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The sappers ("sapeurs") of the French Foreign Legion traditionally sport large beards, wear leather aprons and gloves and carry axes.

A sapper, also called pioneer or combat engineer, is a combatant or soldier who performs a variety of military engineering duties such as bridge-building, laying or clearing minefields, demolitions, field defences and general construction, as well as road and airfield construction and repair. They are also trained to serve as infantry personnel in defensive and offensive operations. A sapper's tasks are devoted to tasks involving facilitating movement of allied forces and impeding those of enemies.

The term "sapper" is used in the British Army, Polish Army, Commonwealth nations and U.S. military.

Historical origin[link]

Sapper[link]

Soldiers of No 2 Field Company, Bombay Sappers and Miners on duty in China in 1900. The mule carries the tools required for field engineering tasks.

A sapper, in the sense first used by the Assyrian Army in the early 7th Century BC^{[citation needed]}, was one who excavated trenches under defensive fire to advance a besieging army's position in relation to the works of an attacked fortification, which was referred to as sapping the enemy fortifications.

Saps were excavated by brigades of trained sappers or instructed troops. When an army was defending a fortress with cannon, they had an obvious height and therefore range advantage over the attacker's guns. The attacking army's artillery had to be brought forward, under fire, so as to facilitate effective counter-battery fire.

This was achieved by digging what the French termed a sappe (derived from the archaic French word for spade). Using techniques developed and perfected by Vauban, the sappers began the trench at such an angle so as to avoid enemy fire enfilading the sappe. As they pressed forward, a position was prepared from which cannon could suppress the defenders on the bastions. The sappers would then change the course of their trench, zig-zagging toward the fortress wall.

Each leg brought the attacker's artillery closer until the besieged cannon would be sufficiently suppressed for the attackers to breach the walls. Broadly speaking, sappers were originally experts at demolishing or otherwise overcoming or bypassing fortification systems.

Miner[link]

The fort of Ghazni which fell as a result of mining by a mixed contingent of the Bombay and Bengal Sappers during the First Afghan War on 23rd July 1839.

An additional term applied to sappers of the British Indian Army was 'miner'. The native engineer corps were referred to as 'sappers and miners', as for example, the Royal Bombay Sappers and Miners. The term arose from a task done by sappers to further the battle after saps were dug. The saps permitted cannon to be brought into firing range of the besieged fort and its cannon, but often the cannon themselves were unable to breach the fort walls. The engineers would dig a tunnel from the forward-most sap up to and under the fort wall, then place a charge of gunpowder and ignite it, causing a tremendous explosion which would destroy the wall and permit attacking infantry to close with the enemy. This was dangerous work, often lethal to the sappers, and was vehemently resisted by the besieged enemy. Since the two tasks went hand in hand and were done by the same troops, native Indian engineer corps came to be called 'sappers and miners'.

Specific usage[link]

Commonwealth of Nations[link]

Sapper (abbreviated Spr) is the Royal Engineers' equivalent of Private. This is also the case within the Indian Army Corps of Engineers, Canadian Military Engineers, Royal Australian Engineers,^[1] South African Army Engineer Formation and Royal New Zealand Engineers. The term Sapper was introduced in 1856 when the Corps of Royal Sappers and Miners was amalgamated with the officer Corps of Royal Engineers to form the Corps of Royal Engineers.

Indian Army[link]

The term 'Sappers', in addition to the connotation of rank of engineer private, is used collectively to informally refer to the Engineer Corps as a whole and also forms part of the informal names of the three combat engineer groups, viz. Madras Sappers, Bengal Sappers and the Bombay Sappers. Each of these groups consist of about twenty battalion-sized engineer regiments and additional company-sized minor engineer units. The three Sapper groups are descended from the Sapper and Miner groups of the East India Company and later the British Indian Army of the British Raj.

