Combat Engineers- 604th Engineer
Regiment
U.S. Army World War I
The British and French governments made the arrival of American engineers their top priority after the United States joined "The Great War" in April 1917. The Americans responded quickly. By the end of August 1917, nine newly organized engineer railway regiments, recruited largely from workers on the nation's private railroads, together with the engineer regiment of the 1st Division, had crossed the Atlantic and arrived in France. Several of the railway regiments were assigned initially to British or French military formations. It was while serving with the British southwest of Cambrai, France, on September 5, 1917, that Sergeant Matthew Calderwood and Private William Branigan of the 11th Engineers were wounded by artillery fire, thus becoming the first casualties in any U.S. Army unit serving at the front in Europe.
The
thousands of engineer troops that served in France in 1917 and 1918 contributed
both to front-line and rear-support efforts. The combat engineers constructed
bridges (picture at left shows 170th Engineers in Cierges,
France), roads, and narrow- gauge railroads at or immediately behind the
front. The forestry troops of the 20th Engineers produced roughly 200 million
feet of lumber in France. Other engineer troops enlarged French port
facilities, constructed more than 20 million square feet of storage space, and
built 800 miles of standard-gauge rail lines, plus an equal distance in yards
and storage tracks. The technically trained engineers organized the first U.S.
Army tank units and developed chemical warfare munitions and defensive
equipment. So important were these pursuits that in 1918 the War Department
created a separate Tank Corps and a Chemical Warfare Service, the latter headed
initially by an engineer officer.
604th Engineer Regiment
Photo right thanks to Chris Ferrenz .
The 604th Engineers Company B dugouts and rolling kitchen near Cheppy, France. Company B soldiers were stripping and drilling in a rock quarry near Mandres, Frances. They were producing rock for road construction. I believe this is a photo of Hill 297.
604th practices Pontoon bridge building in Glen Burnie, MD.
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Pontoon bridge building at Camp Glenburnie, MD. Preparing for the race we won The record of the U.S. Army standard 200 ft bridge in 19 minutes. |
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Starting a bridge. "Horrible Hell" bossing the job |
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604th Road building in France
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Building roads for the French. Sergt. Bennett in charge here. |
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We had several traveling salesman out on the road but they were not selling goods. |
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LINKS:
20th Engineers http://www.donlowconcrete.com/Engineers/
US Army History http://www.hq.usace.army.mil/history/brief.htm
https://www.perscom.army.mil/tagd/tioh/Branches/Corps%20of%20Engineers.htm
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