- This article is about the military vocation. For the pseudonymous author, see H. C. McNeile. Herman Cyril McNeile MC ( September 28, 1888 - August 14, 1937) was a British author who published under the Pen name
A sapper, in the sense first used by the French military, was one who excavated trenches under defensive musket or artillery fire to advance a besieging army's position in relation to the works of an attacked fortification, which was referred to as sapping the enemy fortifications. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. An army (from Latin Armata "act of arming" via Old French armée) in the broadest sense is the land-based Armed forces Sapping is a term used in siege operations Any trench excavated under defensive musket or artillery fire that was intended to advance a besieging army's position in relation to the works
Saps were excavated by brigades of trained sappers or instructed troops. When an army was defending a fortress with cannon, they had an obvious height and therefore range advantage over the attacker's own guns. The attacking army's artillery had to be brought forward, under fire, so as to facilitate effective counter-battery fire.
This was achieved by digging what the French termed a 'Sappe'. Using techniques developed and perfected by Vauban, the sapeurs (sappers) began the trench at such an angle so as to avoid enemy fire 'enfilading' (passing directly along) the sappe. Sébastien Le Prestre Seigneur de Vauban and later Marquis de Vauban ( May 15, 1633 – March 30, 1707) commonly referred to As they pressed forward, a position was prepared from which cannon could suppress the defenders on the bastions. The sappers would then change the course of their trench, zig-zagging their way toward the fortress wall. A zigzag is a Pattern made up of small corners at variable angles though constant within the zigzag tracing a path between two Parallel lines; it can be described
Each leg brought the attacker's artillery closer and closer until (hopefully) the besieged cannon would be sufficiently suppressed for the attackers to breach the walls with their artillery. Broadly speaking, sappers were originally experts at demolishing or otherwise overcoming or bypassing fortification systems.
A sapper is an individual usually in British or Commonwealth military service. Called a combat engineer by the Americans, a Pionier by the Germans, a génie by the French and a saper by the Poles, a sapper may perform any of a variety of tasks under combat conditions. Such tasks typically include bridge-building, laying or clearing minefields, demolitions, field defences as well as building, road and airfield construction and repair. In other words, the sapper's tasks now involve facilitating movement of allied forces and impeding movement of the enemy's.
Sapper (abbreviated Spr) is the Royal Engineers' equivalent of Private. The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers ( RE) and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps A Private is a Soldier of the lowest Military rank (equivalent to NATO Rank Grades OR-1 to OR-3 depending on the force served in This is also the case within the Indian Army Corps of Engineers, Canadian, Royal Australian Engineers and Royal New Zealand Engineers. The Indian Army Corps of Engineers consists of three major constituents namely Combat Engineers MES (Military Engineer Service and Border Roads Organisation The Canadian Military Engineers (CME is the military engineer branch of the Canadian Forces. The Royal Australian Engineers (RAE is a Corps of the Australian Army (although the word corps does not appear in their name or on their badge The term Sapper was introduced in 1856 when the Corps of Royal Sappers and Miners was amalgamated with the officer Corps of Royal Engineers to form the Corps of Royal Engineers. The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers ( RE) and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers ( RE) and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps
In France, the civil firefighters and the military firefighters of the Paris Fire Brigade and other town or country brigades are called "sappers-pumpers" (sapeurs-pompiers, SP): the first fire company created by Napoléon I was a military sappers company. Firefighters are rescuers extensively trained primarily to put out hazardous Fires that threaten civilian populations and property to rescue people from car accidents collapsed This article is about the Paris Fire Brigade For the British Society for Plant Pathology see BSPP. The sapeurs-pompiers are the Firefighters of France. They are organized supervised and trained by the French Ministry of the Interior; specifically Napoleon Bonaparte (15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821 was a French military and political leader who had a significant impact on the History of Europe. Apart from this, the sappers are the combat engineers. Combat engineering is a Combat service support role of using the knowledge tools and techniques of Engineering by troops in peace and war but specifically in
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Specific usage
U.S. Army
In the U. The United States Army is a military organization whose primary mission is to "provide necessary forces and capabilities. S. Army, Sappers are combat engineers who advance with the front-line infantry, and they have fought in every war in American history. The Infantry is the oldest and most numerous of the Combat Arms in the Armed forces, and consists The designation is earned as an additional proficiency.
