The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is a direct reporting unit and engineer formation of the United States Army that has three primary mission areas: Engineer Regiment, military construction, and civil works. The day-to-day activities of the three mission areas are administered by a lieutenant general known as the chief of engineers/commanding general. The chief of engineers commands the Engineer Regiment, comprising combat engineer, rescue, construction, dive, and other specialty units, and answers directly to the Chief of Staff of the Army. Combat engineers, sometimes called sappers, form an integral part of the Army's combined arms team and are found in all Army service components: Regular Army, National Guard, and Army Reserve. Their duties are to breach obstacles; construct fighting positions, fixed/floating bridges, and obstacles and defensive positions; place and detonate explosives; conduct route clearance operations; emplace and detect landmines; and fight as provisional infantry when required. For the military construction mission, the chief of engineers is directed and supervised by the Assistant Secretary of the Army for installations, environment, and energy, whom the President appoints and the Senate confirms. Military construction relates to construction on military bases and worldwide installations.
Military engineering is loosely defined as the art, science, and practice of designing and building military works and maintaining lines of military transport and military communications. Military engineers are also responsible for logistics behind military tactics. Modern military engineering differs from civil engineering. In the 20th and 21st centuries, military engineering also includes CBRN defense and other engineering disciplines such as mechanical and electrical engineering techniques.
The 83rd Infantry Division ("Thunderbolt") was a formation of the United States Army in World War I and World War II.
Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful liberation of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the Normandy landings. A 1,200-plane airborne assault preceded an amphibious assault involving more than 5,000 vessels. Nearly 160,000 troops crossed the English Channel on 6 June, and more than two million Allied troops were in France by the end of August.
The 18th Engineer Brigade (Theater Army) is an engineer brigade of the United States Army. It is currently a subordinate unit of 21st Sustainment Command (Theater) and is headquartered at Conn Barracks in Schweinfurt, Germany. Soldiers of the 18th Engineer Brigade provide various supportive duties to other Army units, including construction, engineering, and mechanical work on other Army projects.
Deux Jumeaux Airfield is an abandoned World War II military airfield, which is located near the commune of Deux Jumeaux in the Normandy region of northern France.
Cardonville Airfield is an abandoned World War II military airfield located near the commune of Cardonville in the Normandy region of northern France.
Lessay Airport is a regional airport in Lessay, Normandy, France. It supports general aviation with no scheduled commercial airline services.
La Vieille Airfield is an abandoned World War II military airfield, which is located in the commune of Saint Georges d'Elle in the Normandy region of northern France.
Saint-Lambert Airfield is an abandoned World War II military airfield, which is located near the commune of Saint-Lambert in the Normandy region of northern France.
Meautis Airfield is an abandoned World War II military airfield, which is located near the commune of Méautis in the Normandy region of northern France.
Saint James Airfield is an abandoned World War II military airfield, which is located near the commune of Saint-James in the Normandy region of northern France.
Gael Airfield is an abandoned World War II military airfield, which is located near the commune of Gaël in the Brittany region of northern France.
Saint Marceaul Airfield is an abandoned World War II military airfield, which is located near the commune of Saint-Marceau in the Pays de la Loire region of northern France.
Peray Airfield is an abandoned World War II military airfield, which is located near the commune of Peray in the Pays de la Loire region of northern France.
Lonray Airfield is an abandoned World War II military airfield, which is located near the commune of Lonrai in the Orne region of northern France.
371st Engineer Construction Battalion or 371st Engineer Battalion was activated as a Special Service Regiment in February 1944, as a unit in the United States Army. Later this unit was redesignated a General Service Regiment. The unit was formed at Camp Ellis, Illinois from some regular Army officers and enlisted men, trained in the United States, then shipped overseas early in World War II to Riverside Station, Liverpool, England. They were the vanguard of many others to follow, including infantry and armored troops. Their purpose was to build facilities in preparation for those to follow. After the Normandy Invasion, they followed the front lines constructing roads, railroad bridges, hospitals, and other infrastructure needed by the advancing Armies. Serving until the surrender by Germany, the unit was discharged from the military on 8 November 1945 and the service members returned home.
Maupertus-sur-Mer Airfield is a former World War II military airfield, which is located near the city of Cherbourg-Octeville in the Manche department of Lower Normandy in northwestern France.
American logistics in the Northern France campaign played a key role in the Allied invasion of northwest Europe during World War II. In the first seven weeks after D-Day, the Allied advance was slower than anticipated in the Operation Overlord plan because the well-handled and determined German opposition exploited the defensive value of the Normandy bocage country. The Northern France campaign officially commenced on 25 July, the day First United States Army began Operation Cobra, which saw the breakout from the Normandy lodgment, and ended on 14 September.
American transportation played a crucial part in the military logistics of the World War II Siegfried Line campaign, which ran from the end of the expulsion of the German armies from Normandy in mid-September 1944 until December 1944, when the American Army was engulfed by the German Ardennes offensive. In August 1944, the Supreme Allied Commander, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, elected to continue the pursuit of the retreating German forces beyond the Seine instead of pausing to build up supplies and establish the lines of communication as called for in the original Operation Overlord plan. The subsequent advance to the German border stretched the American logistical system to its breaking point, and the advance came to a halt in mid-September.
United States Army, Office of the Chief of Engineers. "332nd Engineer General Service Regiment." National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland, Record Group 77, Box 175.
Ganoe, William A. The Engineers of the Southwest Pacific, 1941-1945. Washington, D.C., Office of the Chief of Engineers, Department of the Army, 1992.
