They are notable for their successful actions in May 1940, when they destroyed substantial oil stocks and installations just ahead of the German advance, and in August 1944 during the assault crossing of the River Seine.

[1][10][9][11] After evacuation to Egypt it was posted to the Suez Canal defences, took part in the Senussi campaign, and was redesignated 496th (2nd Kent) Field Company on 1 February 1917.

[5] On 13 October 1915 the company left its depot at Gillingham and proceeded to Devonport where the boarded the troopship Scotian bound for Gallipoli via Mudros.

On arrival at Mudros on 27 October the troops were transferred to the auxiliary minesweeper HMS Hythe to be landed at Suvla Bay the following morning.

[1][5][20] On 20 November, the company (now reduced to 4 officers and 78 other ranks) re-embarked and landed the same day at Cape Helles, where it was attached to 52nd (Lowland) Division.

[22] On the morning of 30 November 1917, when the Germans counterattacked after the Battle of Cambrai, the company was sleeping in a tunnel at the brewery at Les Rue Vertes after a hard night's work.

Once organised, the division moved in January 1917 into Essex and Hertfordshire to form part of Southern Army (Home Forces); the engineers were stationed at Witham and Chelmsford.

[9][25][26] 73rd Division's main role was to train and physically condition men for drafting as reinforcements for units serving overseas.

[26] The two companies were engaged in engineering works associated with the rapid advance of the British Expeditionary Force in the final months of the war.

The KFRE were despatched in secrecy on 11 May to Amsterdam to negotiate with the local commanders and destroy the installations and the large oil stocks and assist with dockyard demolitions; these were called "XD Operations".

Initial, but understandable, French reluctance dissipated as the Germans reached the area, and the installations at Rouen, Le Havre and Honfleur were all destroyed.

These were abortive, however; those at Dunkirk were destroyed by German bombs, Calais' facilities were unapproachable due to the heavy fighting and Boulogne, in fact, had none.

[39] During the British evacuations from western France (Operation Aerial), the final KFRE detachment lost seven men on the Lancastria when it was sunk at St Nazaire.

One more went "missing, presumed dead" during the destruction of the British dump near St Nazaire and another died of wounds sustained at Boulogne.

[41][42] After helping the construction of coastal defences against the anticipated German invasion, and clearing up and making safe bomb damage in London, the new unit was moved to a camp near Portadown, Northern Ireland as III (Kent) CTRE.

A party of four officers and 30 other ranks from III CTRE was sent as part of Operation Gauntlet to destroy the coal mines and stockpiles and deny their use to the Germans.

[39][43] A party of nine left for Gibraltar, they were commanded by Major Paul Baker, with three subalterns, Lieutenants Meyler, Terry, and Wells and five NCOs.

The RE History comments that: During training in Northern Ireland, the unit's CO, Lt-Col Fayle, had developed a method of moving tanks across water obstacles using powered rafts.

[47][50] The heavy bridging equipment was held back on the road and only two platoons of 583 Field Company went forward with the assault group on 25 August.

[52][53] On the left, 4th Battalion Somerset Light Infantry got across in the storm boats relatively easily, but found that their bridgehead was on an island, and they were still cut off from the east bank.

[57][58] When the 15th (Kent) GHQTRE and other bridging units had completed their tasks, 43rd Division and its supporting armour crossed in strength on 28 August and began 21st Army Group's rapid advance to Brussels.

[59] After the failure of Operation Market Garden, the vital road and rail bridges that had been captured at Nijmegen were damaged by German swimmers who attached mines to the piers.

[60][61] Early in 1945, in order to improve the lines of communication for Second Army's planned assault crossing of the Rhine (Operation Plunder), additional bridges were constructed over the Maas at Venlo.

The first wave of infantry crossed at 02.00 aboard Buffalo tracked landing vehicles manned by 11th Royal Tank Regiment of 79th Armoured Division.

Word to start crossing with 6th Battalion King's Own Scottish Borderers was received at 02.45 and from then on the storm boats kept up a continuous ferrying operation, despite breakdowns of the unreliable engines.

[64][65][66] At 03.30, rafting equipment was moved down to the river bank on sledges and by 06.30 the Kent RE had two of these in operation (two others were destroyed by shellfire before they could be completed and had to be replaced later from reserves).

The RE History records that the rafting troops received an unsolicited testimonial for their watermanship from a captured German officer who was being ferried back.

[64] After Bremen had been captured by XXX Corps on 27 April, the bridges connecting the two-halves of the city across the Weser were found to be destroyed.

[67] All German forces facing 21st Army Group surrendered at Lüneburg Heath two days later, but there were many months of bridgebuilding and reconstruction work before the troops could be demobilised.

When the TA was reduced into the Territorial and Army Volunteer Reserve (TAVR) in 1967 the squadron was incorporated into a new 590 Specialist Team RE (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) at Dover.