After all that let's consider what this means in terms of Europa. It's easiest to do this in terms of a few general points.

1) There were in fact several Pioneer Corps.

(British military bureaucracy is never straightforward!) Fortunately, from our point of view this happens to make things easier. Above all, very few units raised in Great Britain ever left the North-West Europe theater. Simple - you can do what you like with them, but only a few, to be precise three counters can ever go to the Med., or to the East. Construction units in those theaters come from the "colonial" Pioneer Corps - mainly India and Africa.

2) Equipment

Again, we can come up with some simple rules. "British" units (that's what we'll call those formed in the United Kingdom) had personal arms - rifles, pistols, etc., and with time and scrounging, some LMBs and anti-tank rifles. In keeping with the Europa pattern, these should be considered to have no Attack strength, and a minimum Defense strength - let's say 1 for a 1 RE unit. Normally they also had very little transport so let us say that they have a movement rating of 5 if formed in Great Britain. Most colonial units had NO transport, and some had NO weapons. The Indians in particular were forbidden by law from carrying guns.

This raises the fascinating issue of just HOW big a zero strength Europa counter can be - about a 3RE unit with a 0- 4 rating?

3) Organization

This (naturally) is where things become tricky. The largest "permanent" organization of the Pioneer troops was, of all things, a company! Just to make matters worse, a company could vary in size from 150 to 600 men, that is, almost a battalion. And there were LOTS of companies - in May 1940 there were 101 in France alone. At the end of 1940, there were no less that 263 in the United Kingdom! Before every Europa player recoils at the thought of all those stupid and useless counters there is a solution. The British formed ad-hoc command structures called Groups to control this mass of companies.

Unfortunately, the number of companies in each group varied like crazy (of course), but some trends can be noted. A few examples: In May 1940 there were 101 companies organized in 17 groups in France. In Britain 3 more groups had 29 companies. Specific groups in France had from 11 to 3 companies under command. Another snapshot 25 June, 1944 in Normandy there were 35 groups controlling 230 plus companies, totaling some 63,000 men. Note that this is clearly in a "combat zone."

As a working hypothesis we can consider a group to average 10 companies or some 3,000 men. But the number of groups that should be used as counters in an Europa game is a very tricky question, which we an only analyze by considering what they actually did.

4) Duties

There were a vast range of these. At one extreme we have cases of Pioneer Corps units engaged in front-line combat. A few examples - in Normandy several companies (acting as Beach Groups) landed in the second wave, and 6,000 were ashore on D Day, mainly engaged in mine clearance.

Similarly, Pioneers landed in the second wave in the attack on Walcheren in late 1944. Similar examples can be cited in the Mediterranean area 0 some 5,000 Pioneers went to Greece where they took 85% casualties (one gets the impression that they were "forgotten" by higher command); Pioneers landed in the first wave in the Salerno invasion, and were responsible for front-line smoke screens at Cassino (acting I suspect, like Chemical Engineers of the US Army.)

At the other extreme many, many Pioneer units were assigned to duties far from front-line action. In the United Kingdom they repaired bomb damage and assisted fire departments. In Syria they constructed roads and rebuilt railways. In Europa terms it is very difficult to judge which should be shown as units, and which abstracted in some way - such as the repair point concept used in TFH.

My inclination is to show units which acted as Line of Communication troops as counters, including those where it is necessary to show the upgrade of transport networks or the construction of fortifications. Others can be stylized as repair points. One final comment in this regard: units of this type should be shown as 1 RE, but should represent at least 5,000 men each. The reason is the lack of adequate command control. It was noticeable that the Companies were far more efficient concentrated under direct command, rather than spread over the countryside in small packets.

5) Nationalities

The plethora of countries represented (especially in the Med. zone) in the Pioneer units could be a challenge in terms of counter colors. Example - in April 1944 in Italy alone there were 25 Indian companies, and 7 from Mauritius, 12 Basulto, 11 Bechuanaland, 1 from Swaziland, and 8 from Britain.

