2 Combat Engineer Regiment

In 1903, following the Boer War, the Royal Canadian Engineers were founded as the basis for the permanent military engineers and the Canadian Engineer Corps was created as a militia unit.

One of the first tasks given to the Canadian engineers after the declaration of World War I was the construction of the Valcartier training site in Quebec. At its peak, 30,000 men were stationed there before the 1st Canadian Division was deployed. When the 1st Canadian Division arrived in Belgium, they were accompanied by the Canadian Engineer Corps. These troops were responsible for the construction of defences, sanitation systems, water supplies, bridging, and assisting with trench raids. The engineers, known as Sappers, were also tasked with digging tunnels underneath enemy trenches and planting explosives to destroy the trenches. These tunnels were strategic in winning the Battle of Vimy Ridge.

Canadian engineers spent the early phases of World War II building camps in Canada and as they deployed to the United Kingdom, turned their attention to building camps, defence work, roads and airfields in England. Sappers of the 2nd Canadian Division led the beach assault supporting the Dieppe Raid and took the second highest number of casualties after the infantry. By 1942, divisional and corps engineers turned their full attention to the invasion of Europe. They were fully engaged in the Sicilian and Italian Campaigns, the Normandy Landings and the liberation of France, Belgium and Holland. The majority of their work consisted of constructing bailey bridges, clearing mines and booby traps and building communication networks and field defences.

After the Canadian Forces unified in 1968, the Royal Canadian Engineers, Royal Canadian Navy Civil Engineers and the Royal Canadian Air Force Construction Division were amalgamated. The new branch went under the name Royal Canadian Engineers until 1973 when they were renamed the Canadian Military Engineers.

In 2017, 2 Combat Engineer Regiment celebrated its 40th anniversary; and at the same time, the 20th anniversary of the Neder Rijn Engineer Park. A reunion event was held 7–9 July 2017, which was attended by over 500 members of the CME family.

2 CER is part of this history of Canadian military engineers. It provides combat engineering support to 2 CMBG.[1]