onboard that would sharpen your knife for two bits. Apparently it was a British landing craft. I tell you what those combat engineers on D day in the first wave and following waves were sure sent into the Abyss. Anyone landing on Omaha were true heroes. It was a Pyrrhic victory that day. Way to many casualties. I will never understand how the Air Force and Navy overshot the German defenses and our tanks sank to the bottom. Wow what a total screw up. Then by the time they figured out we overshot the German Defenses that doing so now would (jeopardize) what little line we had left with friendly fire. Which Dad said a one point that was his biggest threat was when Navy Guns finally got the correct range. How he survived was a miracle.
My father served a a lieutenant in the Army Corps of Engineers. He was, however in charge of a photolithography unit that produced and updated existing maps from aerial photographs as well as printing plans and designs for airstrips, etc. He went ashore at Normandy after most of the fighting had moved well inland. He actually had experience as a camera repairman and instrument maker before the war.
I trained as a combat engineer at Ft. Leonard Woods, Missouri in the Autumn of 1969. Very interesting and physically demanding, more so than Basic Training.. In Vietnam, my unit, among other things refurbished the road that the North Vietnamese then used to take Saigon in 1975. Providing potable water in the field is a very important job for the engineers. We had some deaths from construction accidents. My favorite part was explosives, "blow 'em up real good," as they say.
My uncle was a SeaBee in the Pacific. One of his stories was how after a landing he was so exhausted that he collapsed and woke up in a pile of corpses. What these men did needs more credit than they get.
Escaping into the Rockefeller library at Brown on a hot summer day, I found micro filmed copies of OSS assessments for the invasion of Japan. The photos of original documents, hand typed pages with hand written corrections in the margins, gave a real feel for the number of people who had labored, trying to calculate how long a besieged Japan could hold out. The section I read was literal been counting; the food value of soy beans, the capacity of Japan's soy bean farmers, were all being quantified in attempt to estimate how long Japan could keep fighting. In the big picture, how long Japan held out and the reflected cost in lives and treasure of an invasion, was a major factor leading to the decision to use the atomic bomb.
Robert McNamara, later US Secretary of Defense in the Vietnam War, was involved during WW2 in statistically analysing the effect of bombing on the Japanese.
At 16:12 Indy talks about calculating explosives required. As SSG McDonald, Special Forces demolition instructor said back in 1980, the equation is P = Plenty.
My father wasn't an engineer but, as a Regimental Quartermaster Sergeant (RQMS), he worked with them all the time. He told much the same story as above of an Engineer officer telling him that they calculated what they needed for a task then multiplied it by 3 when requisitioning the explosives. As he said, there was always plenty to blow up and always something needing disposed of in a hurry. All said with a bit grin on his face. Apparently his favourite was German tanks. As he put it, "If we need to pull back a bit, I'm damned if I'm leaving them anything worth recovering." Maybe that explains why there are so few Tiger 1s in museums!
It’s been quite a while since we last saw a World War 2 Special video. Glad to see the team back on track after all the time and work on the D-Day episodes!
My Great Grandpa was an engineer of a maintanence company. He was the carpenter general of the company. He was a German immigrant, so was used as a translator a lot, and got to meet Ike in person, even making a map box for him.
What I found fascinating after watching this channel for a couple of years is the Allied superior logistics capabilities, their organizational structure, and their distribution network. Of how they managed to calculate a certain amount of material, create said material, send the material, distribute the material, employ the material, and use the material. Of how Allies managed to create technological feats in engineering, plumbing, gasoline refinery construction, maintenance, utilities, transportation systems, port management, etc. I find it completely fascinating. This Allied feat will keep going and show the Axis the true power they are dealing with. Godspeed.
one of my dad's friends in the Seabee Veterans of america was in england before D-day building mulberry harbor sections. they were told it was a "new kind of drydock". he said they all knew that story was BS, but they knew these parts were for something and it was important, so they shrugged and went back to work.
Here's to the aviation engineer companies who built airfields in the Aleutian Islands. My father was sent to expand those airfields in Adak and Attu after the surrender of the Japanese, just in case.
Although my dad was on Guam and Okinawa as an Army Combat Engineer, he also built airstips. He went on to make a career in the Army and wore on his right (combat) shoulder the 20th Air Force patch until retirement. Yes, those Aviation Engineer companies saw some long hours in extreme heat and dangerous conditions on those islands.
As an Army Combat Engineer in the 80's we built the same "Bailey bridge" they show in the film footage. Amazing that the design is still being used today.
Just an afterthought: With all of the technological advances from the Great War, the inter-war period, and World War II...we were (and still are in some instances) using the same equipment from those era. I was a Combat Engineer (MOS 12B20) through the Fall of the Berlin Wall, Desert Storm and Somalia eras. It wasn't uncommon for us to use everything from Baily Bridges, to Bangalore torpedoes, and everything in between...most unchanged in design from WWII. Why fix what ain't broken?
I was in the Royal Australian Engineers in the 70s-80s and we had Bailey bridges, bangalore torpedoes and my issued first field dressing was made in 1944!
@@fatmanfaffing4116 Likewise in the US Army... I retired in the mid 2000s, but my sidearm in the late '80s was a 1945 M1911. Our heavy equipment operators carried the M2 "Grease Gun", circa 1942.
With this many engineers on the allied side, the speed of the post war (re)construction efforts in the west makes a lot of sense. All those skills transfer amazingly well to civilian life.
My father was a US Army Combat Engineer in the Pacific Theater. He cleared the beach for the Marines on Guam. Then he was involved in a lot of cave fighting on the island. Once the island was secured, he commanded a construction company that built an airstrip that is today Anderson Air Force Base. Then he was in the invasion of Okinawa. Went on to fight all the way to the southern tip of the island. This is where he also saw much cave fighting. He kept bad memories of it all his life.