Other nationalities existed - those Pioneers mentioned earlier as being in Greece in 1941 were formed into two groups, one Cypriot and one Palestinian. The last is particularly interesting, being made up of "Israeli" Jews and Palestinian Arabs (considering the history of the last few decades, Europa players with a warped sense of humor could indulge themselves over special rules for this counter).

Actually, the two nationalities got on well together, and the Jewish segment later formed the nucleus of the Jewish Infantry Brigade which fought in Italy. It is possible to generalize however one large group were South African, tactfully described as "Colored", many of whom became involved in fighting since they were dragged along to perform jobs which the "Whites" in the 1, 2, and 6 S.A. Divisions were too delicate or too few to perform.

We will ignore these, assuming that they form part of the three Divisions. Here we are only concerned with those that performed Line of Communications work for the Armies. The second major section were the "Indians", a title which includes large numbers of Singalese and inhabitants of the Indian Ocean islands. Remember that these were by law not allowed to be armed. (I have a personal suspicion that this also held true of the Coloreds.)

Those are the main factors to consider. Now let's see how they would look in Europa terms. But first, a couple of caveats - whatever you see here is not definitive. John Astell has this information, and knows best how to fit it into the "big picture". Also, for the moment, these new units are only identified where they match existing games - first War in the Desert, and then the Fall of France/Their Finest Hour. Lastly, the unit designations are not intended to be comprehensive. Remember that the number of troops in a Group could vary enormously. Finally where possible, the Group ID have been picked to match existing Europa counters.

Order of Battle
War in the Desert

INITIAL FORCES

ANY CITY IN THE DELTA 1 x 0-4 con X 45 (Indian) DELETE1 x 0-1 -8 con X W

REINFORCEMENTS & REPLACEMENTS

JAN I 41 ANY CITY IN PALESTINE 1 x 0-1 -4 con X 43 (Palestine)

FEB I 41 CYPRUS 1 x 0-1 -4 con X 66 (Cypriot)

MAR I 41 TO GREECE (ADD) 2 x con X any (43 and 66)

JUN I 41 EGYPT 1 x con X 44 (Indian) - from Sudan

SEP I 41 EGYPT 1 x 0-1 -4 con X 55 (East Af rican)

OCT I 41 EGYPT 1 x 0-4 con X 58 (Indian) 1 x 1-2-8 Eng X 8A

NOV I 41 EGYPT 1 x 0-4 con X 57 (South African)

FEB I 42 EGYPT 1 x 0-4 con X 54 (South African)

APR I 42 EGYPT 1 x 0-1 -4 con X 59 (East Af rican)

DEC I 42 NORTH AFRICA 1 x 0-1 -5 con X 2 (British)

DELETE 1 x 0-1-8 con X 1 A ADD 1 x 1-2-8 eng X 1 A

JAN I 43 NORTH AFRICA 1 x 0-1 -5 con X 10 (British)

FEB I 43 NORTH AFRICA 1 x 0-1 -5 con X 42 (British)

MAR I 43 NORTH AFRICA 1 x 0-1 -4 con X 39 (British)

APR I 43 EGYPT 1 x 0-1 -4 con X 93 (W. Af rican)

NOTE: The addition of these units, as players of Western Desert realize has a significant effect on the play balance. To reflect this I suggest that:

a) The optional rule allowing for "Divisional" Engineers be ignored as far as the Allies are concerned.

b) The construction of the Matruh-Tobruk railroad line (Rule 7A2) requires the presence of a construction unit throughout the turn in addition to the other conditions listed.

c) Rule 33A (The Levant Railroad). To be built this requires that three construction engineers be on the transportation route for 36 turns. (In passing, the majority of the South Atrican units were used in this area.) A more definitive rule would be nice, but let's leave it until it is worked out for areas that are more important in Europa terms.

More Royal Pioneer Corps

Introduction
Pioneers in Europa
Pioneers in Fall of France/Their Finest Hour

Related

Italian Engineers (see TEN #8)