The Combat Engineer


Designation: Ground Support
Training Headquarters: Ministry of Science, Omsk
Trained at: Soviet Barracks
Motto: “The Union takes what it wants.”

Equipment:

• Mushkin SA revolver
• Extra-large rucksack
• Ceremonial cap
• Inflatable zodiac
• Monogrammed spade


Whilst few Soviet citizens are inclined to admit it openly, not all those born under the Union’s banner possess the physical strength and coordination required to serve on the front line. Fortunately, some of these individuals make up for this lack of ability with an abundance of intelligence. Year after year, the Union’s Ministers of Science and Information do an excellent job of identifying such individuals and encouraging them to join the ranks of the Combat Engineers. Whilst Soviet Combat Engineers are not accustomed to fighting from their very first battle, their technical aptitude and the range of skills useful on the battlefield make them a cornerstone of the Union’s military engagements.


Pictured above: Self-portrait (Combat Engineer S. Chesnokov). The Union’s Combat Engineers possess sufficient mental prowess to compensate for their lack of physical training. Moreover, were they physically strong, they would be fighting on the front line.

The salvation of Combat Engineers from all walks of life: they are the accountants, teachers, curators, Field Mechanics, shipbuilders and, of course, the Union’s civil architects and engineers. Once enlisted, Combat Engineers receive on-the-job training in control systems, computers, sabotage and even self-defence. Because they are not combatants to be thrown straight into the lion’s den, they are expected to work longer hours than the average Conscript and for a lower allowance, with fewer rations, less accommodation and fewer amenities. Combat Engineers therefore have few leisure activities to justify this treatment, which the Ministers of Science and Information explain away with a convincing rationale such as ‘a noble sacrifice for the good of our Fatherland’.

Regardless of their working conditions, Combat Engineers are undeniably skilled at what they do and even seem to take a certain pride in their work. They can capture enemy installations with remarkable ease, or repair Soviet equipment in a short space of time. Notably, the number of catastrophic accidents involving Soviet Super-Reactors continues to fall year on year following a stern memorandum from the Ministry of Experimental Science to Combat Engineers, instructing them to focus on maintaining the Union’sUnion rather than competing amongst themselves to set new monthly records for capturing Allied military structures. Indeed, if Combat Engineers have any sort of endemic problem within their ranks apart from their poor physical fitness, it must be their dismissive attitude towards their responsibilities. Many of these men are somewhat rebellious and known for ‘walking on eggshells’, torn between sharing meals with conscripts like good little soldiers and melting down anti-aircraft gun shells in the gulags.

The Ministry of Experimental Science believes that its Combat Engineers are amongst the best-off members of the Red Army. They are equipped with rucksacks large enough to carry most of their personal belongings, as well as caps to protect them from the weather. They are even rewarded with ceremonial spades once their compulsory training is complete, as well as rubber dinghies which they can use for amphibious operations or on the odd day off. Apart from their personal belongings, Combat Engineers had none of these facilities under previous regimes, the Ministry states. Men tend to be selected for the role of Combat Engineer out of respect for traditional work boundaries. Because Engineers, by their very nature, are ill-suited to conventional military roles, these men are typically older and wiser than the average Soviet combatant.


Reconnaissance on the battlefield has at least revealed the following facts about Combat Engineers:

• Capturing and securing– Combat Engineers are frequently deployed to capture enemy equipment, a task they carry out as soon as they manage to gain access to it. Combat Engineers spend years and years training to carry out these procedures swiftly.

-Armed and dangerous- Rather than abandoning an earlier generation of defensive weapons, the Union has supplied them so that these men can feel safer and thus have something to do in their spare time. Combat Engineers’ revolvers are rudimentary, but effective.

-Pillbox construction- The spade issued to every Combat Engineer is not merely ceremonial after all; this tool can be used to quickly construct a pillbox with a chamber large enough to hold several of the Union’s finest infantrymen. As Combat Engineers do not keep records of these pillboxes, they are authorised to submit expense reports directly from the field.

-Open-sea boat - Every Combat Engineer has a personal, collapsible boat that allows them to travel across the sea just as easily as they walk on land. Naturally, most Combat Engineers tend to prefer travelling across the oceans.