It may not be glorious or glamorous or super-heroic, but without these engineering detachments and their special gadgets, we could not have rolled up Germany in the West so fast. Good job, guys!
Thank you for doing this. I had a relative who was in the 121st. Eng CB attached to the 29th ID. He landed at Omaha around 7AM and as far as I know didn't last more than a few minutes. His brother was also an Engineer who was wounded at Nancy, France. Luckily he missed the bulge while recuperating. He talked about the difficulties of setting up a bridge while under artillery fire.
Dad was in the Engineers in the Philipines when they sent him as part of the first troops to Korea. He was one of those vets that hated the M1 Carbine because men he shot were getting back up. He got ahold of a .45auto and "went to work with it" as he put it. He re-enlisted while he was there but changed over to the USAF from the Army so he'd be shipped back to the States and trained to be an electrician. Of course, they sent him right back after the training and he found himself stringing wire for runway lights out in a wide-open field. Being the only target in the area, he was mortared and got hit in the knees and hip. He said he dug out 18 pieces of red-hot shrapnel.
I had the honor to live next door to a WW II vet, a combat engineer with Patton's 3rd Army, 347th Combat Engineers. LOTS of stories, and every now and then he scratched at his arm from the phosphorus burns. He didn't know it was American or German.
My grandfather was Royal Canadian Engineers in 2nd Boer War & WWI. In some ways I think this is why my dad went for US Navy instead. He heard too many horror stories about "trying to figure our way out" of various field problems.
The "Operation Pluto" pipelines that were laid from England to France and the modular, "easily assembled Bailey Bridges" were important D day solutions to major headaches.
I served 40 years as an reservist in the Royal Australian Engineers and it was great to see just how important sappers were and still are for combat success, first in and last out. Good to see footage of the Bailey Bridge, having built a few I still think this is a majestic piece of kit and so versatile that we should still be using it today.
80 years ago today, my father Steven Linakis was a member of the 297th Combat Engineer Battalion, just turned 22 years old. He fought through the Normandy landing, the liberation of Paris, and the Battle of Ardennes. He accompanied the first troops into Germany. Fought through the Battle of Hurtgen Forest. Thank you for posting and explaining, so much I never knew.
I was a Combat Engineer in the 80s at Leonard Wood, Mo. We were light, with 5 ton dump trucks.. it was exhausting work. My favorite part of the job was demolition and my least was construction of bridges. I was the mine detector man in my squad but fortunately it was peacetime.
Thank you so much! My Dad was an engineer with the 503rd Light Pontoon. He had told me a lot of what he did with building bailey bridges and demolitions. Dad said he was glad he never had to kill a man although he got shot at multiple times. He passed away in 2014 at 95 in his sleep. Thanks Dad and thanks to all the engineers who served their country! I miss you old man!
Excellent video and so very thought provoking! I was a helicopter pilot in Vietnam and we made many insertions of troops to LZs, but where we did the most good was LOGISTICS! I was a flight instructor for thirty years and always stressed to the students that supplies are what allowed the soldier to do his job. Your video is quite the thought provoker and you presented it so very professionally! Best of luck!
As an ex Royal Engineer, thank you for this excellent presentation. My time with 11Field Squadron, 38 Engineer Regiment was the most exciting. Search team in Northern Ireland 79-80. Norway in place of our commando sqn 80. 81 in Belize. To deter Gautamala from invading while Belize got independance. 82 Falklabds. Air defence on board the Sir Bedivere. She was credited with shooting down an Argentine Mirage. After we got hit a glancing blow from a "return to sender" 1000lb bomb! Building the airstrip at Port San Carlos. Then ship to shore refueling. And airstrip repair. The latter two tasks with just two L/cpl's and four sappers. The Sqn did many other tasks. Including mine clearance and repairing the runway on Stanley airfield. After 23 years it was time for civvy street. The Bailey bridge was used as an assault bridge. Almost suicidal in view and range of enemy fire. After Normandy. They were built in cover. Then, it was pushed by a tank down the road and over the gap. A much safer alternative! These days, they are mainly used as a line of communication bridge. In secured rear areas. Tank layed bridges are the current assault bridges. The obsolete No's 8 and 9 bridges were pretty good. The no. 12 also a good bridge. The no's 10 and 11's not so great. The M3 Amphibious bridging system is excellent for wet gaps. Its such a pity that the Navy and RAF no longer have the Harrier. Only 20 F35's split between the RAF and two aircraft carriers!
In 1983 we took a staff ride from our Kaserne in West Germany to Normandy. The battalion I was in, the 237th at that time landed on UTAH, proceeded to blow holes thru the sea wall and conducted mobility operations supporting 4th ID. The trip was our battalion commanders way of linking our present (1983) to June 1944. It was a eye opening experience. Finally, remember 2 things: when calculating demolitions remember P=Plenty and Essayons.
Dad (a pre Pearl Harbor draftee - "your enlistment has been changed from One Year to For the Duration") was an engineer. Shipped up to Canada/Alaska to build the Al-Can Highway. Then out into the Aleutians to build metal airstrips, reclaim marshy land, the whole gamut. Having done all that they then got stationed in the Washington DC area. Dad described it as a "Demonstration Brigade". Some Senator/Dignitary would come over and they'd build a Bailey Bridge or some other task while they watched. Thanks Indy and Company for the excellent feature on the Engineers.
The biggest thing I learned was how much of the Combat Engineering included port facilities, roads and railroads that were not destroyed by the Germans but were never there in the first place
My maternal grandfather was a Lieutenant with the US Army 24th Infantry Division Engineers in the Pacific. He went into Japan right after the atomic bombs were dropped. He said you could smell burnt bodies two miles offshore.
