The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the Sappers, is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is headed by the Chief Royal Engineer. The Corps Headquarters and the Royal School of Military Engineering are in Chatham in Kent, England. The corps is divided into several regiments, barracked at various places in the United Kingdom and around the world.
The Bermuda Militia Artillery was a unit of part-time soldiers organised in 1895 as a reserve for the Royal Garrison Artillery detachment of the Regular Army garrison in the Imperial fortress colony of Bermuda. Militia Artillery units of the United Kingdom and Colonies were intended to man coastal batteries in times of war, which were manned by under-strength numbers of regular army gunners in peace time. The unit was embodied during both world wars, fulfilling its role within the garrison, and also sending contingents overseas to more active theatres of the wars.
The Malaya Command was a formation of the British Army formed in the 1920s for the coordination of the defences of British Malaya, which comprised the Straits Settlements, the Federated Malay States and the Unfederated Malay States. It consisted mainly of small garrison forces in Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Taiping, Seremban and Singapore.
The Kent Fortress Royal Engineers (KFRE) was a volunteer Territorial unit of the British Army that saw service in both World Wars. They are notable for their successful actions in May 1940, when they destroyed substantial oil stocks and installations just ahead of the German advance, and in August 1944 during the assault crossing of the River Seine.
The British Expeditionary Force order of battle 1914, as originally despatched to France in August and September 1914, at the beginning of World War I. The British Army prior to World War I traced its origins to the increasing demands of imperial expansion together with inefficiencies highlighted during the Crimean War, which led to the Cardwell and Childers Reforms of the late 19th century. These gave the British Army its modern shape, and defined its regimental system. The Haldane Reforms of 1907 formally created an Expeditionary force and the Territorial Force.
The Bermuda Volunteer Engineers was a part-time unit created between the two world wars to replace the Regular Royal Engineers detachment, which was withdrawn from the Bermuda Garrison in 1928.
The 1st Durham Engineers, later Durham Fortress Engineers, was a Volunteer unit of the British Army's Royal Engineers. First founded in 1868 it was sometimes united with the Tyne Electrical Engineers, at other times it formed an independent unit. Although its main role was defence of the North East Coast of England, the unit sent detachments on active service to the Suakin Expedition, the Second Boer War, and the Western Front and Italy during the First World War.
The Tyne Electrical Engineers (TEE) is a Volunteer unit of the British Army that has existed under various titles since 1860. It has been the parent unit for a large number of units fulfilling specialist coastal and air defence roles in the Royal Engineers (RE) and Royal Artillery (RA), many seeing service during both World Wars. TEE companies currently form part of the RE and of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers in the Army Reserve.
The City of Edinburgh (Fortress) Royal Engineers was a volunteer unit of the British Army under various titles from 1886 until 1999. Its main role was defence of the Firth of Forth, but it also provided detachments for active service in the field during both World Wars.
The Renfrewshire Fortress Royal Engineers was a Scottish volunteer unit of the British Army under various titles from 1888. Its main role was defence of the ports and shipyards on the River Clyde, but it also provided detachments for active service in the field during both World Wars. Its successors continue to serve in the Army Reserve.
The Dundee Fortress Royal Engineers was a Scottish volunteer unit of the British Army formed in 1908. Its main role was the defence of the harbours and shipyards on the River Tay, but it also provided a detachment that saw active service in North Russia at the end of World War I. In the 1930s, it was turned into an air defence unit, in which role it served in World War II. A brief postwar revival ended in disbandment in 1950.
The Lancashire (Fortress) Royal Engineers was a volunteer unit of Britain's Royal Engineers formed in 1884 to defend the Mersey Estuary. As well as serving in this role it also provided specialist engineer units in both World Wars, losing many men in a shipping disaster during the Greek Campaign. Its descendants continued to serve in the Territorial Army until 1967.
The East Riding (Fortress) Royal Engineers was a volunteer unit of Britain's Royal Engineers formed for the defence of the Humber Estuary in the East Riding of Yorkshire. As well as serving in this role it also provided field and specialist engineer units in both World Wars. Its successors continued to serve in the Territorial Army until 1991.
The North Riding (Fortress) Royal Engineers was a volunteer unit of Britain's Royal Engineers formed for the defence of the Tees Estuary in the North Riding of Yorkshire. As well as serving in this role it also provided specialist engineer units in both World Wars. Its descendants continued to serve in the Territorial Army until 1999.
The Cornwall Fortress Royal Engineers, was a volunteer unit of Britain's Royal Engineers formed in 1908. It helped to defend the coastal towns of Cornwall and sent engineer units to work on the Western Front. Converted to an air defence role before World War I, it served as a searchlight unit during the Battle of Britain, the Blitz, then, as a light anti-aircraft gun unit, it served in the most heavily attacked part of the South Coast of England throughout 1942–44, including the V-1 flying bomb campaign.
Pembroke Military Cemetery Malta is a burial ground for military personnel and their dependants. It is located close by the former St Patrick's Barracks in the Pembroke Council area, on a minor road.
The Royal Malta Artillery (RMA) was a regular artillery unit of the British Army prior to Malta's independence. It was formed in 1889, having been called the Royal Malta Fencible Artillery from 1861 until 1889.
Malta Command was an independent command of the British Army. It commanded all army units involved in the defence of Malta. Once mobilised the Command deployed its headquarters to underground hardened shelters and its combat units were deployed to fixed points in the Maltese countryside, from where they operated. This mobilised, but largely static, army garrison would be tested by aerial bombardment and naval blockade during the Second World War. Whilst Malta Command was already a functioning command structure before 1939, the Second World War would see the Command operate as a genuine war-fighting headquarters, albeit in a static defensive role.
The Glamorgan Fortress Royal Engineers was a Welsh Territorial Army (TA) unit of Britain's Royal Engineers, first raised in 1885 as a Volunteer unit of Submarine Miners to defend the Severn Estuary. During World War I it carried out defence work in England and Gibraltar, and detachments served on the Western Front. In World War II it served in the North African campaign, including the Second Battle of El Alamein, and the Allied invasion of Sicily. Postwar, the unit continued in the TA until 1961.
Lord Salisbury described Malta, Gibraltar, Bermuda, and Halifax as Imperial fortresses at the 1887 Colonial Conference, though by that point they had been so designated for decades. Later historians have also given the title "imperial fortress" to St. Helena and Mauritius, despite their lacking naval dockyards and not serving as home bases for station naval squadrons.
