their urgency should be familiar to every officer, no matter what unit he belongs to.
All these units, diverse in their specialties, were united in 1818 into Sapper Brigades 3).
The responsibilities of the chief of the sapper brigade and unit commanders were general supervision and management of the emergency training of the ranks of the units entrusted to them. And since brigade chiefs (now “inspectors”) and unit commanders are appointed from among the staff officers who served no matter in which unit of the Field Engineering Troops, then, therefore, each of them should be well aware of all branches of Field Engineering.
1) Order according to the Military. Въд. 1883 No. 131.
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3) Since 1910, the Sapper Brigades have been disbanded and all Field Engineering Troops have been attached to the corps in peacetime. To what extent will the newly introduced organization be expedient and superior to that informed by combat experience? which existed for a long and almost complete century, time will tell. Of course, special efforts must be made to ensure that the combat technical training of the Engineering Troops does not deteriorate in the new situation. I think that in this regard, much will depend on the persons occupying the newly established positions of Inspectors of Field Engineering Troops in the districts. Only with the existence of this body can one expect that the technical training of the Engineering Troops will be able, with the currently introduced organization, to stand at the heights at which it was before. Author.
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In addition, every chief officer of the Field Engineering Troops must be familiar with all branches of this matter, since he can never be sure that, while serving, for example, in an engineer battalion, and studying the specialty assigned to him, he will remain in the engineer battalion until the end of his service. Apart from his every desire, he can quite unexpectedly, for example, in the form of equalizing the number of officers, get from a sapper to a pontooner, telegraph operator, etc.
Having traced the historical course of development and education of all the above-mentioned branches of the art of engineering, we can come to the following general conclusion: if, at the Military Department, there is a need for the development of some new technical issue that is not included in the scope of responsibilities or knowledge of any type of weapon, then it is entrusted to the Field Engineering Troops. Upon completion of the test, this new branch of military affairs is included in the number of specialties of the Field Engineering Troops.
Positively, it seems, there is a belief that the Saners should know everything and can do everything.
The existence of Engineering schools since the founding of the Engineering Troops serves as the best proof that even then everyone was aware of the need for the Engineering Troops to receive a special specialized education. Engineering schools, in their scientific education, have always stood above other contemporary military schools.
The engineering school, founded on November 24, 1819, was distinguished by the fact that it produced officers with a rich supply of scientific knowledge, completely worthy, developed and capable of such difficult and varied activities. The program of the Engineering School has always been more extensive than that of other military schools.
In addition to specialized military sciences, the Engineering School paid special attention to physics, chemistry, mathematics, mechanics and construction art, the knowledge of which, to a certain extent, is really necessary for sappers for the successful development of their specialties and the fulfillment of those assignments that are entrusted to them.
At the same time, one cannot remain silent about the fact that the officers of the Field Engineering Troops found in the lower ranks subordinate to them assistants who were fully worthy of their scientific knowledge.
The number of officers, until 1797, was so limited (from 3 to 7 officers) that their responsibilities for supervising infantry work, during the attack and defense of fortresses, and the construction of field fortifications, were very often assigned to lower ranks.
The development and education of the lower ranks was always higher than in other types of weapons.
Realizing that the officers of the Engineering Troops, having received a higher education, could always find a wide field of activity outside their specialized sphere, our government, in order to encourage their glorious activity and retain them in service in combat units, tried to provide officers with some rights and advantages over other types of weapons.