I knew a former "Topo Engineer" that was a photographer that flew in photo recon P-38's. He was in the India-Burma Theater, then went to the Pacific Theater.
One of the interesting engineering aspect of D-Day was the artifical harbours. The British designed and constructed the parts but the British & US engineers were responcible for the final construction of the port in their areas. The US engineers finished in half the time by leaving off many of the anchor wires, while the British engineers finished it with all the anchors. When the storm hit a later the US port was destroyed. But, by that time it had delivered much needed supplies earlier. So, this is another aspect of the engineers' balancing risk vs reward. Thanks, and have a great day.
The battle of the buldge. Army engineers blew up bridges in Piper's face. His translated quote is " those damed pioneers." They also made his life hell in advancing at cross roads.
my great grandfather and his best friend were combat engineers on D-Day they were on one of the first waves as to clear out tank traps both survived the war and when my great grandfather passed away from natural causes years later, my great grand mother remarried to his best friend in the unit who became my step great grandfather Thank you for shedding some light on this amazing topic and MOS
My great grandfather was a Sapper in the 7th Field Company, Canadian Engineers, 2nd Infantry Division. He is recorded as landing on Red Beach during the Dieppe Raid. I have a copy of the Toronto Daily Star where he's listed as missing and another a day later listed as safe. His unit would land in Normandy in July 44. It's difficult to track his exact movements but the Canadian 2nd Division was involved in many iconic battles: Verrieres Ridge, operation Atlantic, Spring, Totalize and Tractable. The channel ports, including a return to Dieppe. Operations in the Scheldt Estuary and operation Blockbuster, crossing the Rhine in March/April 45. His papers say he was discharged and return home in December 45.
Its Ironic I am in the process of looking up information about my great grandfather who was a combat engineer, and participated in the assault waves of D-Day and this video shows up in my feed. I remember when I was really little when he was in the hospital I remember my dad asking him what it was like on D-Day. His response was "have you seen the movie saving private Ryan? It was a lot like that." I remember hearing him say that he had to jump off the side of the boat in order to avoid getting shot. That was one of the few times he told stories from his time in WW2. Its awesome to see a video like this. Thank you and keep up the good work!
A very good video. Engineers are usually abused. I was a staff officer at the US Army Engineer Center in the 1970s. We reinvented some of "Hobarts Funnies" for use on the new XM-1 Abrams tanks. We had 3 prototype rollers and 3 prototype plows. When presented at the puzzle palace the tankers didn't want "those ugly things on their beautiful new tanks". Funding was denied. 13 years later and the clankers saw all of those $30 mines that were going to ruin their beautiful(but vulnerable) tanks. Then they started demanding rollers and plows immediately. Funny how people who can't plan ahead think that others should be responsible for bailing out their stupidity. Prototypes had been stored and were dug out, rehabbed, and sent to Saudi. Contracts went out to build more but it took a lot of time. After Desert Storm the Engineers were drastically cut. They don't learn. Good Luck, rick
My great grandfather Merce Gonzales was a combat engineer in the 37th Engineer Battalion, Company C. I don't know the details of his service, but he came out the end of the war with 4 Bronze Stars.
This begins to address the huge amount of effort put into planning. Not only the detail for the Normandy invasion told here, but the planning to get the economy to produce the equipment, the logistics to bring it to the staging area (UK), and the details to get it into ships, organized to coordinate with landing craft and naval support. Whew! What a lot of work just to get it to the front, praise be to the long train of supply and training behind the boys at the tip of the spear
Very interesting. Back in the late 70's early 80s. I worked in a machine shop with a bunch of WW2 vets. I used to car pool with one who was an engineer. He said he was one of the first on Utah beach. He was tasked with setting up cameras on the beach. He said guys were going down but they would mug for the camera. It was amazing place to work. You had all the machinist who learned there trade mostly at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. You had a bunch of German and a few Austrians who learned there trade during the war. 30 years earlier the were building weapons against each other. They worked together like it never happened....
“Without the expertise of their supporting engineers, the Allied columns will find themselves bogged down quite literally, and it would certainly pay off to have specialists that know how to rapidly construct bridges or how to mount pneumatic floats over flooded craters.” Beautifully written and delivered. Top notch work, Indy.
You tell an extremely complex story about the wartime engineers. Facilitating, well researched and presented. Before retiring I was a mechanical engineer and have generally felt that civilian or military engineers aren’t well understood by/ the general public. So well done you telling the story of the men as they overcame the challenges during and after d-day. Regards
Iv always been interested in the engineering side of the war because my great grandfather served in the australian engineers as a sapper. It would be great you guys did a special episode on the subject because I cannot find a great deal about the topic. Love the channel keep it up!!
I read that radios (the kind used to listen to music over radio wave) got popular after WW1. Before that time, radio receiver was a very exotic item and required rare skill set. Once WW1 radio operators came back home, it helped popularize radios.
As a ordinance corps veteran I have the utmost respect for the engineering corps. The most touching heroism by the engineering corps was the Dutch engineer battalion that sacrificed themselves to construct a bridge in freezing conditions to allow Napoleon and remnants of his army to escape the Russians.
An excellent production! Very informative. The logistic train behind the Allied armies was immense. The Germans were foolish, even stupid, to believe they could defeat the industrial might of the Allies, regardless of the vaunted German technical prowess.
Alexander the Great was really good when it came to logistics. It was partly thanks to that he was able to conquer as much as he did. His logistics train rarely let him down.
Monty had some choice words of praise for the Bailey Bridge, as a multiplier of forward momentum, very excellent presentation of the brave combat engineers.