The U. S. Army authorizes four skill tabs for wear above the unit patch on the left shoulder. Three of these tabs identify soldiers who have passed a course proving their leadership and adaptability: the Special Forces tab, the Ranger Tab, and the Sapper Tab, in that order of wear from highest to lowest. The Special Forces Tab is a service school qualification tab of the United States Army, awarded to any soldier completing either the Special Forces Qualification Course The Ranger Tab is a service school military decoration of the United States Army signifying completion of the 61-day long U The Sapper Tab is a military badge of the United States Army which was authorized on June 28, 2004 by the Army Chief of The President's Hundred Tab is worn for the best marksmen in the Army. The President's Hundred Tab, a full-color embroidered tab of yellow 4 1/4 inches (10
To wear the Sapper Tab, a Soldier must complete the Sapper Leader Course which is operated by the U. S. Army Engineer School at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. Fort Leonard Wood is a Census-designated place (CDP in Pulaski County, Missouri, United States. Missouri ( or) is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee The Sapper Leader Course is a 28-day course designed to train joint-service leaders in small unit tactics, leadership skills, and tactics required to perform as part of a combined arms team. The course is open to enlisted Soldiers in the grades of E-4 (in the Army, specialist) and above, cadets, and officers O-3 (Army, captain) and below. Students can come from any combat or combat support branch of the service, but priority is given to engineering, cavalry, and infantry soldiers. [1]. The course is in two Phases.
Phase I lasts 14 days and covers general subjects including medical, navigation, demolitions, air and water operations, mountaineering, and landmines and weapons used by enemy forces. Medicine is the art and science of healing It encompasses a range of Health care practices evolved to maintain and restore Human Health by the Navigation is the process of reading and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another Demolition is the opposite of Construction: the tearing-down of Buildings and other Structures It contrasts with deconstruction “Alpinist” redirects here See also Alpinist (magazine Mountaineering is the Sport, Hobby or Profession of A land mine is an Explosive device designed to be placed on or in the ground to explode when triggered by an operator or the Proximity of a vehicle person Phase II is the remaining 14 days. It covers basic patrolling techniques and battle drills that emphasize leadership. The subjects include urban operations, breaching, patrol organization and movement, and reconnaissance, raid and ambush tactics. Urban warfare is modern warfare conducted in Urban areas such as Towns and cities. In Military tactics, a patrol is often a small tactical grouping sent out by land sea or air to perform a specific task Reconnaissance (also scouting) is a military and medical term denoting exploration conducted to gain information A raid can refer to either a military tactic, or a larger Grand Tactical or Operational warfare mission which require the execution of a plan where An ambush is a long-established military tactic, in which the aggressors (the ambushing force use Concealment to attack a passing enemy It concludes with a three-day situation training exercise, and five-day field training exercise. These missions are a 60/40 mix of engineer and infantry missions.
Leadership is emphasized throughout the SLC. During the course leader roles are rotated regularly and each student is evaluated at least twice on leadership. The results of the Sapper Leader Course are soldiers who are hardened combat engineers who are qualified to fight and lead on today’s battlefields. [2].
U.S. Marine Corps
In the U. S. Marine Corps, the term sapper is commonly used as a call sign amongst combat engineer units to designate them as engineers when attached to infantry units. Combat Engineers in the Marine Corps, unlike their Army counterparts, are a sort of jack of all trades. During Basic Combat Engineer Training, a Marine is trained in a variety of fields which as a whole encompass the 1371 MOS. Subjects covered include Demolitions, Breaching, Woodframe Construction, Concrete Laying, Land Clearing, Survivability Positions, and Counter Mobility. Depending on the type of unit the Marine is assigned to will determine what tasks they will be used for primarily. For example, a Marine assigned to a Marine Division will primarily be required to perform tasks involving infantry tactics, breaching, and mine clearing. That same Marine if assigned to an Air Wing on the other hand would be more likely to perform construction work and tactical airfield construction and maintenance. In any case, a Marine Combat Engineer is required to be proficient in all areas to include infantry tactics and weapon systems.
Indian Army
The term 'Sappers', in addition to the connotation of rank of engineer private, is used collectively to informally refer to the Engineer Corps as a whole and also forms part of the informal names of the three combat engineer groups, viz. The Indian Army (Bharatiya Thalsena भारतीय थाल्सेना is one of the armed forces of India and has the responsibility for land-based The Indian Army Corps of Engineers consists of three major constituents namely Combat Engineers MES (Military Engineer Service and Border Roads Organisation Madras Sappers, Bengal Sappers and the Bombay Sappers. Madras Engineer Group (MEG or the Madras Sappers are a regiment of the Corps of Engineers of the Indian Army which draw their origin from the erstwhile Madras Presidency The Bengal Engineer Group (BEG or the Bengal Sappers are a regiment of the Corps of Engineers of the Indian Army which draw their origin from the erstwhile Bengal Presidency The Bombay Engineer Group, or the Bombay Sappers as they are informally known are a regiment of the Corps of Engineers of the Indian Army.
