Combat Engineer

[Harlan (Deceased)]

This is a photo of a combat engineer with his carbine.
It was taken in the days following D-Day as the allied soldiers advanced inland.

He's holding a German non-metallic wooden 'Shu-mine', and you see from his expression what he thinks about it.

They just cleared a mine field of anti-personnel mines and Shu-mines by kneeling elbow-to-elbow probing with bayonets and steel rods.
(They marked the cleared area with rolls of white ribbon)



The 'Shu-mine' was the most common non-metallic mine the Germans used as they retreated.
They buried these at random in mine fields primarily to maim engineers as they attempted to clear metallic anti-personal mines with electronic mine detectors.
They were made of wood and plastic so mine detectors couldn't detect them.

The Shu-mines were small and didn't usually cause death, but caused horrific damage to feet, legs, and lower extremities.

I cannot imagine the courage it took to clear numerous mine fields probing with rods having live mines inches from their face.

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[truckboy]

I have a buddy who's grandfather was a combat engineer in the ETO. He had a carbine that never, ever, ever jammed. He had to constantly watch it because everyone tried to swipe HIS carbine. He seemed to think that he just kept his cleaner.

One of their duties was to clear a recent battlefield of all weapons. They had truckloads of ammo and weapons. During the Battle of the Bulge, these combat engineers ran into a unit moving forward with no weapons. When asked where their weapons were, they stated that they had been told they would be issued weapons prior to arriving at the front. The engineers then told them that they were "at the front", but that they could help them. They promptly lined everyone up at the truckloads of just picked up weapons and began taking orders like it was a drive through. The engineers were glad because they did not have to lug this stuff back, and the impromptu infantrymen were glad to be armed.

Can you imagine! "I would like a BAR and could you supersize it!"

In that situation what would you want, since you could pick. I would probably pick a BAR if a private, but a carbine if I was some sort of NCO or officer.

[jbrid]

Be careful what you ask for -- My father-in-law served with the Rainbow Division late in the war in Europe. He carried a BAR the entire time -- his comment is that it attracted too much un-wanted attention.

Jim