Israel[link]

In the Israel Defense Forces a sapper (in Hebrew: פלס, palas) is the military profession of a combat soldier who went through basic combat engineering training. Most of the sappers are soldiers of the Combat Engineering Corps, but there are also infantry sappers, who are part of the infantry brigades and are organized in Engineering companies called פלחה"ן (Palchahan). These companies are integral part of the infantry brigades. Combat engineering corps sappers are arranged in battalions.

Each sapper goes through high level infantry training, which qualifies him as Rifleman 07 (רובאי 07). Combat engineering sappers are qualified as Sapper 06 (פלס 06). They are skilled in infantry combat, basic sabotage, landmine planting and demining, use of explosives, breaching and opening routes, trench warfare, and operating the IDF Puma combat engineering vehicle (CEV). Combat engineering commanders are qualified as Sapper 08 while combat engineering officers are qualified as Sapper 11. Both go through additional advance training to gain the skills needed for high level sapper profession.

The Israel Police also maintains a bomb disposal specialist unit. All police sappers must graduate a 10-month training program at the bomb disposal training center in Beit Shemesh, which includes operational exercises, theoretical studies, and fieldwork.^[2]

France[link]

Sapeurs-pompiers de Paris (Paris Fire Brigade)

In France, civil firefighters and the military firefighters of the Paris Fire Brigade and other town or country brigades are called "sappers-firemen" (sapeurs-pompiers, SP): the first fire company created by Napoléon I was a military sapper company. Apart from this, the sappers are the combat engineers.

Sappers were very common in the French army and in other European armies during the Napoleonic era but progressively disappeared in the 19th century, except in the French Foreign Legion, which retains a sapper unit.

In the French Army, since the 18th century, every grenadier battalion had a small unit of sappers. They had the mission to advance, under the enemy's fire, in order to destroy with their axes the obstacles drawn by the enemy and to clear the way for the rest of the infantry. The danger of such missions and their short life expectancies, allowed them certain privileges, such as the authorization to wear beards. In addition to their beards and axes, they traditionally wear leather aprons and gloves.

The current pioneer unit of the Legion reintroduced the symbols of the Napoleonic sappers: the beard, the axe, the leather apron, the crossed-axes insignia and the leather gloves. If the parades of the Legion are opened by this unit, it is to commemorate the traditional role of the sappers "opening the way" for the troops.

Greece[link]

In the Hellenic Army, there is the "Mechanic" or "Corps of Engineers" (Michaniko-Μηχανικό).

United States Army[link]

US Combat Engineer setting a charge in World War II

In the U.S. Army, sappers are combat engineers who support the front-line infantry, and they have fought in every war in American history. For example, after the Battle of Yorktown, General Washington cited Louis Lebègue Duportail, the Chief of Engineers, for conduct which afforded "brilliant proofs of his military genius."

Designation as a sapper nowadays is earned as an additional proficiency. The U.S. Army authorizes four skill tabs^[3] for permanent wear above the unit patch on the left shoulder (Army Regulation 670-1 Chapter 29-13, Sub-Paragraph f). Along with the Sapper Tab, the Special Forces Tab, the Ranger Tab, and the President's Hundred Tab identify soldiers who have passed a demanding course of military instruction and demonstrated their competence in particular specialities and skills.

To wear the Sapper Tab, a soldier must complete the Sapper Leader Course (SLC) which is operated by the U.S. Army Engineer School at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. The Sapper Leader Course is a 28-day course designed to train joint-service leaders in small unit tactics, leadership skills, and tactics required to perform as part of a combined arms team. The course is open to enlisted soldiers in the grades of E-4 (P) (in the Army, specialist on the list for promotion to sergeant) E-5, and above, cadets, and officers O-3 (Army, captain) and below. Students can come from any combat or combat support branch of the service, but priority is given to engineering, cavalry, and infantry soldiers.^[4]

PAVN and Viet Cong[link]

