Royal Pioneer Corps The Royal Pioneer Corps was a British Army combatant corps used for light engineering tasks . The Auxilitary Military Pioneer Corps was raised on 17 October 1939 . It was renamed the Pioneer Corps on 22 November 1940 . In November 1940 the Colonel Commandant , Field Marshal Lord Milne , pointed out that the title Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps was extremely unpopular with all ranks and bad for esprit de corps . At the same time it was agreed that Companies should be armed on 100 % scale instead of 25 % which has previously been the case . Training centres were quickly formed to receive , clothe and equip recruits and personnel posted from other Arms Companies were formed and dispatched as required , this being the normal unit allotted to meet labour requirements . It was usually to consist of about 280 men divided into 10 sections of 26 men and a small HQ . Each section was commanded by a Sgt . Two sections were commanded by a Lieutenant . A number of companies ( between 4 and 20 ) within a geographical area would be commanded by a Group HQ under a Lieutenant Colonel . The Corps gained many awards for gallantry and in addition received American , French , Dutch , Greek , Belgian and Italian awards . Some 2 , 800 men of the Corps laid down their lives overseas . On 28 November 1946 , his majesty George VI decreed that in recognition of its services the Corps should have the distinction " Royal " added to the title . In February 1950 the Royal Pioneer Corps became part of the Regular Army . Since the end of World War 2 , Royal Pioneer Corps officers and soldiers have played their part in all operations overseas . In the long history of the British Army no other Corps or Regiment has earned this single honour in so short a time . It was renamed the Royal Pioneer Corps on 28 November 1946 . On 5 April 1993 , the Royal Pioneer Corps united with the Royal Corps of Transport , the Royal Army Ordnance Corps , the Army Catering Corps , and the Postal and Courier Service of the Royal Engineers , to form the Royal Logistic Corps . There are currently 3 specialist pioneer units in the Royal Logistics Corps . These are 23 Pioneer Regiment based at Bicester , Oxfordshire ; the ARRC Support Battalion 170 Pioneer Sqn RLC based at Innsworth , Gloucestershire , plus 1 specialist pioneer unit in the Territorial Army , 168 Pioneer Regiment , formed in 1995 with headquarters at Grantham . The History of the Pioneers . The first record of Pioneer s in a British army goes back to 1346 where the pay and muster rolls of the English Garrison at Calais show Pioneers being paid between 4d and 6d a day ( 2 to 2 ½ pence in today ' s currency ) . In 1660 Pioneer contingents , under their own officers and NCOs , were attached to Artillery Units . By 1739 The Guards included Pioneers as part of their fixed establishment . About 1750 , it was proposed that a Corps of Pioneers be formed , although nothing was done on this for nearly two hundred years . During World War I , Pioneer Battalions of Infantry Regiments served in France until 1917 when the Labour Corps came into being . This was , however disbanded in 1919 . In September 1939 , a number of infantry and cavalry reservists were formed into Works Labour Companies . These , in October 1939 became the Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps ( AMPC ) , and a Labour Directorate was created to control labour matters . A large number of Pioneers served in France with the British Expeditionary Force . During the Battle of France , an infantry brigade was improvised from several AMPC Companies under the command of Lieutenant - Colonel J . B . H . Diggle . Known as " Digforce " , they became part of Beauman Division and fought in defence of the Andelle and Béthune rivers on 8 June 1940 against the 5th and 7th Panzer Division s . They , and thousands of other BEF Pioneers , were evacuated to England in Operation Ariel . An unknown number of AMPC troops were killed when the HMT Lancastria was sunk off St Nazaire on 17 June . On 22 November 1940 the name was changed from the AMPC to the Pioneer Corps . Pioneers were recruited from throughout Africa , Mauritius and India . They performed a wide variety of tasks in all theatres of war . These tasks ranging from handling all types of stores , laying prefabricated track on the beaches and stretcher - bearing . They also worked under Engineer supervision on the construction of the Mulberry Harbour and laid the Pipe Line Under the Ocean ( PLUTO ) , constructed airfields , roads and erected bridges . Hardly known today is the fact that many thousands of Germans and Austrians joined the Pioneer Corps to assist the Allied war efforts and liberation of their home countries . These were mainly Jews and political opponents of the Nazi Regime who had fled to Britain while it was still possible , including the cinematographer Ken Adam , writer George Clare and publisher Robert Maxwell . These men - often dubbed " The King ' s Most Loyal Enemy Aliens " - later moved on to serve in fighting units like the Royal Fusiliers , Royal Tank Corps and even with the RAF . The Pioneer Corps was apparently the only British unit that " enemy aliens " could serve in early in the war . Some were recruited from the Pioneer Corps by Special Operations Executive ( S . O . E . ) as secret agents and were assigned to " Twelve Force . " They were instructed to choose an " English " name using their old initials , and some of them were parachuted behind enemy lines . Serving as German nationals in the British forces was particularly dangerous , since , in case of taken captive , with a high probability they would have been executed as traitors by the Germans . Also , the number of German - born Jews joining the British forces was exceptionally high . Until the end of the war , one of seven Jewish refugees from Germany had joined the British forces . Especially their profound knowledge of the German language and customs proved to be very useful . A lot of them served in the administrative bodies of the British occupation army in Germany and Austria after the war . Companies ( Squadrons ) established with Beach Groups took part in the assaults in North Africa , Sicily , Italy and North East Europe . 26 Companies totalling 7 , 500 men landed on the beaches at Normandy on D - Day . They were followed by 34 Group Headquarters , 205 Companies and 5 special operations units , totalling 60 , 000 men . The novelist Alexander Baron served in one of these Beach Groups and later included some of his experiences in his novels " From the City From the Plough " and " The Human Kind " . He also wrote a radio play about the experience of being stranded on a craft attempting to land supplies on the beaches of Normandy . In 1945 the Pioneer Corps included 12 , 000 officers and 166 , 000 men . Though they controlled over a million civilian staff , of many different nationalities , employed with British Forces throughout the world . After the war , in 1946 , King George VI conferred upon the Pioneers the title " Royal " for its meritorious work during the 1939 - 1945 war . In 1977 the Queen approved the appointment of HRH The Duke of Gloucester as Colonel - in - Chief of the Royal Pioneer Corps . Over the years since the end of World War II Pioneers have seen service in most of the conflicts around the world , though the numbers have reduced significantly . The rationalisation of Army logistics instigated by the Logistic Support Review in 1990 advocated that all logistic support matters should be the responsibility of a new corps , The Royal Logistic Corps ( RLC ) . This would be created from the amalgamation of the Royal Corps of Transport , Royal Army Ordnance Corps , Royal Pioneer Corps , Army Catering Corps and the Postal and Courier Branch of the Royal Engineers . The implementation of the Reviews recommendations resulted in The Royal Logistic Corps being formed on 5 April 1993 from these Corps . On the 5 July 2012 it was announced the 600 - strong 23 Pioneer Regiment , based in Bicester in some form since 1941 , will be disbanded . Soldiers at the base were in shock last night after being told the regiment will cease to exist by October 2015 . No details of how many troops face redundancy or how many would join other regiments elsewhere have been released . The Pioneer Corps In Fiction . The 1958 comedy film " The Square Peg " featured the Pioneer Corps . The story follows the exploits of Private Norman Pitkin and Private Wilfred Grimsdale during World War II . Sir Norman Wisdom starred as Pitkin . Also in the popular sitcom Dad ' s Army Captain George Mainwaring managed to secure a commission in the corps in France ' during the whole of 1919 ! '