Combat and Construction
U.S. Army Engineers in World War I
The U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers provided diverse military
services during World War I. The
Corps formed the large
engineer regiments of the American
combat divisions. Army engineers
built port facilities, roads, and
railroads essential to moving war
materiel to the battlefront. They
also harvested timber for military
construction and operated search-
lights in anti-aircraft defense.
The engineers organized the first
U.S. Army tank units and developed
chemical warfare munitions and
defensive equipment. Armored units
and chemical warfare became so
important that the Army in 1918
created a separate Tank Corps
and a Chemical Warfare Service.
seeks recruits
the 11th
Brigadier General Amos Fries, a
Army recruited
state and
regional
career engineer officer, headed the
Chemical Warfare Service in France.
Engineer
plans for a
railway near the
in France
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