How did I miss this yesterday? My mom's uncle landed at Normandy on D +1 as one of the engineers who built/rebuilt the bridges and roads. Thank you for highlighting their work. The detailed planning and execution of their work was critical to the ultimate victory that was achieved. Also, I gotta compliment Indy on his vest. Notwithstanding the important work that this episode highlighted, my first thought was literally, "That's a great vest".
Several years ago, I met a SeaBee at a 7-11. Thanked him for his sevice on the way in with my daughter. We came out, and he was standing there waiting for us. He asked if we had a minute, I said of course, the he asked if I knew what SeaBee meant, I said of course. He drove an armored bulldozer in the Pacific, Rabul, Manilla,& Guam. He sat for a hour with us! Having to knock down mudstone buildings full of Japanese soldiers because bombardment just burned the roofs off! What an education in fear! He was hit by schrapnel from a B25 raid and was sent to light duty at a pow camp! Said he missed the bulldozer! Way better men than we. He got in his car and I noticed his wife was there the whole time( no idea it was his). After a few minutes she got out and came over to us and said he was crying, but at peace now, what did he say, I explained a little, and she said he had never uttered a word of it, married 61 years and forbid her asking him! She thanked us. I hope he is unburdened
Awesome content, my grandfather crewed a flail tank on d-day, he made it of the beach though the tank did not. As I was also a soldier i was the only family member he would tell about his experiences when the mood took him.
As an engineering student and a history enthusiast, this is incredible seeing how engineering worked 80 years ago! More STEM people should consider history, not just law students or striaght up history students
I think one of my favorite anecdotes about the 'off-duty' engineers in WWII had to do with a group during the Pacific campaign. In a documentary I watched they showed on Guadalcanal they had worked out Washing Machines! They built a fan, pulleys, an agitator and buckets (I'm sure there were more things) to get a wind powered washer! Way ahead of their time. They did all sorts of things like that to make their living quarters 'more like home'.
After he was drafted my father was assigned to the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP) to become an engineer officer. It was a heavily concentrated college level engineering course of study, 6 days a week, 8 hours a day of classes and, of course, homework. The ASTP classes were held at colleges and universities all over the country. Once DDay was past it was obvious that the need was more for enlisted infantrymen than for engineer officers and so he ended up an infantry private. All that classwork gave him a couple years head start on his university engineering degree. Coincidentally my grandfather was in the 15th US Engineers and was in one of the first US units deployed to France in WWI.
From the "Quote Book" in the students' mess of the Canadian Land Force Command and Staff College: "The role of the engineer is to make the ground conform to the commander's plan."
After a production crunch with D-Day, all of us here at TimeGhost are so happy to be back to some regular specials. What should we film next?
Today is when Operation Bagration launches, I was kinda hoping there would be some content about it on its anniversary day.
I would love an episode on Hobart's Funnies.
How did the Big Three feel about each other personally. Maybe that would be to short of an episode, but it was what came to mind.
I would really like to see what happened to Winston Churchill after the war in Europe ended and why he was sacked.
I would be really intrested in something about the assasination attempt on Hitler the 20th of July and the events & aftermath of it.
Thank you to the crew at World War Two channel for bringing the story of the combat engineers' contribution to the war effort.
A book came out abt 5 yrs ago that told stories abt the engineers. It was an excellent bk., IMHO. I think U will like it. God bless all of our Vets, active duty, and their families.
Excellent, my late dad was an engineer. Badly wounded in Africa he finished the war as an acting Major training men in Wales (Pembrokeshire) on the erection of Bailey Bridges for the invasion of Japan. He was a good father and a gentleman.
Imagine planning D-day with no email, no Excel spreadsheets, no Microsoft Project, no SAP material control system, no zoom meetings, limited phone call capabilities, no PCs, etc., etc. Those guys were amazing!
You know, that might have been a good thing.
Eisenhower had enough to deal with without every officer with any responsibility being able to blast thousands of CYA emails and text messages around.
Mk 1 brain, pencil and paper.
Who needs anything ELECTRONICS??? War has been fought for thousands of years with primitive tools.
Many slide rulers!
@@kenle2they still had handwritten or typed memos for that purpose! ;)
Unfortunately my Uncle who was a Sapper in Normandy died of his wounds despite being flown to England after being caught in the chest by machine gun fire. 👍🏻🏴🇬🇧
Rest in peace! He was a true hero
God bless him.
My Great Grandfather was an Engineer at D-Day. He never talked about it. So thanks for this.
Much respect to Him, the Greatest Generation.
My father was a American combat engineer on the first suicide wave at Omaha. He never talked about it until he was on his death bed and I asked him? He said that his landing craft had a Gurkhas fighter onboard that would sharpen your knife for two bits. Apparently it was a British landing craft. I tell you what those combat engineers on D day in the first wave and following waves were sure sent into the Abyss. Anyone landing on Omaha were true heroes. It was a Pyrrhic victory that day. Way to many casualties. I will never understand how the Air Force and Navy overshot the German defenses and our tanks sank to the bottom. Wow what a total screw up. Then by the time they figured out we overshot the German Defenses that doing so now would (jeopardize) what little line we had left with friendly fire. Which Dad said a one point that was his biggest threat was when Navy Guns finally got the correct range. How he survived was a miracle.
My father served a a lieutenant in the Army Corps of Engineers. He was, however in charge of a photolithography unit that produced and updated existing maps from aerial photographs as well as printing plans and designs for airstrips, etc. He went ashore at Normandy after most of the fighting had moved well inland. He actually had experience as a camera repairman and instrument maker before the war.
I trained as a combat engineer at Ft. Leonard Woods, Missouri in the Autumn of 1969. Very interesting and physically demanding, more so than Basic Training.. In Vietnam, my unit, among other things refurbished the road that the North Vietnamese then used to take Saigon in 1975. Providing potable water in the field is a very important job for the engineers. We had some deaths from construction accidents. My favorite part was explosives, "blow 'em up real good," as they say.
