South African Army Engineer Formation

South African Engineer Formation
SANDF Engineer Formation emblem
Active	1982 to present
Country	South Africa
Branch	South African Army
Type	Military engineering
Role	To enhance mobility and survivability of own forces
Motto(s)	Ubique (Everywhere) Primus incidere exire ultimus (First in and last out)
Colors	Guardsman Red and Oxford Blue
Commanders
General Officer Commanding	Brigadier General Willis Nkosi
Insignia
Collar Badge	Bursting grenade with nine flames
Beret Colour	Oxford blue
Engineers Company Emblems
Engineers Beret Bar circa 1992

The South African Army Engineer Formation is the controlling entity of all South African Army military engineering units. The Formation is currently commanded by the General Officer Commanding (GOC); Brigadier General D.W. Nkosi, as of early 2013.

Military Engineers first made their appearance in South Africa during the Colonial era in 1859 the Governor of the Cape Colony authorised the establishment of the Cape Engineers (Volunteers), which in 1861 became simply the Cape Engineers. In 1865, the title was changed to the Cape Volunteer Engineer Corps, but in 1869, the Corps literally faded away. Ten years later in 1879, the Corps was resuscitated under the name Cape Town Volunteer Engineers. These sappers supported the ground forces during the Frontier Wars and even as far afield as Basutoland.

In 1910, the Natal Engineer Corps was formed but ceased to exist in 1913, a year after the passing of the Defence Act in 1912. Just before the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the Cape Fortress Engineers were formed to relieve Imperial Troops occupied on sapper tasks in the fixed defences of the Cape Peninsula.

The South African Engineer Corps was established in 1922 when the Royal Engineers withdrew from South Africa with the rest of the British Army garrison. The Cape Fortress Engineers was disbanded in 1933 and two more Field Companies were formed in 1935 and numbered one to six, being located in order at: Durban, Uitenhage, Cape Town, Bloemfontein, Johannesburg and Pretoria.

During the period 1940 - 1945, the SA Army Engineer Corps which had started the war with a strength of 54 officers and 585 sappers, rose to the strength of approximately 16 000 men belonging to over 70 different companies or units.

In the development of the Corps, three aspects of military engineering had to be considered and the obvious sapper groups were the Base, Lines of Communication and Field or Fighting Groups, each with its own particular tasks but motivated by the basic requirements of maintaining the mobility and comfort of the ground forces.

Hence, the 70 different units covered the whole spectrum of military engineering, such as:

On 29 December 1944, in recognition of outstanding achievements by the SA Army Engineer Corps during World War II, King George VI approved the design of the Corps emblem, a bursting grenade, to be a device of 9 flames instead of the original seven, and authorised the use of the motto "Ubique", meaning "Everywhere". This is the same as that of the Corps of Royal Engineers and has been incorporated in the cap badge.