Chapter XXIX: Conclusion

The foregoing account gives in a broad way an idea of the scope of activities and the achievements of the Engineers during the 19 months of actual warfare in France. To furnish the organization of technical troops and specialists which made all this possible, the original Engineer Arm of the United States Army was increased to 131.5 times its prewar strength, and the proportion of Engineer troops relative to the total forces was increased from 1.6 per cent to 10.8 per cent. To accomplish this, a heavy demand was made upon the technical professions and upon the industries of this country. In filling this demand most necessary assistance was given by the engineer societies and the engineering journals, whose patriotic work demands the highest praise.

In situations requiring special knowledge almost always there could be found some specialist capable of adapting himself and his work to the military needs. Engineer officers for the combatant regiments were younger members of the technical professions, who were sent to the training camps provided for the purpose and there given the essentials of strictly military knowledge. This training was later supplemented by courses in Engineer and line schools located in France. The training officers of the regiments were supplied from the Corps of Engineers, these men having both the military and technical knowledge fitting them for the command. The diversity of education and experience necessary in all branches of the Engineer service may be understood by a consideration of the duties of the different units sent to France during the war--specialist units, in addition to the strictly combatant divisional regiments, who also numbered among their commissioned and enlisted personnel many technical specialists of high attainment.

We had, for instance, seven railway construction regiments, two railway construction battalions, one regiment and five battalions for railway maintenance of way, two battalions for maintenance of railway equipment, four regiments and one battalion to operate our main military railways in France, three regiments to operate the light railways in France and their repair shops, two regiments for operating the regular railway shops, two regiments and six battalions for constructing buildings and other general construction work, two regiments for storing and transporting Engineer supplies, a forestry regiment, a light railway construction regiment, a regiment for building roads, a water supply regiment, a mining regiment, a quarrying regiment, a technical regiment for handling surveying, sound ranging, and location of enemy positions by means of special apparatus, three survey and printing battalions, two railway transportation battalions, an electrical and mechanical regiment, several companies to operate cranes, a camouflage service, five inland waterway companies, five ponton trains, a ponton park, a railway transportation and stores battalion, and a searchlight regiment.

Utilizing and applying the new knowledge and scientific achievements of recent years, drawing upon the fund of experience acquired by the Regular Army in its theoretical studies and past wars, making available the vast amount of technical skill which has assisted this Nation to its present commercial and industrial status, the Engineers of the United States Army worked and fought, planned, and accomplished in France a work which in magnitude exceeds any similar undertaking recorded in American history. From base port to first waves of an assault upon the enemy's position, Engineer troops have been constantly in action first to last and have "carried on" always with the high ideals of the profession and with the motto of the Corps of Engineers, "_Essayons_," before them.