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The ingenuity of the engineers, men who were proud of their “Jack of all Trades” description, was not restricted to building bunkers, entrenchments and bridges, as this book graphically emphasises. Their contribution was crucial to the success or failure of military enterprises and the soldiers found themselves in life-threatening situations far more often than they would have liked, but prided themselves on their adroitness, skills and ability to get themselves out of any sticky situation or pull the irons from the fire when they needed to.
More likely to be shot at than shoot at in the first year of the war, they were reluctant to relinquish the humane habits of their former lives.
“The poor little thing was shivering from head to toe. I immediately took the child into the adjacent kitchen beside the stove and gave her my last bread and chocolate and had someone look for a little dress, which was soon found.”
But the exigencies of warfare would soon see them engulfed in bitter hand-to-hand fighting alongside their infantry comrades, bringing the never-ending cavalcade of deaths of friends, and medals, in its wake.
A rare book throws light on a the men who worked tirelessly, putting their lives on the line in a unique manner, but who rarely bathed in the limelight.