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460 Engineer Combat Group 1
460 Geniegevechtsgroep (460 Gnggp)

487 Kaucie467 Kaucie465 Bbrcie482 Gnbat221 Gnbat901 Torpcie464 Pontveerdcie481 Gnbat104 Gnbat215 PontdeklbrcieStstcie 460 Gnggp460 Gnggp

Unit Location Peace Strength War Strength
Staff and Staff Company
460 Engineer Combat Group [a]
22/17/51 (90)
104 Engineer Battalion [b] 32/86/515/2 (635)
221 Engineer Battalion [c] 32/86/515/2 (635)
481 Engineer Battalion [c] 32/86/515/2 (635)
482 Engineer Battalion [c] 32/86/515/2 (635)
215 Pontoon Bridge Company [d] [h] 4/18/133 (155)
464 Pontoon Ferry Company [e] [h] 23/16/163 (202)
465 Bailey Bridge Company [e] [h] 4/14/87 (105)
901 Torpedo Company [f] 8/57/195 (260)
467 Dump Truck Company [g] 5/15/114 (134)
487 Dump Truck Company [g] [h] 5/15/114 (134)

460 Engineer Combat Group Peace Strength:
460 Engineer Combat Group War Strength: 199/496/2917/8 (3620)

Notes

a. Filled by mobilisable personnel from Staff and Staff Company, 201 Engineer Combat Group (GRIM) after their fourteen to sixteen-month RIM period in that unit had expired, up to eight years prior to mobilisation.2 8
b. Filled by mobilisable personnel from 103 Engineer Battalion (GRIM) after their fourteen to sixteen-month RIM period in that unit had expired, up to eight years prior to mobilisation.2 8
c. Filled by mobilisable personnel from 462 Engineer Battalion (GRIM) after their fourteen to sixteen-month RIM period in that unit had expired, up to eight years prior to mobilisation.2 8
d. Filled by mobilisable personnel from 155 Pontoon Bridge Company (GRIM) after their fourteen to sixteen-month RIM period in that unit had expired, up to eight years prior to mobilisation.2 8 Equipped with American M4 Floating Bridge materiel.3
e Filled by personnel from the general pool of mobilisable reserves (vrij-indeelbaar bestand) that had fulfilled their active-duty period in relevant functions up to twelve and a half years prior to mobilisation.2
f. Filled by mobilisable personnel from 109 Diver Platoon (RIM) after their fourteen to sixteen-month RIM period in that unit had expired, up to eight years prior to mobilisation; and by personnel from the Pontonier and Torpedoist School.2 8 This was a waterway engineer unit, tasked with various engineer operations on the inland waters, military transport by water and assistance to other waterway-related operations such as bridging, patrolling and disaster relief.4 The unit name originates in the nineteenth century, when underwater mines were called torpedos.5
g. Filled by mobilisable personnel from 227 Dump Truck Company (GRIM) after their fourteen to sixteen-month RIM period in that unit had expired, up to eight years prior to mobilisation.2 8
h. Disbanded in 1986.2 8

Operational Role and 1986 Reorganisation 6


After mobilisation the task of 460 Engineer Combat Group would be to keep open the lines of communications (LOCs) to the Central Front.7 It was a relatively large force but much of its equipment was outdated; the World War II-era GMC CCKW truck for instance was still firmly in service. By 1985 army command considered that, given the many excellent bridges in the Netherlands, the group's bridging capacity had become largely redundant, and consequently in 1986 the three bridging companies and one dump truck company were disbanded. Emphasis shifted to road reconstruction, and to keep costs down modernisation was sought in improved and intensified contacts with civilian construction companies to requisition heavy equipment in wartime. During refresher training exercises in 1988 and 1989 this proved to work well.

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1. It should be noted that the designation Engineer Combat Group is somewhat delusive: this formation type and its subordinate units were neither  designed nor equipped for combat engineering; see for instance VS 5-154, I-1. In 1975 the more adequate designation Geniegroep was reverted to the previously used Geniegevechtsgroep, apparently because it was an (internally) well established designation and the new one caused confusion. NL-HaNA 2.13.110 inv. nr. 267, Naamswijziging geniegevechtsgroep, 1975.
2. NIMH 205A/10, Aflossing van mobilisabele eenheden en -aanvullingen d.d. 27 mei 1980. Ibid., d.d. 11 november 1983. Ibid., d.d. 17 juni 1985.
3. VS 2-1350-E1, Hoofdstuk 20. Foss and Gander, Jane's Military Logistics, 146.
4. NL-HaNA 2.13.110, inv. nr. 1390, Plan-OTAS Torpedistencompagnie d.d. 25 juli 1979. See further Unit Organisation and Equipment, 901 Torpedo Company.
5. Elands et al., 250 jaar, 41-43.
6. Ibid., 254-258.
7. Line of communications: "A route, either land, water, and/or air, which connects an operating military force with a base of operations and along which supplies and military forces move." US Department of Defense Dictionary, 253.
8. RIM was the Dutch acronym for Direct Influx into Mobilisable Units (Rechtstreekse Instroming in Mobilisabele Eenheden). GRIM was a variant of this system, meaning "Largely RIM" (Grotendeels Rechtstreekse Instroming in Mobilisabele Eenheden). For a survey of the Royal Army's unit filling and reserve system see Gijsbers, Blik in de smidse, 2222-2231; Selles, Personele vulling; Berghuijs, Opleiding, 14-23. In English: Isby and Kamps, Armies, 341-343; Sorrell, Je Maintiendrai, 94-96; Van Vuren, The Royal Netherlands Army TodayMilitary Review April 1982, 23-28.