First Across The Rhine Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

First Across The Rhine - Essay Example A lot of action-packed, tactical, militarily strategic, and heroic stories fill war movies. Rarely are the actual tasks and skills of non-combatants were featured. This paper will try to present the roles of engineers and their team during the war using mainly the book by Col David E. Pergin and war writer Eric Hammel (1994) First Across the Rhine: The 291st Engineer Combat Battalion in France. The immediate challenges during their landing in the war zone were: grave reservations of the standard in the organization as off-the-shelf engineer combat battalion inevitable combat losses that could remove key people with essential skills or unique training from the ranks (Pergrin and Hammel, 1989, 17). To address this immediate concerns, Pergrin’s solution was to cross-train as many officers and troops as possible in whatever time was left. He noted that, â€Å"The training directives established minimum, not maximum, standards (Pergrin and Hammel, 1989, 17). ... After the cross training, every member of the squad was a qualified: Rifleman for .30-caliber M2 carbines for NCOs and .30-caliber M1 Garand rifles To operate the squad’s .30 caliber machine gun and bazooka (2.35 inch rocket launcher) To lay, detect, and clear mines To operate bulldozers, dump trucks, chain saws, picks, shovels, jackhammers and other tools Read maps (most of them). Meanwhile, Pergin also ensured that the squad leader and his assistant were able to use radio and field telephone equipment; carried manuals on the three main types of bridges with which they expected to work – Bailey, timber trestle, and pontoon; use proper combat engineer tactics to stop or delay enemy (Pergrin and Hammel, 1989, 19). Each line platoon was equipped with: Bulldozer, weapons carrier, 4-ton man-hauling truck with a .50 caliber machine gun, a number of 2 & ? ton dump trucks for hauling equipment and material, own motor pool staffed by mechanics charged with maintaining all the w heeled and tracked equipment and vehicles, weapons sergeant and supply sergeant as overseers of small section of specialists. Pergin noted that the main purpose was â€Å"to save lives in the battle areas by using the many skills and the fruits of their rigorous training,† (Pergin and Hammel, 1989, 27). The following were exemplified and exercised by the team members: Stress small-unit operations using combat-engineering equipment; Facilitate movement of tanks in support of the attacking infantry; Clear mines rapidly; Police and patrol the area up to the front to provide vital information to the decision-makers up the chain of command. All their tasks were conducted through strategies as follows: 1. led the paratroopers through the