PAVN (People's Army of Vietnam) and Viet Cong sappers, as they were called by US forces, are better described as commando units. The Vietnamese term "đặc công" can be literally translated as "special task". Thousands of specially trained elite fighters served in the PAVN and Viet Cong commando/sapper units which were organized as independent formations. While not always successful due to lack of appropriate personal weapon types for combat and assault like other special forces, at times they inflicted heavy damage against their enemies. They have been armed with various types of bombs, mines, explosive charges, grenades and even steel-pellet mines which were much more devastating than the U.S. M18 Claymore^{[citation needed]} and are still the main weapons of the Dac cong. These elite units served as raiders against American/ARVN troops, and infiltrated spearheads during the final Ho Chi Minh Campaign in 1975 – where they seized key road and bridge assets, destroyed installations, attacked command and control nodes located deep inside enemy territory, and otherwise helped the PAVN's rapid mobile forces advance. A typical PAVN/VC Dac cong organization is shown in the diagram. The raiding force was usually grouped into assault teams, each broken down into several 3–5 man assault cells. Overall, there were generally 4 operational echelons.^[5]

Honours[link]

Sapper Island, St. Joseph Channel, Algoma District, Ontario was named in honour of Sappers, especially those who graduated from the Royal Military College of Canada.^[6] 46°18′56″N 83°57′29″W / 46.31556°N 83.95806°W / 46.31556; -83.95806

See also[link]

• Assault pioneer
• List of military engineer nomenclatures
• Trooper (rank)
• Viet Cong and PAVN Sapper attacks

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Jobson, Christopher (2009), Looking Forward, Looking Back: Customs and Traditions of the Australian Army, Wavell Heights, Queensland: Big Sky Publishing, ISBN 978-0-9803251-6-4 
• Ott, David Ewing, (1975), Vietnam Studies, Field Artillery, 1954–1973, Washington, D.C.: United States Army Center of Military History, http://www.history.army.mil/books/Vietnam/FA54-73/fm.htm 

External links[link]

• Royal Engineers Museum – History of the Royal Engineers (The Sappers)
• Royal Engineers Museum – Origins of the term "Sapper"
• - Site for tracking down former members of the Royal Engineers.
• Dec 1918 Popular Science World War 1 article about a French engineer using a ground stethoscope to listen for German sappers – Listening to Enemy Sappers, Popular Science monthly, January 1919, page 27, Scanned by Google Books
• Sapper-Museum, virtual museum of Russian engineering troops
• A.-M. Zielenski , Colonel (sapper), Military Engineer
• Comandosupremo.com, guastatore.

The Tizio lamp by Richard Sapper

Radio TS502

Richard Sapper, born 1932 in Munich, is a German industrial designer based in Milan, Italy. He is considered one of the most iconic designers of his generation, his products typically featuring a combination of technical innovation, simplicity of form and an element of wit and surprise. ^[1][2][3] He has received numerous international design awards, including 10 prestigious Compasso d'Oro awards and the Raymond Loewy Foundation's Lucky Strike award. His products are part of the permanent collections of many museums around the world, with over 15 represented at New York's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), as well as London's Victoria and Albert and Design Museums. ^[1][2][3]

After beginning as a designer in the styling department at Mercedes-Benz, Sapper relocated to Milan in 1958 where he initially joined the offices of architect Gio Ponti and subsequently the design department of La Rinascente. In 1959 he partnered with Italian architect and designer Marco Zanuso, a collaboration that would last on and off for 18 years until 1977. ^[2][4] The pair were hired in 1959 as consultants to Brionvega, an Italian company trying to produce well-designed electronics that would compete with products manufactured in Japan and Germany. Together they designed a series of radios, televisions and other consumer electronics that became enduring icons.^[1][5] Amongst their more notable designs were the rounded, compact and portable Doney 14 (1962), the first television to feature completely transistorized construction, and the radio TS502 (1965), a rectangular box with hinges that upon opening reveals speakers and controls. Using the aesthetic of sculptural minimalism, they created the compact folding Grillo telephone for Siemens and Italtel in 1965. The Grillo was the first telephone featuring the flip-down mouthpiece, a precursor to the clamshell designs of today's mobile phones. ^[1][2] In 1964, Sapper and Zanuso designed the lightweight K1340 stacking children's chair for Kartell, the first chair produced entirely in plastic. ^[1][4]

