Page 91 - SyI Quarterly - Q3 and Q4 Edition 2023

Image 1. British Soldiers Searching Belfast to
Dublin train line – Ireland, 1921 (Source: Google)

The Military continued to conduct Search tasks across the Empire post WW1. Search training and basic
procedures were introduced to check for booby traps such as grenades placed under the bodies of
enemy soldiers and to identify mines and EO devices.

By the start of WW2 all Combat Engineers were trained to lay, locate, and dispose of mines and EO
devices at the Royal School of Military Engineering (RSME) without a metal detector. Being largely on the
defensive from 1942 onward, Germany developed mine warfare broadly into how we know it today.

During WW2 mines were for the first
time incorporated into operational
planning and continually updated to
defeat countermeasures. German
forces laid minefields in patterns for
ease of recording, but there was often
an element of randomness to the
rows, making them difficult to detect.

Throughout the Palestine emergency
(1945 -1948), British units conducted
hundreds of Cordon and Search Image 2. Royal Engineers Mine Warfare School – Egypt, 1942
operations. These missions were the (Source: Google)
first planned Search tasks. Suspected
enemy locations were identified and then
‘cordoned,’ by surrounding them with manned outposts
covering all movement in and out. Troops then entered the
area to be searched. These operations were also the first
to use dogs in the detection of hidden enemy resources, as
opposed to mine or person detection roles.

In 1971 Sappers found their mine and booby trap training
being called on again to locate terrorist emplaced devices.
The IRA initially used a British mine andbooby trap manual to
construct and emplace devices but lacked the
conventional stores to build them. As the devices and hides
evolved, Search became a specialisation conducted by
Sappers (Combat Engineers).

Image 3. The book ‘Cordon & Search’
Palestine – 1945 to 48 (Source: Google)

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