37 Field Squadron is a sub-unit of the British Army's Royal Engineers. The squadron is commanded by 32 Engineer Regiment and provides close support engineering to the 4th Infantry Brigade. It is located in Marne Barracks, Catterick and has a long history.
History 37 Armoured Engineer Squadron History 1861-2010 by Lt CL Curle
37 Field Squadron can trace its history back spanning three centuries to its original formation as the 37th Depot Company RE at Chatham on 1 April 1861. In the years that lead up to the present day, Sappers and Officers of 37 have fought in almost every war that the British Army has been engaged in. They have deployed in Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and the Middle East.
The Boer War The 37th Depot Company RE remained so until 1885, where its name changed to ‘D’ Depot Company RE and the number 37 was filled up by a service company. A new 37th Field Company RE formed in Aldershot in 1887 and served in the Curragh 1890–92, Shorncliffe 1892–94, Aldershot 1895–97, and Shorncliffe again from 1897 to 1899.
The Boers declared war in October 1899, and in November the 37th Field Company attached to the 5th Infantry Division embarked to the Cape. They were commanded by Captain W. A. Cairns and landed in Natal on 23 December 1899. With bolstered forces, in January 1900, Sir Redvers decided to attempt to take Ladysmith, outflanking the Boers by crossing the Tugela in the vicinity of Potgieter's Drift. Two divisions were detailed for this and the 37th Field Company were attached to the second.
The 37th established a ferry at Potgieer's Drift, by means of which part of the Second Division crossed to the north side of the Tugela, ready to flank Ladysmith. The 37th then turned their skills to blasting and building a road up the south side of Zwaartkop, a high hill to the south-east of Potgieter's Drift, overlooking Skiet's Drift. It was up this road on 2 February that the 37th helped haul two naval 12-prs guns to the top and carried the ammunition up by hand. Col. Irvine of A Pontoon Troop noted that “[t]he road up the hill was a very difficult one, and for 100 or 150 yards seemed almost impossible, as it went straight up the face of the kop at an angle of about thirty degrees.”
Their next tasking was digging the ramp on the south bank of a crossing near to Munger's Drift, which would open a road across the plain to Ladysmith. The entire time the men worked, the bridge was under enemy fire, but they were unable to move into cover and instead continued to dig. There was a delay from the bridge being completed to the Brigade crossing and in this interval the intensity of the fire increased. Irvine wrote that they “had to lie down when we heard it begin, and in a second or two the bullets would cut the water just in front of us from the bank to bank with a horrible hiss.” The bridge remained intact throughout the contact, however there were four casualties from the 37th Field Company, all shot on the bank whilst continuing digging. Of these, one man dies from his wounds. This is the first documented fatality of a member of the 37th since it was formed. Unfortunately at the time detailed records were not kept of sappers killed in action and whilst his name almost certainly can be found on the South African Memorial Arch (Boer War) in Chatham which name is his is still not known.
For the rest of the campaign, the 37th Field Company continued to be deployed on tasks with the Fifth Infantry Division, mainly building ramps for pontoons, dismantling bridges to be reused, or building roads for naval guns to be moved along. By 4 July 1891 they were halted at Volksrust having crossed the Drakensberg and were employed in constructing defences, and in repairing the railway line to Standerton. The war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Vereeniging on 31 May 1902 and the larger part of the Regimental units returned to England. By January 1903, 37th Field Company was one of only a few units stationed in South Africa. It finally returned in 1905, its new home Stobs Camp, Roxburghshire in Scotland from 1905 to 1906.
In 1907 many alterations were made to the Corps of Royal Engineers to bring it into line with the new organisation of the Army for service abroad and the 37th Field Company was disbanded.
1915 – 1919 37th Fortress Company was raised at Queenstown, Ireland in 1915 from half of 14 Survey Company, and later that same year changed to 37th Army Troops Company at Gallipoli. There is little written on the exact role that 37 had during this time. Three sections served on the island of Imbros, an island used mainly for water supply for Helles and ANZAC and as a rest camp; there was also a small advanced workshop for the beaches. There are discrepancies between different accounts as to where the main body was deployed, however the history of the Corps of Royal Engineers states that it was in Helles, where much of the engineering assets were involved in extending the trench systems or building and repairing piers.
The unit moved to Salonika in January 1916 under the command of Capt. C.B. Ede as a Base Unit. Again, little is known of its exact role, however most engineering tasks were centred around the construction of roads through the mountainous country, involving blasting through hillsides and constructing culverts and bridges over dry gaps that would turn to mountain torrents after every rainfall.