Upon starting his own independent studio in 1959, Sapper designed the Static table clock for Lorenz, which won him the first Compasso d'Oro prize and is still in production today. ^[1] In 1972 Sapper designed the iconic Tizio lamp for Artemide, one of the first desk lamps using halogen bulbs with low-voltage current conducting arms to eliminate the need for wires. The Tizio remains one of the best selling lamps ever produced. ^[1][6][2] Sapper continued to create design classics including the Sapper Office Chair series for Knoll in 1979, a series of stop watches for Heuer in 1976 and the Nena folding chair for B&B Italia in 1984. ^[1][3] In 1978 Alessi commissioned Sapper with the first product in a long series to come, the stove-top espresso maker 9090. It was followed, amongst other products, by the two-note whistling water kettle Bollitore in 1984, the Bandung teapot in 1990, the Coban espresso machine in 1997, the cheese grater Todo in 2006 and the Cintura di orione cookware series in 1986 and 2009, conceived with the collaboration of renowned chefs such as Roger Verge, Pierre and Michel Troisgros, and Alain Chapel. ^[1][5][7][4]

In 1980 Sapper was appointed principal industrial design consultant at IBM and began designing numerous portable computers, including the first ThinkPad 700C in 1992, which broke with the company's tradition of pearl-grey machines as a simple and elegant black rectangular box that would reveal a surprise inside: a small red button amidst the keyboard which would serve to control the screen cursor. ^[1][5][2][3] Sapper continues today to oversee the iconic ThinkPad brand as design consultant to Lenovo after it acquired the IBM PC Division in May 2005. ^[2]

Throughout his career, Sapper devoted great attention to transportation issues. He worked with Fiat on experimental cars, especially on pneumatic bumper systems, and with Pirelli on the development of pneumatic structures. In 1972 he formed with architect Gae Aulenti a study group for the development of new urban transportation systems, a theme which he pursued further for an exhibition at the XVI Triennale in Milan in 1979 and which included the design of a bus for Fiat that enabled passengers to stow their bicycles in a rack. His research culminated with the design of the Zoombike (no longer in production), a lightweight bicycle designed with aircraft technology to achieve the required strength and speed acceleration, which can fold as quickly and simply as an umbrella and easily fit into a car trunk. ^[1][4]

Sapper's roster of clients include Alessi, Artemide, B&B Italia, Castelli, Heuer, IBM, Kartell, Knoll International, Lenovo, Lorenz, Magis, Molteni Unifor, Pirelli. ^[1]

Sapper has taught and lectured at Yale University, the Kunstakademie Stuttgart, the University of Beijing, the Royal College of Art in London, the Domus Academy in Milan, the University of Buenos Aires, and the Hochschule fuer Angewandte Kunst in Vienna. ^[1][4]

Sapper is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in England and a Member of the Akademie der Kuenste in Germany. ^[4] The German Design Council awarded Sapper a lifetime achievement award for his design work in 2009 and he was bestowed an Honorary Doctor degree from the University of North Carolina in 2010.

Sources[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Michael Webb, Richard Sapper, Chronicle Books, San Francisco 2002
• Uta Brandes, Richard Sapper: Tools for Life, Steidl Verlag, Goettingen 1993
• Hans Höger, Tizio Light by Richard Sapper (Design Classics), Verlag form, Hamburg 1997
• Siegfried Gronert, The 9090 Cafetiere by Richard Sapper (Design Classics), Verlag form, Hamburg 1998
• Richard Sapper, Michael Horsham, The International Design Yearbook 1998, Laurence King, London 1998

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Richard Sapper

• Museum of Modern Art (MoMA): Permanent Collection
• Metropolitan Museum of Art: Works of Art
• Goethe-Insitut: Designer aus Deutschland
• Life in Italy

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