Military engineering
Military engineering does not encompass the activities undertaken by those 'engineers' who maintain, repair and operate vehicles, vessels, aircraft, weapon systems and equipment.
[3] In modern armies, soldiers trained to perform such tasks while well forward in battle and under fire are often called combat engineers.
In ancient times, military engineers were responsible for siege warfare and building field fortifications, temporary camps and roads.
The most notable engineers of ancient times were the Romans and Chinese, who constructed huge siege-machines (catapults, battering rams and siege towers).
The scale of certain military engineering feats, such as the construction of a double-wall of fortifications 30 miles (48 km) long, in just 6 weeks to completely encircle the besieged city of Alesia in 52 B.C.E., is an example.
When castles served a military purpose, one of the tasks of the sappers was to weaken the bases of walls to enable them to be breached before means of thwarting these activities were devised.
In England, the challenge of managing the new technology resulted in the creation of the Office of Ordnance around 1370 in order to administer the cannons, armaments and castles of the kingdom.
Both military engineers and artillery formed the body of this organization and served together until the office's successor, the Board of Ordnance was disbanded in 1855.
Military engineering significantly revised the way fortifications were built in order to be better protected from enemy direct and plunging shot.
The modern Royal Welch Fusiliers and French Foreign Legion still maintain pioneer sections who march at the front of ceremonial parades, carrying chromium-plated tools intended for show only.
In West Africa, the Ashanti army was accompanied to war by carpenters who were responsible for constructing shelters and blacksmiths who repaired weapons.
[11] The Peninsular War (1808–14) revealed deficiencies in the training and knowledge of officers and men of the British Army in the conduct of siege operations and bridging.
These demonstrations had become a popular spectacle for the local people by 1843, when 43,000 came to watch a field day laid on to test a method of assaulting earthworks for a report to the Inspector General of Fortifications.
At the end of World War I, the standoff on the Western Front caused the Imperial German Army to gather experienced and particularly skilled soldiers to form "Assault Teams" which would break through the Allied trenches.
The need to defeat the German defensive positions of the "Atlantic wall" as part of the amphibious landings in Normandy in 1944 led to the development of specialist combat engineer vehicles.
Other significant military engineering projects of World War II include Mulberry harbour and Operation Pluto.
Modern military engineering still retains the Roman role of building field fortifications, road paving and breaching terrain obstacles.
[15] Initially developed for recreational purposes, black powder later was utilized for military application in bombs and projectile propulsion in firearms.
Officers can come from the Centro de Instrução Almirante Wandenkolk (CIAW) (Admiral Wandenkolk Instruction Center) and the Escola Naval (EN) (Naval School) which, through internal selection of the Navy, finish their graduation at the Universidade de São Paulo (USP) (University of São Paulo).
These skills provide vital components in the Army's operational capability, and Royal Engineers are currently deployed in Afghanistan, Iraq, Cyprus, Bosnia, Kosovo, Kenya, Brunei, Falklands, Belize, Germany and Northern Ireland.
Royal Engineers also take part in exercises in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Italy, Egypt, Jordan, Canada, Poland and the United States.
Engineers were responsible for protecting military troops whether using fortifications or designing new technology and weaponry throughout the United States' history of warfare.
