'Military Lessons of the Arab Rebellion in Palestine 1936' [‎71r] (146/294)

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a good means of economising in troops for purely defensive duties,
but it must be admitted that the Arabs were not highly skilled at
demolitions - although never short of explosives and men accustomed
to using them - and hesitated to do serious damage to such things
as water supplies for fear of suffering themselves from the con
sequent shortages. It was probably for these reasons that one
Field Company was often able to serve two infantry brigades without
undue strain, but had the enemy shown a little more skill and
enterprise an allotment of engineer units in the normal proportion
for a Field Army would not have been excessive.
(c) Punitive Demolition
This duty became more and more frequent as the rebellion went on
and as more intensive measures of repression were authorised.
Demolitions varied from that of a single house in a ramshackle
village to those on an extensive scale - such as at Jaffa - in
volving well-built substantial houses. Demolitions were also
sometimes necessary for tactical purposes such as clearing a field
of fire near a vulnerable point, but for the most part were more
punitive in nature. When village search operations were under
taken which might involve demolitions it was usual for a detach
ment of sarjpers to travel in the centre of the column during the
approach march with explosives carried in a special bullet-proof
lorry. A form of "demolition drill" which proved useful is des
cribed in Appendix XVII.
(d) Field Defences
This task usually took the form of assisting infantry in the con
struction of picquets and camp defences.
(e; Accommodation
The arrival of the Emergency Force necessitated the diversion of
the greater portion of the engineers from tactical duties to ohe
preparation of camp structures and camp water supplies. Later, on
the conclusion of the rebellion, all Engineer units were enployed
on the construction of temporary hutments in order ^o get uroops
under cover before the winter broke.
Railway Companies
Unfortunately the 8th Railway Company did not reach Palestine until
the end of the rebellion, but the railway section of the 42nd Field
Company, aided by a number of naval ratings, was employed upon the
railways for most of the summer. The chief duty was to learn the ^
system with a view to operating it in the event of wholesale desertion
of the Arab employees, a contingency which fortunately was aver oed. ^
Railway tasks which were performed by the Royal Engineers during this
period consisted of
(a) Supplementing drivers and crews oi the R.ii.A. roid railway
trolley patrols.
(b) Providing locomotive crews for military patrol trains and
light armoured trains.
(c) Hanning the pilot trolleys for fast passenger trains and
certain goods trains.
(d) Providing locomotive crews and brakesmen on certain essential
night goods services where the frequency 01 sabotage cuP oniping
precluded the use of civilian crews - particularly on tne Jerusa em
Tel Aviv line.