French Engineer Companies (1914-1915)
French Engineer Companies (1914-1915)
The French Army of the First World War
Welcome to the Tactical Notebook, where you will find more than five hundred posts on the subject of the armies that were, the armies that are, and the armies that might have been. If you like what you see, please share the Tactical Notebook with a friend.
The typical French army corps of 1914 went to war with four companies of “field sappers and miners” (sappeurs-mineurs de campagne.) Like the field companies of British infantry divisions and the field pioneer companies of German army corps, these units dealt chiefly with two discrete aspects of the art of war: enhancing the mobility of the formation and solving problems related to field fortifications. The former task often involved the crossing of rivers. The latter consisted of such things as the layout of defenses, the erection of obstacles, and the building of shelters, as well as the making of paths through enemy obstacle belts.
The French Army formed field companies in a manner that resembled of the way that the German armies of the time mobilized their pioneer companies. In peacetime, each army corps was provided with a “field battalion of combat engineers” (battalion de sappeurs-mineurs de campagne.)1 Upon mobilization, the arrival of reservists allowed each battalion to fill the ranks of its three or four peacetime companies and, at the same time create two, three, or four additional companies.2 Of these companies, two went to the front as corps troops of the parent army corps. The remainder were assigned, at a rate of one company per division, to the active and reserve divisions affiliated with that formation.
The scheme used to provide names to French engineer companies reflected the manner in which they were mobilized. The first element in each company’s name came from the number of its battalion of origin. Thus, the numbers for the companies formed by the 15ème Battalion de Sappeurs-Mineurs de Campagne all began with the numeral “15.” The second element in the numerical designation reflected the relative position of the company within its parent battalion.
Companies assigned to army corps and first-line (active) infantry divisions received single digit numbers. Thus, Compagnie de Sappeurs-Mineurs de Campagne 15/1 was the senior field company of the 15th Army Corps (15ème Corps d’Armée).3 Companies assigned to reserve infantry divisions had got two digit designations, the first digit of which was “1.” The Compagnie de Sappeurs-Mineurs de Campagne 4/13, for example, was the field company assigned to the reserve division formed by the 4th Army Corps, the 54ème Division d’Infanterie de Réserve.
To supervise the work of its field companies, as well as any other engineer units that might be assigned, each self-contained formation, whether army corps or separate division, employed an officer, usually in the rank of battalion commander (chef de bataillon) or lieutenant colonel, as its “commandant of engineers” (commandant de Génie.)4 As this officer possessed a small staff, it was relatively easy for him to organize the engineer companies of his formation into a battalion of sorts.
On 26 October 1914, the commanding general of 2nd Army Corps (2ème Corps d’Armée) ordered the creation of a provisional engineer battalion for each of his two infantry divisions. One of the three field companies in each of these battalions was the original field company of the division in question. The second was one of the two field companies originally assigned directly to the army corps. The third was an auxiliary company (compagnie auxiliaire) made up of 150 men provided by the infantry regiments of the division. At the same time, the 2ème Corps d’Armée retained direct control over four additional engineer units: a park company (Compagnie 2/21), a fortress company (Compagnie 15/3), a company of pontooneers (Compagnie 24/1), and a company of forest rangers (Chasseurs Forestiers). 5
On 30 December 1914, the General Headquarters (Grand Quartier Général) instructed the commanding generals of all French field armies to arrange for the creation of an auxiliary engineer company in each of their infantry divisions. 6 Early in January of 1915 the commanding general of the Fourth Army complied with this order by instruction each of his division commanders to form three-company engineer battalions on the model of those of the 2ème Corps d’Armée. 7
In February of 1915, the Director General of Engineering (général directeur du Génie), issued a directive on the subject of the new auxiliary companies. Though his ostensible aim was to regularize (uniformiser) the organization and employment of auxiliary companies, the main thrust of this letter of instruction emphasized the provisional nature of such units. In particular, the Director General of Engineering stressed the importance of being able to easily dissolve the auxiliary companies “as soon as the need for them ceased to be felt.” 8
The names given to auxiliary companies, which were formed by adding the modifier Bis to the number of the engineer company which it reinforced, provided an unmistakable indicator of their status as temporary organizations. That is, each bore the designation of the regularly constituted field company of its parent division, followed by the modifier “bis.” Thus, for example, as the divisional field company of the 74ème Division d’Infanterie was Compagnie du Génie 13/14, the auxiliary company of the same division received the designation of Compagnie du Génie 13/14 bis. (In the French military parlance of the early twentieth century, adding the word bis to the name of a unit indicated that it was the second of its type.)
Some formations took pains to place trained engineer officers in command of the auxiliary companies they formed. The First Army, for example, gave command of its auxiliary companies to engineer officers seconded from the engineer companies of fortresses in its sector. As a rule, however, the subaltern officers, non-commissioned officers, corporals, and common soldiers of the auxiliary companies were all drawn from arms other than the engineer corps.
The men drafted into the auxiliary companies continued to wear the uniforms of the units in which they had previously served. At a time when French infantrymen, cavalrymen, and gunners still wore distinctive clothing, this policy gave formed bodies of auxiliary engineers a particularly motley appearance. The resulting lack of uniformity, in turn, reminded all concerned of the provisional character of such units.
