Assault Pioneer Platoon

Assault Pioneer Platoons is a unit available for Germany in Flames of War. They represent specialists of the German army that were used for various construction, demolition, and combat duties.

IRL

Pioneers date back centuries, first being heavily used in the 1600s as part of sieges, when extensive siege works, trenches, and other fortifications were relatively important in war and combat. This is no different in WWII or even today, though they typically go by the term "Engineers" in English speaking countries.

Germany operated several groups of Engineers: Pioniertrupen(combat engineers), Bautruppen(construction engineers), Eisenbahntruppen(railway builders and operators), and Technische Truppen(technical troops). Much like the German army overall, the Pioneers were never fully motorized, having motorized capability for only a third of the entire company. Each platoon had 52 men.

Pioneers were much like their infantry cousins, though they were given specialist weaponry like demolition charges, flamethrowers, smoke weapons, and mines. In addition, the unit had equipment like inflatable boats, barbed wire, and construction equipment like power tools and traditional tools like shovels and picks. However, unlike the Americans they never had heavy construction equipment like bulldozers available organically to the unit.

While most troops had basic knowledge on the construction of light fieldworks, you typically would want one of these guys to built you a bunker or machine gun nest, as they were trained to do it and do it well. They also had to have a higher than average devotion to the fight, as these poor dudes were the ones they sent to wipe out barbed wire or fortifications with demo charges. These Pioneers would be crucial in penetrating the Ardennes forest, and overall were a highly effective addition to the German forces that are still being studied by military forces today.