In September 1916 it worked with the 140th Army Troop and 95th Labour companies to make a road suitable for lorries that ran through Dorjan town and the battle belt to enable the attack upon Signal Allemand. The work was completed by the 23rd, when the first lorry travelled the route. The 37th Army Troop Company ended its time in Egypt and was once again disbanded in 1919.
1950s In 1948 in Ripon, Yorkshire, 37 Field Squadron was formed as part of 24 field Engineer Regiment, moving to Hong Kong from 1949 to 1950. The proclamation of the Communist Chinese People's Republic made a Red Army invasion likely and 37 Squadron was deployed with 40 Infantry Division to help secure the border. The types of tasks they would have been involved in where repairing mine fields and enhancing wire obstacles, constructing gun emplacements, command posts and observation posts all along the northern border, a 12-mile water pipeline, an All-weather road linking the villages of Tsun Wan and Sek Kong, and camps were also constructed, though it is not clear if 37 field Squadron had direct involvement in all of these tasks. In 1950 the squadron was re-designated as 56 Field squadron. A new 37 Field Squadron formed, and it is from this unit that the present 37 Armoured Engineer Squadron evolved, with no further disbandments.
Major Westlake RE took command of 37 Field Squadron in November 1950 at Invictor Lines, Maidstone. Initially they were a holding unit as new troops were posted into 25 Field Engineer Regiment operating from what was later to become the RHQ in Invictor Lines, but by December 1950 the regiment was complete and the squadron moved into its permanent offices in the lines. Training around the Maidston area ensued, and in March 1951 the squadron took part in a Brigade Exercise at Thetford. Maj B.A.E Maude MBE RE took command of the squadron in August 1951. Having completed the divisional Exercise, Ex. SURPRISE PACKET on Salisbury Plain, the squadron returned with news of their imminent departure for the Suez Canal Zone. On 26 October 1951, 37 Field Squadron emplaned at RAF Lyneham for Tripoli, then onto Benghazi. A short break for Christmas was enjoyed with the 16/5 Lancers before a road move to Tobruk on 28 December 1951. Here they took to the seas on the "Empire Comfort" to rejoin their Regiment in Dhekelia, Cyprus. Initially 37 Field Squadron deployed to Libya as replacement for 22 Regiment. In April 1952 the squadron, along with the rest of 25 Regiment, moved to the Suez Canal Zone, Egypt to be stationed at Moascar. These were times when the security of the Canal was considered essential to UK interests, but when there was growing opposition from Egyptian nationalists whose paramilitary groups carried out frequent and often grewsome attacks on British military and civilian personnel.
From October 1951 to 1954 Egyptian nationalist extremists became more openly hostile, with British fatal casualties totalling 520, of which 394 were service personnel, including 30 Royal Engineers, the third largest category after the RAOC and RA. The regiment was involved in security operations: blocking routes, protecting bridges, ferries and water filtration plants against attack, and supporting internal security measures like fencing and minefields, all in addition to a comprehensive training programme.
From July 1952 to June 1954 37 Field Squadron was located at Gothic Camp, El Ballah on detachment to 32 Guards Brigade (1st Scots Gds, 3rd Coldsteam Gds and 1st Beds & Herts). This period of 'freedom' from the regiment was much enjoyed and it was during this time that the squadron was handed over to the 2iC Capt B.G. Griffiths in February 1953, who picked up his majority one month later. Under his command the squadron took part in Op RODEO FLAIL, a tank loading operation at Port Said, pontoon building, constructing several semi-permanent Bailey bridges over the Sweetwater Canal (one of which at El Firdan – a 30EWBB – was 82m/270 ft long over two piers x 17m/55 ft high), exercises TRIANGLE and LONGBOW and several long-range desert patrols in GMC armoured trucks (typically well beyond the official limits of the Canal Zone!). 2iC to Maj Griffiths in mid 1953 was 2/Lt D. Croghan, a rare appointment for a national service officer (who was also the unit's bridging officer and MTO). At this same time two other officers out of a total of 5 were n/s, as were many of the ORs, to no disadvantage of the unit that was always in the van of the brigade's operations and 'schemes'.
In January 1955 37 Field Squadron embarked on the M. V. Georgic for the UK, under the command of the 2iC Capt Grosse. It was from sometime between January and June 1955 that 37 Field Squadron gained their mascot "Noddy". This elephant figurine with a nodding head was acquired by allegedly nefarious means from the brewery company Fremlins Ltd.
That company shared the town of Maidstone with the squadron. The brewery subsequently allowed them to keep the elephant, and it toured with the squadron on all their operations for the next fifteen years or so. Noddy still sits in the Squadron Headquarters corridor to this day, with an image of an Elephant being the emblem for 37 Armoured Engineer Squadron.