A couple of years ago, a guy sent me the complete U.S. Signal Corps history of my Father’s battalion in WWII. They were Combat Engineers.
The thing which totally got my attention and really surprised me is just how capable they were. They would accomplish jobs in a few days which one would think would take months or even longer.
I also am impressed with our enemies courage and capability. I recently saw a show on the History Channel or maybe another similar show about a German Tank Battalion. Goodness they went through hell and kept fighting. I also remember an interview and real film of one of the German veterans. Even those tankers were impressed with their own combat engineers, although he called them sappers.
They showed film of the tanks crossing pontoon bridges while the Russians were shelling them. He said they were basically safe from the artillery but the sappers had nothing but their helmets to protect them.
One of the things I’m amazed with is how quickly they could get things done, developed, invented, repaired, etc. All the new weapons, ship repairs, The Bomb, conversion of factories to wartime use....training of personnel . . .what an incredible effort home and abroad.