What outfit were you in?
My uncle was a SeaBee in the Pacific. One of his stories was how after a landing he was so exhausted that he collapsed and woke up in a pile of corpses. What these men did needs more credit than they get.
seabees never get the credit they deserve.
Chills. I am sure live men (barely bit live)were buried being mistaken for dead during the WW2.
Escaping into the Rockefeller library at Brown on a hot summer day, I found micro filmed copies of OSS assessments for the invasion of Japan.
The photos of original documents, hand typed pages with hand written corrections in the margins, gave a real feel for the number of people who had labored, trying to calculate how long a besieged Japan could hold out.
The section I read was literal been counting; the food value of soy beans, the capacity of Japan's soy bean farmers, were all being quantified in attempt to estimate how long Japan could keep fighting.
In the big picture, how long Japan held out and the reflected cost in lives and treasure of an invasion, was a major factor leading to the decision to use the atomic bomb.
Had invasion of Japan taken place, much much more lives would’ve been lost on both sides.
Robert McNamara, later US Secretary of Defense in the Vietnam War, was involved during WW2 in statistically analysing the effect of bombing on the Japanese.
At 16:12 Indy talks about calculating explosives required. As SSG McDonald, Special Forces demolition instructor said back in 1980, the equation is P = Plenty.
My father wasn't an engineer but, as a Regimental Quartermaster Sergeant (RQMS), he worked with them all the time. He told much the same story as above of an Engineer officer telling him that they calculated what they needed for a task then multiplied it by 3 when requisitioning the explosives. As he said, there was always plenty to blow up and always something needing disposed of in a hurry. All said with a bit grin on his face. Apparently his favourite was German tanks. As he put it, "If we need to pull back a bit, I'm damned if I'm leaving them anything worth recovering." Maybe that explains why there are so few Tiger 1s in museums!
"Your calculations are correct, however double the charge"
It’s been quite a while since we last saw a World War 2 Special video. Glad to see the team back on track after all the time and work on the D-Day episodes!
After they slept for a week. That had to be exhausting.
Indy's lifevest is snazzy but its flotation qualities have yet to be seen.
lol
My Great Grandpa was an engineer of a maintanence company. He was the carpenter general of the company.
He was a German immigrant, so was used as a translator a lot, and got to meet Ike in person, even making a map box for him.
I was an infantry officer. I was always appreciative of sapper support. Thank you guys. Ubique!
Engineers are just as vital as soldiers. Unsung heros all.
What I found fascinating after watching this channel for a couple of years is the Allied superior logistics capabilities, their organizational structure, and their distribution network. Of how they managed to calculate a certain amount of material, create said material, send the material, distribute the material, employ the material, and use the material. Of how Allies managed to create technological feats in engineering, plumbing, gasoline refinery construction, maintenance, utilities, transportation systems, port management, etc. I find it completely fascinating. This Allied feat will keep going and show the Axis the true power they are dealing with. Godspeed.
Good thinkers talk strategy. Great thinkers talk logistics. I didn't make that one up, I heard it somewhere.
one of my dad's friends in the Seabee Veterans of america was in england before D-day building mulberry harbor sections. they were told it was a "new kind of drydock". he said they all knew that story was BS, but they knew these parts were for something and it was important, so they shrugged and went back to work.
Here's to the aviation engineer companies who built airfields in the Aleutian Islands. My father was sent to expand those airfields in Adak and Attu after the surrender of the Japanese, just in case.
Although my dad was on Guam and Okinawa as an Army Combat Engineer, he also built airstips. He went on to make a career in the Army and wore on his right (combat) shoulder the 20th Air Force patch until retirement.
Yes, those Aviation Engineer companies saw some long hours in extreme heat and dangerous conditions on those islands.
A great video that underlines that the majority of an army is in fact not involved in combat.
As an Army Combat Engineer in the 80's we built the same "Bailey bridge" they show in the film footage. Amazing that the design is still being used today.
Just an afterthought: With all of the technological advances from the Great War, the inter-war period, and World War II...we were (and still are in some instances) using the same equipment from those era. I was a Combat Engineer (MOS 12B20) through the Fall of the Berlin Wall, Desert Storm and Somalia eras. It wasn't uncommon for us to use everything from Baily Bridges, to Bangalore torpedoes, and everything in between...most unchanged in design from WWII. Why fix what ain't broken?
I was in the Royal Australian Engineers in the 70s-80s and we had Bailey bridges, bangalore torpedoes and my issued first field dressing was made in 1944!
Bailey Bridges, Bangalores, and all the classics are still in, with no sign of changing yet. Those damn AVLBs and Wolverines on the other hand…
@@fatmanfaffing4116 Likewise in the US Army... I retired in the mid 2000s, but my sidearm in the late '80s was a 1945 M1911. Our heavy equipment operators carried the M2 "Grease Gun", circa 1942.
With this many engineers on the allied side, the speed of the post war (re)construction efforts in the west makes a lot of sense. All those skills transfer amazingly well to civilian life.
Me Grandad was a combat engineer in North Africa and Italy. Very interesting topic.
My uncle Joe, an engineer, won the Silver Star at Utah Beach on DDay+1
As a former combat engineer, this was a pleasant surprise.
My father was a US Army Combat Engineer in the Pacific Theater.
He cleared the beach for the Marines on Guam. Then he was involved in a lot of cave fighting on the island. Once the island was secured, he commanded a construction company that built an airstrip that is today Anderson Air Force Base.
Then he was in the invasion of Okinawa. Went on to fight all the way to the southern tip of the island. This is where he also saw much cave fighting. He kept bad memories of it all his life.
