Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers

Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers
Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers Cap Badge
Active	1 October 1942 – Present
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Branch	British Army
Size	8,032 personnel
Garrison/HQ	MoD Lyneham
Motto(s)	"Arte et Marte" (By Skill and By Fighting)
Colours	Blue Red Gold
March	Quick: Lillibullero Slow: Duchess Of Kent
Commanders
Colonel-in-Chief	HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Master General REME	Lieutenant General A C Figgures CB CBE
Insignia
Tactical Recognition Flash

The Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME; pronounced phonetically as "Reemee" with stress on the first syllable) is a corps of the British Army that maintains the equipment that the British Army utilises.

Prior to REME's formation, maintenance was the responsibility of several different corps:

World War II's increase in quantity and complexity of equipment exposed the flaws in this system. Pursuant to the recommendation of a committee William Beveridge chaired, the Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers was formed on the 1st October 1942.

Such a major re-organisation was too complex to be carried out quickly and completely in the middle of a world war. Therefore the changeover was undertaken in two phases. In Phase I, which was implemented immediately, REME was formed on the existing framework of the RAOC Engineering Branch, strengthened by the transfer of certain technical units and tradesmen from the RE and RASC.

At the same time a number of individual tradesmen were transferred into REME from other corps. The new corps was made responsible for repairing the technical equipment of all arms with certain major exceptions.

REME did not yet undertake:

In 1949, it was decided that "REME Phase II" should be implemented. This decision was published in Army Council Instruction 110 of 1949, and the necessary reorganisation was carried out in the various arms and services in three stages between July 1951 and January 1952. The main changes were:

This organisation was also responsible for arranging and overseeing ship refits.

After some interim designs, the badge of the Corps was formalised in June 1943 for use as the cap-badge, collar-badge, and on the buttons. It consisted of an oval Royally Crowned laurel wreath; on the wreath were four small shields at the compass points, each shield bearing one of the letters of "REME". Within the wreath was a pair of calipers. Examples of these early badges can be found at the REME Museum. In 1947 the Horse and Lightning was adopted as the cap badge. The final change occurred in 1953 when the Queen's crown replaced the King's crown.