Corps of Royal Engineers - Vintage Obstacles VT

[@hypergolic8468]

Always glad they put the cheerful music on at the end to wake you up before they opened the curtains.

[@andrewturner5710]

Ahh, the old DILAC cap. Fantastic.

[@alangoodger6614]

All men are born equal ; But only the finest join the Riyal Engineer's

[@alangoodger6614]

Add correction only the finest join the Royal Engineers

[@dziban303]

@@alangoodger6614 they're not the greatest spellers though

[@joedredd13215]

We infantry really appreciated you guys and REME 👍🇬🇧

[@alexweatherburn4390]

You can tell they’re Sappers, they all need a bloody good haircut, scruffy lot.

[@The_Professor_]

We’re often taught to leave stumps attached when trees are fell on a path, most often respective to an abatis.

[@fynnmarlow2010]

Big up the sappers

[@PieAndChips]

Interesting that the FV432 being used to tow the barmine layer appears to be a MK.1 that still retained its B81 engine

[@bob_the_bomb4508]

By 1983 I think the only sapper 432 that were Mk1 were in BATUS. But by the age of this film - especially with references to ‘combat teams’ and the appearance of the notorious ‘jap caps’ I’d say this was filmed a bit earlier.

[@lynnecromack4933]

state of those kidney pouches !!

[@Beauloqs]

"Corps" kit 😂😂

[@johnners911]

These guys really spoiled my picnic

[@philstannett-lh4wq]

Direct combat infantry role troops would wear their tin hats. Troops like Engineers would wear soft lids whilst working. This continued up until the Kevlar helmet was introduced. Now is helmets all the time in the field.

[@bob_the_bomb4508]

If only 26 Engineer Regiment had known that. We wore tin lids from the moment we left the camp gates. The CO at the time was most particular with us wearing battle bowlers unless closed down in our 432 or CVR(T),

[@samelastic4468]

Why dont you show what it is really like, laying bar mines using mine layer on dark frosty cold nights 2 or 3 in the morning rather than on a nice summers day.

[@irvsstella]

It's even worser (lol) driving an MK across Salisbury when you've got hay-fever, capola (sunroof) off, heater turned down to minimum, still warm, and your boogie box turned up loud, powered by red/green duracell D batts.

[@bob_the_bomb4508]

Laying Mk7 mines was much worse though.

[@TheCatBilbo]

Sounds like Patrick Allen on commentary - the legend!

[@shakespeare4bears]

Army officers were properly posh in those days.

[@Beauloqs]

Yes, they where known as "Ruperts" for just that.

[@Fedoratip79]

I can just imagine the Soviet hordes saying after being blown up "what a nuisance"

[@Beauloqs]

@ 7 mins......well thats fkin tactical 😂😂

[@tinysaxon3826]

This is when we had an army !! Not like the boy scout sized army of today !!148 tanks today ? 900 in the 70s

[@haplessoperator]

That's still kind of just a handful of tanks in the grand scheme of things, isn't it?

[@Beauloqs]

​@@haplessoperator yes and no....mainly no because we where a army in defence, the expected ratio was 6 to 1, although most thought that wishful thinking.

[@justmathew]

I have just realised why these videos felt very wrong to watch. These were recorded in the summer during the hours of daylight. There is no snow, rain or sleet. The ground is dry and firm and the soldiers are much too clean. I remember after 3-weeks at STANTA, my combat trousers could stand up on their own. Clearly designed to not scare the recruits under training.

[@andyj7771]

Do we still use any of the mines shown in this video?

[@CorpsofRoyalEngineers]

Hi Andy, not anymore. Even our 'barmine' layer has now been taken out of service.

[@Beauloqs]

Ruperts, Ruperts everywhere.....

[@bombfog1]

Can one of you English Soldiers tell me whether you would have worn berets like this into combat had the Communists come rolling through West Germany?

[@Beauloqs]

No

[@SimDeck]

Those tanks are not very environmentally friendly tbh.

[@oldvet7547]

Not overly impressed by the road catering results. Didn't really look deep enough to seriously impede military vehicle traffic. If you have to lay mines why waste the other timd.

[@Mod-rw9cw]

@@chad6080 I’ve never met a Q yet that can be understood. They all seem to talk in tongues.

[@bob_the_bomb4508]

Obstacles delay. They don’t block. Even if a 4x4 can negotiate what is in effect a large pothole it’s doing it at crawling speed and not 100 kmh. Spice it up with a few mines and it’s a few hours to clear the problem - and remember all obstacles should be covered by fire. The narrator mentioned a gucci piece of kit called the ‘Rapid Cratering Kit’ (RCK). This massively speeded up the process even on asphalt or even concrete roads.