Evening star., 1944-12-10

to the Allied supply system was the port
OF Cherbourg. Here port construction
and repair groups of the Army engineers
gave a notable demonstration Of their
ready adaptability in taking advantage
Of every opportunity.
Nazi demolitionists did A thorough lob
in Cherbourg. After the debris in the
port area had been cleared. the en-
gineers faced one of the biggest jobs
OF the European campaign in rebuild
ing the demolished docks and quays and
building new dockside unloading facili-
ties to increase cargo tonnage. It was
a tougher job than that necessitated at
Naples. But within q comparatively
short time, considering everything, the
port of Cherbourg was made ready for
the heaviest cargo-unloading operations
it had ever known, even in peacetime.
Many Big Jobs
These are only few of the many
overseas war jobs the engineers are
called upon to do. There are many
others, all vital to the business of fight
ing. Docks, port facilities, cantonments,
hospitals and Notifications have been
provided in every theater of operations.
All overseas construction except Signal
Corps lines is an engineer function.
Engineers operate all light and power
systems and all other utilities. They
ouild pipelines to carry precious oil and
gas to the combat lines. They clear
landing beaches of enemy mines They
are expert in handling BOBBY traps and
in opening safe passageways for the
infantry through the mine fields left
by retreating enemy They operate
fame throwers against pillboxes and
concrete emplacements. When neces-
sary, too, they use their rifles like
infantrymen. All these, and more. they
perform as routine duties in the face
of the enemy
Every battle begins on a map-and
many are won and lost there. The
engineers provide the maps for the gen.
erals who plan th- operations and the
soldiers who carry out these operations.
Pilots must have maps so accurate that
they can recognize in a split second
the first things they see when they come
out of the overcast. Artillery must
have maps detailed enough to register
in their mutually supporting batteries.
Mapping the Beaches
For the invasion Of France, all Allied
troop units had to be supplied with
every detail they were required to
know before landing on the beaches.
The British admiralty was unable to
supply charts that would guide our in
vading soldiers right up onto the dry
beaches. So, two years before D day,
the Corps Of Engineers started a
minute study of every beach on the
Atlantic coast Of France. Little by
little, they drew maps and made models
OF the beaches, starting in feet of
water and ending on dry land. They
mapped the tides, estimated and set
down the height and width Of the surf.
Those were the days when our news
papers and the Berlin radio told OF
almost daily Commando raids" along
the coast. Many of these raids were
made by engineers for the purpose of
taking samples Of the sand, or of the
inland earth, and to obtain other first
hand information with which to check
their calculations and their maps.
The number Of maps needed for q
huge invading army staggers the
Imagination.
Say that 2yo0o, 900 men took part in the
invasion Of Europe. Our Army Map
Service supplied them with 100 square
feet OF maps per soldier. To put 1t an
other way, each soldier had received
before the invasion the equivalent Of
between 10 and so road maps Of size