460 Engineer Combat
Group 1
460
Geniegevechtsgroep (460 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.
_________________________________________________
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 Today, Military Review April 1982, 23-28. |
|