Royal Pioneer Corps

The Royal Pioneer Corps was a British Army combatant corps used for light engineering tasks. It was formed in 1939 and amalgamated into the Royal Logistic Corps in 1993. Pioneer units performed a wide variety of tasks in all theatres of war, 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.

History

The first record of Pioneers in a British army goes back to 1346 where the pay and muster rolls of the English Garrison at Calais show records of the Pioneers' pay. Though there was traditionally one pioneer for each company in a regiment, in about 1750 it was proposed that a Corps of Pioneers be formed, although nothing was done on this for nearly two hundred years. The Army Works Corps was established during the Crimean War in 1854. The Labour Corps was formed in 1917 during World War I and employed 325,000 British troops, 98,000 Chinese, 10,000 Africans and at least 300,000 other labourers.

Pioneer Corps

Pioneer Corps may refer to: