Engineer Memoirs _____________________________________________________________________
So, we did several things that could happen. First, we got the troop list fixed so we had two
battalions for every division, plus separate companies. To get that, Corps asked USAREUR
for, and I talked with Colonel Ed Keiser of the 18th Engineer Brigade, actually the 24th
Engineer Group at that time, to have the 79th Engineer Battalion (Combat Heavy) to come to
the field with us. Parts of the 79th would come to us in the general defense plan for doing
those antitank ditches I mentioned earlier.
So, on the one side, that is the orange forces, in addition to the 3d Infantry Division and its
organic 10th Engineer Battalion, we had the 78th Engineer Battalion available as the Corps
battalion in direct support of the division and then we had the 79th Battalion (Combat Heavy)
as the one providing general support behind the division.
On the blue forces side, which were going to be the 1st Infantry Division coming over from
the States as part of the reinforcement package, we had behind them the 9th Engineer
Battalion, which would be the Corps battalion in direct support, and then also coming from
the States as part of the reinforcement was the 20th Engineer Battalion (Combat), a Corps-
type battalion from Fort Campbell. So, we would have the divisional battalion, plus two
supporting battalions, or three engineer battalions on each side. Then we'd put a composite
battalion, since I had two composite engineer battalions, on either side with a mix of
companies--float and combat support equipment. We took out a full complement. Later on,
they decided to run the 2d Armored Cavalry Regiment in to screen in front of the arriving 1st
Infantry Division as an extra, so I had the 82d Engineer Battalion, which had not planned to
play in the exercise because they were constructing the many required Corps facilities, come
aboard for the first two days of the exercise to participate while the Cav was a participant.
So, one early important thing was getting the force structure organized. A second thing was
ensuring rules of realistic engagement. We worked hard on umpire rules and we asked for
lots of umpires. We took the initiative to work with USAREUR to get V Corps to provide
additional engineer umpires so we could try to come to grips with realistic obstacles and
really not let people bypass obstacles. That's why engineers don't get battlefield credit--
because the maneuver team roars up to an obstacle, soon as nobody's looking, they rip down
the engineer tape or whatever that identifies the obstacle and they roar on. We wanted to
come to grips with that, so we did it by writing the rules, by having engagement rules that
required a unit to do the realistic kind of thing--he had to get the right engineers there with
the right equipment if he was going to build a bridge to get across that obstacle that you
really couldn't construct because of maneuver damage. Maneuver damage was a factor. He
had to have the bridge and the engineers on site before waiting the construction time, and we
had enough engineer umpires to enforce that.
Then we talked with the Corps commander and the chief umpire, who was General Webb,
who'd been through the previous year's exercise as the commanding general, 1st Armored
Division. Consequently, the umpire system knew that obstacles were supposed to be
realistically obeyed. At the last briefing of all of the maneuver commanders, battalion and up,
the day before the exercise, Lieutenant General Ott emphasized, "I want you all to play
obstacles correctly. We don't gain anything by moving them aside. We gain with a realistic
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