72-WW2-350 WEHRMACHT PIONEERS BUILD TRENCHES

In the course of World War II, German sapper units (German: Pioniere) were assigned in the strength of the battalion to each infantry, armored, mountain, grenadier and panzer grenadier divisions. At the end of the war, they were also assigned to the Volkssturm division. The full-time sapper battalion consisted of, among others, a staff, two companies of sappers, a company of motorized sappers and a motorized bridge column. It is worth adding that the units of sappers (pioneers) in the Wehrmacht, and also in the Waffen SS, were abundantly equipped with machine guns and other support weapons, and the soldiers serving in them had good, and often very good, training. In addition to performing typical engineering and sapper tasks, they were also perceived as assault units (German: Sturmpioniere) intended to attack heavily fortified objects and permanent resistance points. It is worth adding that the Sturmpioniere units very often collaborated with other types of armed forces on ordinary infantry and ending with aviation.