PAVN and Viet Cong
PAVN and Viet Cong sappers, as they are called by US forces, are better described as commando units. The Vietnam People's Army ( VPA) (Quân Đội Nhân Dân Việt Nam is the official name of the Armed forces of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. In Military science, the term commando can refer to an individual a Military unit, or a raiding style of military operation. In fact, the Vietnamese term "đặc công" can be literally translated as "special task". Thousands of specially trained elite fighters served in the PAVN and Viet Cong commando/sapper units which were organized as independendent formations. While not always successful, at times they inflicted heavy damage against their enemies. These elite units served as raiders against American/ARVN troops, and inflitrating spearheads during the final Ho Chi Minh campaign in 1975- where they seized key road and bridge assets, destroyed installations, attacked command and control nodes in the enemy rear, and otherwise helped PAVN's fast mobile forces to advance. A typical PAVN/VC sapper organization is shown here. The raiding force was usually grouped into assault teams, each broken down into several 3-5 man assault cells. Overall, there were generally 4 operational echelons. [1]
Fictional references
In the novel The English Patient Ondaatje's character Kip is a sapper during World War II. For the Seinfeld episode see " The English Patient (Seinfeld episode " The English Patient is a In the fantasy series Malazan Book of the Fallen several of the characters in the Malazan army are sappers. Fantasy is a Genre that uses magic and other Supernatural forms as a primary element of plot, theme, and/or setting The Malazan Book of the Fallen is an epic Fantasy series written by Canadian author Steven Erikson, published in ten volumes starting with In the Shannara series of novels by Terry Brooks, Dwarven Sappers are often used in defensive roles, collapsing bridges to deny enemy advances. Shannara is an epic fantasy series of novels written by Terry Brooks, beginning with The Sword of Shannara in 1977 Terence Dean "Terry" Brooks (born January 8, 1944) is a writer of Fantasy fiction. In the 1978 Cold Chisel song, "Khe Sanh", about an Australian veteran of the Vietnam War refers to the "sappers round Khe Sanh". This article is about the Australian rock band For the cutting tool see The "cold chisel" section of the article "Chisel". " Khe Sanh " is an Australian pub rock song released as a 45 Rpm single in May 1978, and named after the Battle of Khe Vietnam Era veteran is a phrase used to describe someone who served in the armed forces of participating countries during the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, or the Vietnam Conflict, occurred in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia
The computer game Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness has a military unit called Goblin Sappers which are used to demolish enemy units and structures. Warcraft II Tides of Darkness is the sequel to the popular Real-time strategy game Warcraft Orcs & Humans, developed by Blizzard In Commandos, Inferno, an explosives expert on the team is referred to repeatedly as merely "The Sapper". Commandos is a successful stealth-oriented Real-time tactics game series available for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. The computer game City of Heroes includes a secret paramilitary organization called the "Malta Group," which employs agents called "sappers," equipped with distinctive and widely dreaded endurance-draining weaponry. City of Heroes (CoH is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game based on the Superhero Comic book Genre, developed by In Age of Empires II, it is possible to research a "Sappers" upgrade that increases the damage villagers cause against buildings. Age of Empires II The Age of Kings (often shortened to The Age of Kings or AoK) is a Real-time strategy (RTS Video game developed
In the computer game series Icewind Dale, Dwarven shock troops were designated "sappers," although they acted more in the manner of kamikaze shock troops (explosives fitted to their backs and said dwarves charging the Player's party). For the Forgotten Realms region see the Sword Coast article For the R In the video game Team Fortress 2, the spy class can "sap" engineer-constructed structures, using his electric sapper, thus destroying them. The WWII RTS game Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts the British army can recruit a squad of four Royal Engineers Sappers to build defences, clear minefields and repair vehicles.
Rudyard Kipling describes the 19th century job in his poem "Sappers". Joseph Rudyard Kipling (30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936 was an English Author and poet
A harrowing account of the role of the sappers in digging tunnels under enemy lines in World War I can be found in Birdsong: A Novel of Love and War by Sebastian Faulks. Birdsong is a 1993 War novel by the English Author Sebastian Faulks. Sebastian Faulks CBE FRSL (born 20 April 1953) is an acclaimed English Novelist.
Sappers are mentioned in the musical Les Misérables, based on the Victor Hugo novel of the same name. Les Misérables ( in French, le mize'ʁaːbl colloquially known as Les Mis or Les Miz, is a musical composed Victor-Marie Hugo ( ( February 26, 1802 – May 22, 1885) was a French Poet, Playwright, Novelist Les Misérables (pronounced /le miːzeʁabl(ə translated variously from French as The Miserable Ones, The Wretched In the song "The First Attack", as the National Guard advances on the students' barricade to quash a rebellion, one of the revolutionaries shouts, "Platoon of sappers advancing toward the barricade!"
See also
- Combat engineer
- Military engineer
- 911th Engineer Company (formerly the MDW Engineer Company)
- 9 Independent Parachute Squadron (RE)
- NLF and PAVN strategy, organization and structure
- NLF and PAVN logistics and equipment
- NLF and PAVN battle tactics
- Trooper (rank)
External links
- Royal Engineers Museum - History of the Royal Engineers (The Sappers)
- Royal Engineers Museum - Origins of the term "Sapper"
Dictionary
sapper
-noun
- One who saps; specifically, one who is employed in working at saps, building and repairing fortifications, and the like. Often known as a combat engineer or military engineer.
- (British colloquial) an officer or private of the Royal Engineers.
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