NOTE: In showing the appearance of the Pioneer un"!s in the first months of the War, it must be realized that as soon as they were organized in Britain they were promptly shipped off to France. After all, that is why they were created, to save combat troops from construction work.

There were plenty of workers available in the U.K., and the Unions would have objected to the Pioneers pinching their jobs! This OB shows the date of creation of Pioneer units in Britain. I suppose that in a Grand Europa situation a player could do what was appropriate. However, when playing Fall of France assume that all of these, with the exception of any one counter, must enter France within two turns of their date of creation.

To simplify the layout assume that all the following are 0-1-5 con X, and appear in any major city hex in the United Kingdom.

OCT I 39 -1
NOV 139 - 2,3
DEC I 39 - 4,5
JAN I 40 - 10
MAR I 40 - 11
MAY I 40 - 6
JUL I 40-7
SEP I 40-8
NOV I 40 -12
JAN I 41 - 36
APR I 41-37
JUL I 41-38
OCT I 41-39
DEC I 41-42

After this date no further Pioneer Corps units were created. Indeed many were broken up, with their fitter men transferred to the Infantry.

Again, we need to look at the effect these counters would have on play balance. In the case of Their Finest Hour

a) Assume that any four counters start the game in Britain (many Pioneers were lost in France).

b) Instead of the British automatically removing one damage point from a factory, allow this to be done only by a construction engineer unit.

c) Additional Construction Engineer units appear as per OB.

d) Delete the remaining 0-1-5 shown in the OB of Their Finest Hour.

THE FALL OF FRANCE:

There is little need for change in this case. The British construction capability was always understated. However:

a) Delete all the 0-1 -6 construction X appearing in APR II 40.

b) Delete the 1-2-8 Eng X (3) appearing in APR I 40 (In reality the Territorial III Corps lacked engineer capacity.)

c) Substitute (if you have them available) the Infantry X counters with the same number from TFH for the 0-1- 6 construction X appearing in APR II. These should appear at their weakest non-supported side.

More Royal Pioneer Corps

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

Related

Italian Engineers (see TEN #8)