Originally posted by robothelpermnky
construction engineers can just be abstracted little benifit (gameplay) to have them as actual units. Just assume they are there whenever your upgrading fortification or whatever. They saw serious combat rarely.
While the above statement is generally true, I am a little saddened/upset by it...for it seems to imply that the construction engineers were not capable/willing to deal with armed combat. This was untrue. Six Seabee Battalions actually received Presidential Unit Citations (PUC's) during WWII.
PUC Award Criteria: The Presidential Unit Citation is awarded to units of the Armed Forces of the United States and co-belligerent nations for extraordinary heroism in action against an armed enemy occurring on or after 7 December 1941. The unit must display such gallantry, determination, and esprit de corps in accomplishing its mission under extremely difficult and hazardous conditions as to set it apart and above other units participating in the same campaign. The degree of heroism required is the same as that which would warrant award of a Distinguished Service Cross to an individual. Extended periods of combat duty or participation in a large number of operational missions, either ground or air is not sufficient. This award will normally be earned by units that have participated in single or successive actions covering relatively brief time spans. It is not reasonable to presume that entire units can sustain Distinguished Service Cross performance for extended time periods except under the most unusual circumstances. Only on rare occasions will a unit larger than battalion qualify for award of this decoration.
The US Navy Seabees (Construction Battalions) at:
Normandy:
During D-Day of the Normandy invasion, 6 June 1944, the Seabees were among the first to go ashore as members of naval combat demolition units. Working with U.S. Army Engineers, their crucial task was to destroy the steel and concrete barriers that the Germans had built in the water and on the beaches to forestall any amphibious landings. When dawn betrayed their presence, they came under murderous German fire. Whole teams were wiped out when shells prematurely detonated their explosives. Heedless of the danger, the survivors continued to work until all their explosive charges were planted. As a result of their heroic actions, the charges went off on schedule and huge holes were blown in the enemy's defenses.
The arduous assignment of the combat demolition units was only the beginning of the Seabees' work on Normandy's beaches. After the invasion fleet had arrived off the coast, The approximately 10,000 Seabees of Naval Construction Regiment 25 began manhandling their pontoon causeways onto the beach. It was over these causeways that the infantry charged ashore. Under constant German fire, directed at slowing or stopping the landings, the Seabees succeeded in placing large numbers of these pontoon causeways. Allied troops and tanks subsequently swept ashore in ever greater numbers and pushed the German defenders inland.
Sicily and Anzio:
The beaches of Sicily had previously been considered by both the Allies and Axis as an impossible site for a major amphibious landing. Nevertheless, with help of the Seabees and their new pontoons, the Allies were able to carry off a surprise attack on the weakly defended Sicilian beaches. The enemy was quickly outflanked and overpowered, as large numbers of men and huge amounts of equipment poured ashore over pontoon causeways with a minimum of casualties and delay. Thus, the Seabees were instrumental in spelling the beginning of the end for the southern stronghold of the Axis.
These same landing techniques were later used at Salerno and Anzio on the Italian mainland. Unfortunately, the Germans had learned their lesson from the Sicilian debacle, and this time they were lying in wait. It was in the face of fierce resistance and heavy bombardment that the Allies suffered heavy casualties, as they stormed ashore at both Salerno and Anzio. Seabees absorbed their share of the casualties. At Anzio, the situation was particularly desperate. Anzio had been a diversionary landing behind enemy lines. When the Germans staged a massive counterattack, the defenders were in critical danger of being pushed back into the sea.
It was the Seabees’ task to keep essential supplies and ammunition moving across their pontoon causeways to the struggling forces on their precarious beachhead. Only with their vital assistance were the Allies able to turn the tide of battle and push inland in the wake of the slowly retreating Germans.
For many months, however, Seabees remained at Anzio and, under continuous German bombardment, built cargo handling facilities, unloaded tank landing ships, and kept supplies moving to the front. German resistance in Southern Italy finally collapsed, and Rome was taken on June 4, 1943.
Iwo Jima:
The 133rd: The 133rd was not a support unit, but was assigned as a Marine Pioneer Battalion for the invasion of Iwo Jima. The entire 133rd landed with the first waves and suffered 40% casualties.
The 90th (a personal account):
Jack Lazere, who turned 78 on July 30, came in from Ida, Mich., for the reunion. In 1945, he was in the 90th Construction Battalion attached to the 4th Marine Division when troops assaulted Iwo Jima on Feb. 19. Lazere was in the second assault wave to hit the beach.
The Japanese fire was murderous and there were bodies all around him, Lazere said. His job was to operate a crane that would remove gasoline, ammunition and other supplies from small landing boats and deposit them into half-tracks that would follow the Marines inland.
A Catholic, Lazere wrote in his prayerbook just before the landing that he expected to be killed between Feb. 19 and 23.
"It was God who spared me," he said.
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By the end of the war, 325,000 men had enlisted in the Seabees. Nearly 11,400 officers joined the Civil Engineer Corps during the war, and 7,960 of them served with the Seabees.
SEABEE ROADS TO VICTORY IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR
During the Second World War, the Seabees performed now legendary deeds in both the Atlantic and Pacific Theaters of Operation. At a cost of nearly $11 billion and many casualties, they constructed over 400 advanced bases along five figurative roads to victory which all had their beginnings in the continental United States. The South Atlantic road wound through the Caribbean Sea to Africa, Sicily, and up the Italian peninsula. The North Atlantic road passed through Newfoundland to Iceland, Great Britain, France, and Germany. The North Pacific road passed through Alaska and along the Aleutian island chain. The Central Pacific road passed through the Hawaiian, Marshall, Gilbert, Mariana, and Ryukyu Islands. The South Pacific road went through the South Sea islands to Samoa, the Solomons, New Guinea, and the Philippine's. All the Pacific roads converged on Japan and the Asiatic mainland.
Highlights of Pacific Contributions:
In the North, Central, South and Southwest Pacific areas, the Seabees built 111 major airstrips, 441 piers, 2,558 ammunition magazines, 700 square blocks of warehouses, hospitals to serve 70,000 patients, tanks for the storage of 100,000,000 gallons of gasoline, and housing for 1,500,000 men.
Atlantic Contributions:
More sporadic...and...couldn't find a site with overall numbers...just lists of "invaded Normandy, invaded Sicily, invaded Anzio, moved Patton across the Rhine, etc". Pretty significant contributions all the same.
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I would like to see construction engineers in the game (i.e. position construction battalion in hex/province before events like "construct aiport/pier/etc" can take place. They should also be given a combat rating (low) and be able to defend territory...or...be forced out/project abandonned when attacked/defeated).
I thought it was sort of silly in EUII that you could invade a province building a manufactory but could not destroy the manufactury until you captured the province.