It may not be glorious or glamorous or super-heroic, but without these engineering detachments and their special gadgets, we could not have rolled up Germany in the West so fast. Good job, guys!
Thank you for doing this. I had a relative who was in the 121st. Eng CB attached to the 29th ID. He landed at Omaha around 7AM and as far as I know didn't last more than a few minutes. His brother was also an Engineer who was wounded at Nancy, France. Luckily he missed the bulge while recuperating. He talked about the difficulties of setting up a bridge while under artillery fire.
Thank you so much for doing a video on combat engineers in ww2 ✊🇺🇸
Dad was in the Engineers in the Philipines when they sent him as part of the first troops to Korea. He was one of those vets that hated the M1 Carbine because men he shot were getting back up. He got ahold of a .45auto and "went to work with it" as he put it. He re-enlisted while he was there but changed over to the USAF from the Army so he'd be shipped back to the States and trained to be an electrician. Of course, they sent him right back after the training and he found himself stringing wire for runway lights out in a wide-open field. Being the only target in the area, he was mortared and got hit in the knees and hip. He said he dug out 18 pieces of red-hot shrapnel.
" Explosive Sausages ". I think I had those at a Hungarian restaurant once.
I had the honor to live next door to a WW II vet, a combat engineer with Patton's 3rd Army, 347th Combat Engineers.
LOTS of stories, and every now and then he scratched at his arm from the phosphorus burns. He didn't know it was American or German.
My grandfather was Royal Canadian Engineers in 2nd Boer War & WWI. In some ways I think this is why my dad went for US Navy instead. He heard too many horror stories about "trying to figure our way out" of various field problems.
The "Operation Pluto" pipelines that were laid from England to France and the modular, "easily assembled Bailey Bridges" were important D day solutions to major headaches.
Excellent as always from a Canadian marine engineer.
I served 40 years as an reservist in the Royal Australian Engineers and it was great to see just how important sappers were and still are for combat success, first in and last out. Good to see footage of the Bailey Bridge, having built a few I still think this is a majestic piece of kit and so versatile that we should still be using it today.
80 years ago today, my father Steven Linakis was a member of the 297th Combat Engineer Battalion, just turned 22 years old. He fought through the Normandy landing, the liberation of Paris, and the Battle of Ardennes. He accompanied the first troops into Germany. Fought through the Battle of Hurtgen Forest. Thank you for posting and explaining, so much I never knew.
Thank YOU for commenting and sharing you father's story.
-TimeGhost Ambassador
I was a Combat Engineer in the 80s at Leonard Wood, Mo. We were light, with 5 ton dump trucks.. it was exhausting work. My favorite part of the job was demolition and my least was construction of bridges. I was the mine detector man in my squad but fortunately it was peacetime.
What a great special. My grandfather was a rfile instructor for the SeaBees during the war.
It's amazing to me that you guys made so much high quality content for D Day that you couldn't fit it in a video that is 24 HOURS!
Thank you so much! My Dad was an engineer with the 503rd Light Pontoon. He had told me a lot of what he did with building bailey bridges and demolitions. Dad said he was glad he never had to kill a man although he got shot at multiple times. He passed away in 2014 at 95 in his sleep. Thanks Dad and thanks to all the engineers who served their country! I miss you old man!
Excellent video and so very thought provoking! I was a helicopter pilot in Vietnam and we made many insertions of troops to LZs, but where we did the most good was LOGISTICS! I was a flight instructor for thirty years and always stressed to the students that supplies are what allowed the soldier to do his job. Your video is quite the thought provoker and you presented it so very professionally! Best of luck!
Finally a special episode again👍🏻
As an ex Royal Engineer, thank you for this excellent presentation. My time with 11Field Squadron, 38 Engineer Regiment was the most exciting. Search team in Northern Ireland 79-80. Norway in place of our commando sqn 80. 81 in Belize. To deter Gautamala from invading while Belize got independance. 82 Falklabds. Air defence on board the Sir Bedivere. She was credited with shooting down an Argentine Mirage. After we got hit a glancing blow from a "return to sender" 1000lb bomb! Building the airstrip at Port San Carlos. Then ship to shore refueling. And airstrip repair. The latter two tasks with just two L/cpl's and four sappers. The Sqn did many other tasks. Including mine clearance and repairing the runway on Stanley airfield. After 23 years it was time for civvy street. The Bailey bridge was used as an assault bridge. Almost suicidal in view and range of enemy fire. After Normandy. They were built in cover. Then, it was pushed by a tank down the road and over the gap. A much safer alternative! These days, they are mainly used as a line of communication bridge. In secured rear areas. Tank layed bridges are the current assault bridges. The obsolete No's 8 and 9 bridges were pretty good. The no. 12 also a good bridge. The no's 10 and 11's not so great. The M3 Amphibious bridging system is excellent for wet gaps. Its such a pity that the Navy and RAF no longer have the Harrier. Only 20 F35's split between the RAF and two aircraft carriers!
Thank you for your kind words and sharing your experiences with us!
-TimeGhost Ambassador
The d-day series was incredible. Forever preserving this history. Thank you!
Happy to hear you enjoyed it, thank you so much for watching!
After listing all those engineering companies, I thought Indy was gonna say: "...and a partridge in a pear tree..."
In 1983 we took a staff ride from our Kaserne in West Germany to Normandy. The battalion I was in, the 237th at that time landed on UTAH, proceeded to blow holes thru the sea wall and conducted mobility operations supporting 4th ID. The trip was our battalion commanders way of linking our present (1983) to June 1944. It was a eye opening experience.
Finally, remember 2 things: when calculating demolitions remember P=Plenty and Essayons.
I had an uncle who was in the aviation combat engineers. He was part of a group that repaired and built airfields from North Africa to Italy.
