As they crossed the bridges, the infantrymen would disparage the engineers as having it easy while they did the "real" fighting.
Once the troops had crossed to the other side, the engineers had to deconstruct the bridges, sneak forward into enemy territory to the next river, and build the bridges again.
The troops did not know they were crossing the same bridges on different rivers. If things had gone bad and a rapid retreat were necessary, they were screwed.
Daddy was also in the Combat Engineers in the European Theater.
From reading the history of the battalion and what Daddy told me I think his experience was a little different. Typically the Infantry and Armor cleared an area ahead of the Engineers who came right behind repairing roads and bridges.
He respected and liked the Infantry but especially thought Armor was the most dangerous job. I got the impression that the Infantry etc. also respected the Combat Engineers.
For the most part their casualties came from artillery and clearing mines. In fact at times they were losing so many men and machines that they had to work in the dead of night.
There were a few times when they were the tip of the spear, specifically the assault crossing of the Rohr and Rhine Rivers and being left behind during the battle of the Bulge in order to blow bridges after all allied troops had crossed.
One acquaintance I treasure from VFW meetings was a combat engineer in WW II. His battalion got through most of their assignments in Europe without substantial casualties. This one time a good friend of his, who was to rotate out in a couple days, volunteered for an operation involving several companies. The operation did not seem much different from what they had done before. This time though the Germans were waiting for them and just about everyone was a casualty and his friend was killed. All these years later he could not relate the event without a few tears.