Pioneer Insignias

[squidney86]

I'm not the best with Heer insignia but I do know when it came to the specific job in the Army that a color was to distinguish it. White for infantry, red for artillery and so on. My question is i've done some looking around and it seems that Pioneer and Combat Engineers both utilize the color black. Is there a way of distinguishing the two?

Thanks,
Sydney

[Howard Johns]

Hello Sydney,

In a nutshell, no,you cannot distinguish between the two as they are basically the same arm of service. In the U.K. they are known as Royal Engineers or Sappers (Or correctly R.E.M.E.)...Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers.

In the German Army of WW2 they were called Pioneers and in the U.S. Army they are referred to more as Combat Engineers.

The Pioneer/Engineer units of the Wehrmacht wore black as their arm of service colour.

cheers Howie.

[squidney86]

Thanks for the clarification Howie.

[Schulterklappen]

Panzer Pionier

One variation was the black-white twist (or silver) and black-white fleck used by Panzer-Pionier units. This allowed for the Waffenfarbe to show up on the black wrapper worn by armored crews.

[squidney86]

One variation was the black-white twist (or silver) and black-white fleck used by Panzer-Pionier units. This allowed for the Waffenfarbe to show up on the black wrapper worn by armored crews.

I've seen a few shoulder boards like that. They are pretty sharp looking. Thanks.