Thank you for sharing this!
Dad (a pre Pearl Harbor draftee - "your enlistment has been changed from One Year to For the Duration") was an engineer. Shipped up to Canada/Alaska to build the Al-Can Highway.
Then out into the Aleutians to build metal airstrips, reclaim marshy land, the whole gamut.
Having done all that they then got stationed in the Washington DC area. Dad described it as a "Demonstration Brigade". Some Senator/Dignitary would come over and they'd build a Bailey Bridge or some other task while they watched. Thanks Indy and Company for the excellent feature on the Engineers.
The biggest thing I learned was how much of the Combat Engineering included port facilities, roads and railroads that were not destroyed by the Germans but were never there in the first place
My maternal grandfather was a Lieutenant with the US Army 24th Infantry Division Engineers in the Pacific. He went into Japan right after the atomic bombs were dropped. He said you could smell burnt bodies two miles offshore.
I was a Seabee , Army Combat Engineer and an Army Quartermaster.
I knew a former "Topo Engineer" that was a photographer that flew in photo recon P-38's. He was in the India-Burma Theater, then went to the Pacific Theater.
One of the interesting engineering aspect of D-Day was the artifical harbours. The British designed and constructed the parts but the British & US engineers were responcible for the final construction of the port in their areas. The US engineers finished in half the time by leaving off many of the anchor wires, while the British engineers finished it with all the anchors. When the storm hit a later the US port was destroyed. But, by that time it had delivered much needed supplies earlier. So, this is another aspect of the engineers' balancing risk vs reward.
Thanks, and have a great day.
The battle of the buldge. Army engineers blew up bridges in Piper's face. His translated quote is " those damed pioneers." They also made his life hell in advancing at cross roads.
Combat engineers are important. Where else could Oddball get about sixty feet of bridge? Kelly's Heroes 1970. Woof woof.
"Build, Blast, Battle"-16th Engineer Brigade Unit Crest
My dear dad never really talked about his time there.
Much later in his life he told me a couple experiences witch I will not repeat.❤
A DUKW company - the genesis of a dangerous harbor and river tour industry. 😂
Brick Immortar Viewer? 😂
my great grandfather and his best friend were combat engineers on D-Day
they were on one of the first waves as to clear out tank traps
both survived the war and when my great grandfather passed away from natural causes years later, my great grand mother remarried to his best friend in the unit who became my step great grandfather
Thank you for shedding some light on this amazing topic and MOS
My great grandfather was a Sapper in the 7th Field Company, Canadian Engineers, 2nd Infantry Division. He is recorded as landing on Red Beach during the Dieppe Raid. I have a copy of the Toronto Daily Star where he's listed as missing and another a day later listed as safe.
His unit would land in Normandy in July 44. It's difficult to track his exact movements but the Canadian 2nd Division was involved in many iconic battles: Verrieres Ridge, operation Atlantic, Spring, Totalize and Tractable. The channel ports, including a return to Dieppe. Operations in the Scheldt Estuary and operation Blockbuster, crossing the Rhine in March/April 45. His papers say he was discharged and return home in December 45.
Its Ironic I am in the process of looking up information about my great grandfather who was a combat engineer, and participated in the assault waves of D-Day and this video shows up in my feed. I remember when I was really little when he was in the hospital I remember my dad asking him what it was like on D-Day. His response was "have you seen the movie saving private Ryan? It was a lot like that." I remember hearing him say that he had to jump off the side of the boat in order to avoid getting shot. That was one of the few times he told stories from his time in WW2. Its awesome to see a video like this. Thank you and keep up the good work!
A very good video.
Engineers are usually abused. I was a staff officer at the US Army Engineer Center in the 1970s. We reinvented some of "Hobarts Funnies" for use on the new XM-1 Abrams tanks. We had 3 prototype rollers and 3 prototype plows. When presented at the puzzle palace the tankers didn't want "those ugly things on their beautiful new tanks". Funding was denied. 13 years later and the clankers saw all of those $30 mines that were going to ruin their beautiful(but vulnerable) tanks. Then they started demanding rollers and plows immediately. Funny how people who can't plan ahead think that others should be responsible for bailing out their stupidity.
Prototypes had been stored and were dug out, rehabbed, and sent to Saudi. Contracts went out to build more but it took a lot of time.
After Desert Storm the Engineers were drastically cut. They don't learn. Good Luck, rick
I joined the Royal Engineers in 1976, i was 17 years old, enjoyed every minute and if i could id go back in a heartbeat
First thing i do is check the thumbs up. Then look forward to great segment. These men are the unsong heros of the war!
Thank you for finally explaining what those things are in saving Private Ryan
My great grandfather Merce Gonzales was a combat engineer in the 37th Engineer Battalion, Company C. I don't know the details of his service, but he came out the end of the war with 4 Bronze Stars.
Well done Indy
Well done - very informative!
This begins to address the huge amount of effort put into planning. Not only the detail for the Normandy invasion told here, but the planning to get the economy to produce the equipment, the logistics to bring it to the staging area (UK), and the details to get it into ships, organized to coordinate with landing craft and naval support. Whew! What a lot of work just to get it to the front, praise be to the long train of supply and training behind the boys at the tip of the spear
Very interesting. Back in the late 70's early 80s. I worked in a machine shop with a bunch of WW2 vets. I used to car pool with one who was an engineer. He said he was one of the first on Utah beach. He was tasked with setting up cameras on the beach. He said guys were going down but they would mug for the camera. It was amazing place to work. You had all the machinist who learned there trade mostly at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. You had a bunch of German and a few Austrians who learned there trade during the war. 30 years earlier the were building weapons against each other. They worked together like it never happened....
I just finished watching the 24 hour special you guys did. Wow. Incredible detail. My head was spinning from the logistics of it all! Job well done!
