ARMY ENGINEERS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 November 1941, Page 2

ARMY ENGINEERS

HAZARDS TAKEN LIGHTLY CASUAL TREATMENT OF HIGH EXPLOSIVES. TRAINING WITH BANGALORE TORPEDOES. (N.Z.E.F. Official News Service.) CAIRO, October 11. Sitting astride a Bangalore torpedo as the stocky, little truck lurched round a bend in the road, the New Zealand engineer grasped the metal piping to hold his balance. As the truck straightened out its course, the long, steel shaft, bung-full of explosives, slipped from its moorings and, rolling swiftly, clattered to the floor, depositing the soldier in a heap on top. Unshaken, but a little out of sorts, the sapper scrambled to his feet and threw the 1 tube into its original position. Sitting across it, he struck his feet on a large box of gelignite and commenced throwing pebbles at a rifle in the far corner. It is that utter indifference to the explosive possibilities of the material they handle every day that always has and always will make the army engineer an enigma to the layman and even to men in the ranks of more orthodox units. Yet, that indifference is probably more apparent than real. Expert training has given the sapper a knowledge of his engines of destruction that almost . eliminates chance. Everything is worked out in feet per second, and when necessary down to the smallest fraction. When the same sapper who appeared so undisturbed about rolling about the floor of a truck clasping a Bangalore torpedo filled with enough explosive to blow the whole vehicle into fragments, rammed the same torpedo into a nest of barbed wire entanglement and lit the fuse, he knew that he had exactly two minutes to clear the 250 yards back to the comparative safety of a slit trench. That was, of course, if, nothing went wrong. Happily nothing did. In fact, nothing ever seems to go wrong with an engineer’s plans, which is, of course, just as well. Training operations with Bangalore torpedoes are common phases of an engineer’s life. Generally there are several platoons of infantry awaiting the signal to charge through the opening as the explosion sends a shower of wire and steel flying over the escarpment. Racing across the desert, they raise a following cloud of sand and rend the air with blood-curdling cries as they sweep towards the breach. These charges are, of course, always successful —and no casualties.

Modern warfare has made the job of the engineer even more hazardous than before. “First in and last out” has assumed a much grimmer meaning in these days of tanks and rapid transport. In Hie three campaigns in which New Zealand engineers have taken part, they have proved, however, that despite the greatly increased danger, they have been able to make an indispensable contribution io the general effort, whether advancing or retiring.