119 Field Engineer Regiment, Royal Engineers

The 1st Sussex Engineers was a Volunteer unit of Britain's Royal Engineers raised in Eastbourne in 1890. It became the engineer component of the 44th (Home Counties) Division of the Territorial Force, but its units saw action with Regular Army formations on the Western Front, at Salonika and in Italy during the First World War, and in North Russia and Turkey after the war ended. During the Second World War, its units were in the Battle of France and at Alamein, in Sicily, on D Day and the subsequent campaign in North West Europe, including the Rhine crossing. Detached companies fought in Tunisia, Italy, and Burma, where one was involved in the decisive Battle of Kohima and the assault crossing of the Irrawaddy. The unit continued in the postwar Territorial Army until 1967.

Volunteer Force

The enthusiasm for the Volunteer movement following an invasion scare in 1859 saw the creation of many Rifle, Artillery and Engineer Volunteer units composed of part-time soldiers eager to supplement the Regular British Army in time of need. However, it was not until 1890 that an Engineer Volunteer Corps (EVC) was raised in Sussex. Its instigator was George Frederick Chambers, a barrister from Eastbourne, with the support of the Commanding Royal Engineer (CRE) for the South-East District and against opposition from local dignitaries and the 2nd Sussex Artillery Volunteers, who feared competition for recruits in the town. Towards the end of 1889 Chambers called a meeting to get the minimum 60 volunteers required, obtaining 105 names including a complete fife and drum band. The requisition was sent to the War Office, and the 1st Sussex Engineer Volunteer Corps officially came into existence in Eastbourne on 24 May 1890. Initially the company headquarters (HQ) was at Eastbourne Redoubt, then from April 1891 at 38 Commercial Road, Eastbourne. It was attached for administrative purposes to the 1st Middlesex EVC. It formed two additional companies in 1892, B at Newhaven and C at Seaford. From 1892 it was attached to the 1st Hampshire Engineers EVC and then became an independent unit from May 1895.Westlake, p. 13.Lord & Watson, pp. 150–154.''Monthly Army List'', various dates.Morling, pp. 8–9.

Frederick Savage, headmaster of Seaford College, was commissioned as a captain in the 1st Sussex EVC in 1891 and formed a Cadet Corps at the school that year. In July 1895 he was promoted to major in command of the 1st Sussex EVC. Further cadet companies were formed at University and St Leonards Collegiate Schools, Hastings, in 1906 and 1907 respectively. D Company of the 1st Sussex EVC was formed at Chalvington in 1896, but attempts the following year to raise three or four more companies were unsuccessful.

South Africa

After Black Week in December 1899, the Volunteers were invited to send active service units to assist the Regulars in the Second Boer War. From 70 volunteers, the 1st Sussex Engineers selected its detachment of one officer, one sergeant and 25 other ranks to work with the Royal Engineers (RE).Morling, pp. 13–18.C.M. Watson, pp. 42–43. They were sworn in on 18 January 1900, underwent training at the RE depot at Chatham, Kent, and embarked at Southampton aboard the '' Tintagel Castle'' with similar sections from 11 other EVCs on 10 March. The ship arrived at Cape Town on 31 March where the first duty for the sappers was to unload balloons and gas cylinders for the RE Balloon Section. The Sussex Section was then given its assignment, which was to 23rd Field Company, RE, at Ladysmith. This entailed re-embarking and sailing to Durban, then proceeding by rail via Pietermaritzburg. The section spent three weeks repairing siege damage at Ladysmith, then with 23rd Fd Co it joined 4th Division's advance towards Newcastle. The main job for the sappers was to repair drifts (fords) so that the transport and artillery could cross the numerous rivers, but providing water supplies for the horses was also important. During the four-day Battle of Belfast the sappers were involved in digging trenches and gun positions. The force then drove the Boers out of Lydenburg into the Mauchsberg Mountains, where the sappers were employed to get the guns forward from ridge to ridge. After reaching Kruger Post, the column returned to Lydenburg, where the sappers built a six-span square timber bridge over the Crocodile River, sangars and water supplies.

The Sussex Section was now ordered to return to England, so it was marched back to Machadorp (the only unit on foot in a mounted column) and then went by train to Pretoria. There it assisted 9th Fd Co in laying a pipeline and carried out guards and patrols. After three weeks at Pretoria it was obvious that the Boers were not defeated, and the orders to return home were cancelled. The Sussex Section rejoined 23rd Fd Co at Middelburg, where it was chiefly engaged in manufacturing and erecting corrugated iron blockhouses, but also putting Middelburg Town Hall into a state of defence. Three Sussex sappers died of Enteric fever while at Middelburg, and another four were evacuated home with sickness before the end of the section's term of service.