“Without the expertise of their supporting engineers, the Allied columns will find themselves bogged down quite literally, and it would certainly pay off to have specialists that know how to rapidly construct bridges or how to mount pneumatic floats over flooded craters.”
Beautifully written and delivered. Top notch work, Indy.
Thank you so much, and thanks for watching!
You tell an extremely complex story about the wartime engineers. Facilitating, well researched and presented. Before retiring I was a mechanical engineer and have generally felt that civilian or military engineers aren’t well understood by/ the general public. So well done you telling the story of the men as they overcame the challenges during and after d-day. Regards
Thank you so much! We're happy you enjoyed!
Even today, 12B Combat Engineers are unsung heroes...
Iv always been interested in the engineering side of the war because my great grandfather served in the australian engineers as a sapper. It would be great you guys did a special episode on the subject because I cannot find a great deal about the topic. Love the channel keep it up!!
Mindblowing how many skill-sets military personnel came out of the war having mastered. A real boon to their countries' peacetime economies.
I read that radios (the kind used to listen to music over radio wave) got popular after WW1.
Before that time, radio receiver was a very exotic item and required rare skill set.
Once WW1 radio operators came back home, it helped popularize radios.
As a ordinance corps veteran I have the utmost respect for the engineering corps. The most touching heroism by the engineering corps was the Dutch engineer battalion that sacrificed themselves to construct a bridge in freezing conditions to allow Napoleon and remnants of his army to escape the Russians.
An excellent production! Very informative. The logistic train behind the Allied armies was immense. The Germans were foolish, even stupid, to believe they could defeat the industrial might of the Allies, regardless of the vaunted German technical prowess.
Alexander the Great was really good when it came to logistics. It was partly thanks to that he was able to conquer as much as he did. His logistics train rarely let him down.
Monty had some choice words of praise for the Bailey Bridge, as a multiplier of forward momentum, very excellent presentation of the brave combat engineers.
The most important support company
How did I miss this yesterday?
My mom's uncle landed at Normandy on D +1 as one of the engineers who built/rebuilt the bridges and roads. Thank you for highlighting their work. The detailed planning and execution of their work was critical to the ultimate victory that was achieved.
Also, I gotta compliment Indy on his vest. Notwithstanding the important work that this episode highlighted, my first thought was literally, "That's a great vest".
I got to say, one of the first on the beach was a SEABEE beachmaster. He had a battalion with him come in later.
The author of the video glossed over or totally ignored the fact that Navy Seabees weee a key part of the invasion
Several years ago, I met a SeaBee at a 7-11. Thanked him for his sevice on the way in with my daughter. We came out, and he was standing there waiting for us. He asked if we had a minute, I said of course, the he asked if I knew what SeaBee meant, I said of course. He drove an armored bulldozer in the Pacific, Rabul, Manilla,& Guam. He sat for a hour with us! Having to knock down mudstone buildings full of Japanese soldiers because bombardment just burned the roofs off! What an education in fear! He was hit by schrapnel from a B25 raid and was sent to light duty at a pow camp! Said he missed the bulldozer!
Way better men than we.
He got in his car and I noticed his wife was there the whole time( no idea it was his). After a few minutes she got out and came over to us and said he was crying, but at peace now, what did he say, I explained a little, and she said he had never uttered a word of it, married 61 years and forbid her asking him! She thanked us. I hope he is unburdened
Damn.
As a former army firefighter I wish you would do a special show on firefighter and rescue teams.
Great video as always. My father-in-law began his military career as an engineer and was deployed to D-Day.
Awesome content, my grandfather crewed a flail tank on d-day, he made it of the beach though the tank did not. As I was also a soldier i was the only family member he would tell about his experiences when the mood took him.
As an engineering student and a history enthusiast, this is incredible seeing how engineering worked 80 years ago! More STEM people should consider history, not just law students or striaght up history students
That high-visibility vest is a poignant accouterment in this presentation. 😀
My grandpa was a sergeant in the first engineer special brigade. In his memoirs they called themselves the sons of beaches.
That's a good one! Thank you for watching and thanks for the comment it gave me a good chuckle.
I think one of my favorite anecdotes about the 'off-duty' engineers in WWII had to do with a group during the Pacific campaign. In a documentary I watched they showed on Guadalcanal they had worked out Washing Machines! They built a fan, pulleys, an agitator and buckets (I'm sure there were more things) to get a wind powered washer! Way ahead of their time. They did all sorts of things like that to make their living quarters 'more like home'.
After he was drafted my father was assigned to the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP) to become an engineer officer. It was a heavily concentrated college level engineering course of study, 6 days a week, 8 hours a day of classes and, of course, homework. The ASTP classes were held at colleges and universities all over the country. Once DDay was past it was obvious that the need was more for enlisted infantrymen than for engineer officers and so he ended up an infantry private. All that classwork gave him a couple years head start on his university engineering degree. Coincidentally my grandfather was in the 15th US Engineers and was in one of the first US units deployed to France in WWI.
Have you read A Midnight Clear by William Wharton? Most of ıts characters are ex-ASTP.
Gotta move that gear up!
This engineers part would have fit much much better to the D-Day 24 hours than most of the maquisards from Alpine France
From the "Quote Book" in the students' mess of the Canadian Land Force Command and Staff College: "The role of the engineer is to make the ground conform to the commander's plan."
Thanks, my Dad was a Marine combat engineer in the Pacific
I WAS A US COMBAT ENGINEER IN KOREA AND EUROPE BEING THIRD GENERATION FROM MY FAMILY TO SERVE AS AN ENGINEER
My father was a combat engineer during Korea as well. Thank you for your service, sir.
SIR, PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CRUISE CONTROL
great episode.