In many instances, the officers organizing auxiliary engineer companies assigned soldiers to such units on the basis of their civilian professions. That is, they looked for reservists who had worked as civil engineers, architects, building contractors, carpenters, miners, stone masons, iron workers, or pick and shovel men (terrassiers.) At the same time, they sought to limit the number of men, such as cooks, shoemakers, and tailors, who had practiced sedentary trades. In January 1915, for example, the commanding general of the First Army told the commanding generals of divisions that they should fill forty-five percent of the places in the auxiliary companies with terrassiers, but no more than ten percent of such vacancies with men who had been engaged in indoor work. 9
Rather than raising complete auxiliary field companies, each of two hundred or so provisional engineers, the Tenth Army called for the organization of such men into half-companies (peletons) of a hundred or so “infantry pioneers” (pionniers d’infanterie). According to an order dated 30 November 1914, the commanding general of that formation instructed his subordinate commanders to form peletons of pionniers d’infanterie at a rate of two such units per division. The first of these was to serve alongside the original field company of that division, the other to work with one of the field companies of its parent army corps. 10
The orders calling for the creation of the peletons de pionniers d’infanterie explained the role that they were expected to play in offensive operations. One such directive, for example, explained that such units were “in case of need, intended to reinforce attacking engineer companies.” 11 To this end, the men of such units received training in the handling of explosives, the assembly and use of hand-grenades, and the erection and clearing of obstacles. On 1 January 1915, the commanding general of the Tenth Army informed his subordinates that the experiment with peletons de pionniers d’infanterie had proved so successful that divisions should send extra men to reinforce them. In addition, they should also train as many foot soldiers as possible in the arts of sapping under fire and the throwing of hand grenades.12
Within Tenth Army, the commanding general of the 33rd Army Corps (33ème Corps d’Armée), the soon-to-be-famous Philippe Pétain, embraced the formation of peletons de pionniers d’infanterie with particular enthusiasm. In December of 1914, the commanding general of one of the three divisions of General Pétain’s command, the 77th Infantry Division (77ème Division d’Infanterie), responded to the order that required it to organize two peletons de pionniers d’infanterie by raising three such units. On 5 January 1915, Pétain ordered the commanders of the other two infantry divisions of his army corps to follow suite.13
On 13 September 1915, the Grand Quartier Général mandated measures designed to convert auxiliary companies into full-fledged engineer units. First, it ordered the transfer into the engineer corps of the men who had been serving with auxiliary companies. Second, it imposed a new system of nomenclature on the auxiliary companies, providing them with numbers formed by adding “50” to the designation of the field companies with which they were affiliated. In this way, for example, Compagnie 3/1 bis became Compagnie 3/51. 14
This reform, however, failed to eliminate all of the barriers between the renumbered auxiliary companies and the field companies mobilized at the start of the war. In November 1915 the Director General of Engineers issued an order confirming an existing ban on the transfer of men from the recruit depots of the engineer corps to engineer units that had begun their corporate existence as auxiliary companies. 15 Whether they needed to replace casualties or bring themselves up to the official strength of 200 men, the latter organizations continued to receive drafts from the depots of infantry, artillery, and cavalry regiments. 16
For Further Reading:
1 In most cases, the French field battalion of combat engineers bore the same number as its parent army corps. Thus, the 8ème Battalion de Sappeurs-Mineurs de Campagne belonged to the 8ème Corps d’Armée.
2 Upon mobilization, the 67 peacetime companies of the French Army provided the cadre for 121 field companies. Extract from “Loi Relative à la Constitution des Cadres et Effectifs des Différentes Armes …” Archives de Guerre 25N717.
3 As a rule, the first two field companies of combat engineers were assigned to the active infantry divisions of an army corps and the second two were retained as corps troops. Thus, Compagnie 5/1 of the 5ème Corps d’Armée was assigned to the 9ème Division d’Infanterie while Compagnie 5/3 served as corps troops. For other examples, as well as the exception formed by the Colonial Corps, see Pierre Guyot, Deux Siècles d’Histoire avec le 1er Génie: 1794-1994, (Illkirch-Graffenstaden: Comité du Souvenir Français, 1994).
4 For descriptions of the positions of the senior engineer officers of both army corps and infantry divisions, see Grand Quartier Général, 1ère Bureau, No. 6417 of 19 March 1915 and No. 3395 of 7 December 1915, Archives de Guerre 25N712.
5 2ème Corps d’Armée, “Ordre Portant Organisation d’un Bataillon de Génie à 3 Compagnies dans chaque Division du Corps d’Armée” 26 October 1914 and 2ème Corps d’Armée, Commandant de Génie No. 129, 29 October 1914, “Note de Service,” Archives de Guerre 25N730.
6 Grand Quartier Général, 1ère Bureau, No. 3964, 13 February 1915, Archives de Guerre 25N717.
7 4ème Corps d’Armée, 1ère Bureau, 6 January 1915, Archives de Guerre 25N717.
8 Ministre de la Guerre, Direction du Génie, No. 1034 3/4, 22 February 1915, Archives de Guerre 25N717.
9 1ère Armée, 1ère Bureau, N. 9291, Archives de Guerre 25N734. AFGG, Tome II, pp. 394-5.
10 33ème Corps d’Armée, 3ème Bureau, No. 1957, 1 January 1915, Archives de Guerre 22N1793.
11 33ème Corps d’Armée, 3ème Bureau, No. 1951, 31 December 1914, Archives de Guerre 22N1793.
12 10ème Armée, 3ème Bureau, No. 3484, 1 January 1915, Archives de Guerre 22N1793.
13 33ème Corps d’Armée, 3ème Bureau, No. 2026, 5 January 1915, Archives de Guerre 22N1793.
14 Grand Quartier Général, 1ère Bureau, No. 7369, 13 September 1915, Archives de Guerre 25N717.
15 Ministre de la Guerre, Direction du Génie, No. 6054 3/4, 8 November 1915, Archives de Guerre 25N717.
16 Grand Quartier Général, 1ère Bureau, No. 7623, 14 October 1915, Archives de Guerre 25N717.