The basic TOE unit of the engineer system is the battalion. Although engineer battalions normally have a fixed organization, they may also be tailored for specific requirements. Battalions are employed when it is desirable to assign a unit with the complete control of a task or an area. There are four basic types of engineer battalions, plus a variety of different types of separate companies:

Combat Engineer Battalion (Divisional)

Combat Engineer Battalion (Corps)

Engineer Battalion (Combat Heavy)

Engineer Topographic Battalion

Separate Engineer Companies

Combat Engineer Battalion (Divisional) -- Under provisions of the Engineer Restructure Initiative (ERI), each heavy division has an Engineer Brigade with three organic divisional engineer battalions organized and equipped to provide combat engineer support. These battalions will support the ground maneuver brigades of armor and/or mechanized infantry and consist of four engineer companies. The other divisions will have only one organic engineer battalion composed of four or five engineer companies. Regardless of structure, these battalions perform the primary combat engineer missions in the division's sector and forward.

Combat Engineer Battalion (Corps) -- Corps combat engineer battalions are normally assigned to a corps' engineer brigade (i.e. V Corps in Europe contains the 130th Engineer Brigade consisting of three engineer battalions and a number of separate companies). Most corps combat engineer battalions in Europe have been converted into tracked units (i.e. squads are transported in armored personnel carriers). Somewhat larger than the divisional engineer battalions, the corps combat engineer battalions provide combat and sustainment engineering support in the corps and division sectors. They may reinforce divisional engineer battalions and execute infantry combat missions when required.

Engineer Battalion (Combat Heavy) -- The combat heavy engineer battalion is normally assigned to an engineer brigade within a corps or theater army. The combat heavy engineer battalion has equipment and personnel skilled in earthmoving and construction. The battalion primarily works in rear areas on sustainment engineering tasks. However, its earthmoving capabilities may be effectively used to provide combat support in forward areas when not under direct fire (i.e. tank ditches, etc.). Missions include the construction of roads, airfields, structures and utilities for the Army and Air Force.

Engineer Topographic Battalion -- Engineer topographic battalions are assigned to the senior engineer headquarters of a theater army. These units provide topographic engineer and terrain analysis support to all units. It does not have the capability to accomplish infantry combat missions.

I have read the story about a bridge needed where the Germans blasted the road away from a hill side. This was on the drive acroos the north shore of Sicily.

On a shear rock face they carved out post holes and built a wood timber bridge in less than 2 days. This allowed the US Arny to advance where the Germans did not expect it too.

The History Channel showed an old WW2 movie about the invasion of sicily that included scenes of the work on the bridge.

I wondered if the unit was ever awared a unit citation?

.

Since someone has written aboout me here is what they wrote.

http://www.6thcorpscombatengineers.com/PaulHinkle.htm

I would rather talk about old friends.

Received this letter this morning:

My Dad was in this outfit (243rd Engineers) - Battle of the Bulge and lots more.

ever hear of any web sites or people with this outfit?

r.

Sent to me by Paul Hinkle. He stated this:

Marion: My old friend Bill Laski and Steven Gregg were both from Bayonne NJ area. They may have met.

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February 10, 2005

Stephen R. Gregg, 90, Dies; Received the Medal of Honor

By RICHARD GOLDSTEIN

Stephen R. Gregg, who was awarded the Medal of Honor in World War II for charging a German outpost in France while he was an Army sergeant, enabling the rescue of seven American soldiers lying wounded on the battlefield, died on Friday at his home in Bayonne, N.J. He was 90. His death was announced by his son, Stephen Jr.

On Aug. 27, 1944, serving in the 143rd Infantry, 36th Infantry Division, during the invasion of southern France, Sergeant Gregg was in combat at the town of Montelimar in the Rhone Valley. As his platoon advanced toward a German position on a hill, an onslaught of hand grenades felled seven G.I.'s, and heavy enemy fire prevented medics from reaching them. "We were close by, and you could hear the men that were hit calling for medics," he told The New York Times in 2000. "I said, 'God! I've got to do something here.' I don't know what got into me, but I picked up this gun.

"I kept firing and firing. I was just thinking, 'I've got to get as many as I can before they get me.' I never thought I'd come out of this thing alive, to be frank with you. The Lord was with me."

Sergeant Gregg had picked up a machine gun, and with a medic following him, he headed up the hill toward the Germans, firing from the hip in the face of a hand-grenade barrage. His covering fire enabled the medic to remove the wounded, according to the Medal of Honor citation.

After he used up his ammunition, he was confronted by four German soldiers, who ordered him to surrender. Platoon members opened fire on the Germans, and as they hit the ground, Sergeant Gregg escaped to an American machine-gun position. He fired away once more, routing the Germans and enabling the Americans to take the hill. The next day, when the Germans counterattacked with tanks, Sergeant Gregg directed a mortar barrage, and then he charged a mortar position the Germans had overrun, capturing it by hurling a hand grenade.

He continued in combat, received a commission as a second lieutenant and was presented with the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest award for valor, by Lt. Gen. Alexander M. Patch, commander of the Seventh Army, on March 14, 1945.

Mr. Gregg, a native of the Bronx, grew up in Bayonne and was drafted in 1942 after working as a shipyard welder. Before participating in Operation Anvil, the invasion of southern France, he took part in the Italian campaign and fought at Altavilla and the Rapido River alongside one of America's most celebrated combat heroes, Sgt. Charles E. Kelly, the Medal of Honor winner known as Commando Kelly.

Mr. Gregg also received the Silver Star, the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart. When he returned to Bayonne in May 1945, 50,000 people watched him ride in a procession to a hero's welcome at a city stadium.

He worked for 51 years for the Hudson County Sheriff's Department, retiring as chief of court officers. A county park in Bayonne is named for him.

In addition to his son, Stephen Jr., of Warren, N.J., he is survived by a daughter, Susan Gregg, of Little Falls, N.J.; a sister, Sophie King, of Orange City, Fla.; and two grandsons. His wife, Irene, died in 2001.

Mr. Gregg once said that Medal of Honor winners did not consider themselves heroic figures. As he told The Record of Hackensack, N.J., in 2000: "We are just ordinary men who didn't go out to earn this. It was just the spirit of the moment that came upon you to do things."