At the end of March 1901 the first sections of Volunteer sappers were ordered to return home at the completion of their year's service. The Sussex section travelled by train to Durban, then by ship to Cape Town, where the survivors embarked on the ''St Andrew'' for Southampton. Before they left Cape Town, the second Sussex Section arrived on the ''Saxon'' from England, having been raised (from the enlarged 1st Sussex Engineers) in March. The Boers having adopted prolonged Guerrilla warfare, the second section saw less movement than the first, being chiefly engaged with 9th Fd Co at Naampoort on the blockhouse system. After the end of its year's service the second section embarked on the '' Roslin Castle'' at Cape Town on 29 May 1902 and reached Southampton on 18 June.

The wave of patriotism at the time of the Boer War led to the formation of eight more companies for the 1st Sussex Engineers in 1901: E, F and G at Brighton, H and J at Eastbourne, K at Tonbridge in Kent, L and M at Hastings. Shortly afterwards the HQ moved to 40 Junction Road, Eastbourne, with another drill station at Seaford.Eastbourne at Drill Hall Project.
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Territorial Force

When the Volunteers were subsumed into the new Territorial Force (TF) under the Haldane Reforms of 1908, the 1st Sussex EVC provided the divisional engineers for the TF's Home Counties Division with the following organisation:Becke, Pt 2a, pp. 49–54.Morling, 'The Family Tree' (front endpapers).Nalder, p. 598.

Home Counties Divisional Engineers
* HQ and 1st Home Counties Field Company (from E–J Companies) at Commercial Road, Eastbourne (Ordnance Yard, Eastbourne, from September 1910)
* 2nd Home Counties Field Company (from L & M Companies) at Tower Road West, St Leonards-on-Sea with drill stations at Bexhill-on-Sea and SeafordSussex at Great War Centenary Drill Halls.
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* Home Counties Divisional Telegraph Company (from E–J Companies) at 23 Gloucester Place, Brighton
** No 1 Section at Brighton
** No 2 (Surrey) Section
** No 3 (Kent) Section
** No 4 (Middlesex) Section

Nos 2–4 Sections were attached to and largely staffed by the three infantry brigades of the division.

The 1st Sussex also provided (from B & C Companies) the Sussex Fortress Royal Engineers, a single Works Company based at the Drill Hall, Queen's Hall, Broad Street, Seaford, while K Company at Tonbridge formed the basis for the Kent Fortress Royal Engineers. All three cadet corps continued to be affiliated to the Home Counties Divisional Engineers. The Telegraph Company was redesignated a Signals Company in 1911.

First World War

Mobilisation

The Home Counties Division was on its annual training on Salisbury Plain when mobilisation orders were received on 4 August 1914, and its units returned to their HQs.
The Home Counties Divisional RE was embodied on 5 August 1914 under Lt-Col W.F. Cheesewright, who had been its Commander, RE, (CRE) since 12 July 1913. It went to its war station of Dover to work on defences, and then on 24 August to the Home Counties Division's concentration area around Canterbury.Morling, pp. 24–30.

Shortly after the outbreak of war, TF units were invited to volunteer for overseas service. Early in September battalions of the Home Counties Division began to relieve Regular units at Gibraltar, then in October the infantry and artillery of the whole division embarked for garrison service in India. Although it did later receive a number (44th), the Home Counties Division never operated as a formation during the war: its units remained scattered in colonial garrisons or were attached to Indian divisions. The Divisional RE went to France on 21 December 1914 as GHQ Troops for the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) on the Western Front and were later assigned as individual companies to Regular divisions.44 Division at Long, Long Trail.
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Meanwhile, the formation of a reserve or 2nd Line unit was authorised for each 1st Line unit where 60 per cent or more of the men had volunteered for Overseas Service. The titles of these 2nd Line units would be the same as the original, but distinguished by a '2/' prefix. In this way duplicate battalions, brigades and divisions were created, mirroring those TF formations being sent overseas. The 2nd Home Counties Division was one of the first organised, as soon as the 1st Line had departed for India. Later 3rd Line units were formed to supply drafts to the 1st and 2nd Lines.Becke, Pt 2b, pp. 75–82.Morling, pp. 36–37.

1/1st Home Counties Field Company

On 2 February 1915 the 1/1st Home Counties Fd Co was transferred from GHQ Troops at Racquenham to join 8th Division in the Lys sector. This division had been formed in the autumn of 1914 from Regular units returned from colonial garrisons, including two Regular RE companies. The decision had now been made to give each infantry division a third RE company, so that one could work with each of the brigades. 1/1st HC Field Co served with 8th Division on the Western Front throughout the rest of the war.Becke, Pt 1, pp. 89–95.8 Division at Long, Long Trail.
/ref>Watson & Rinaldi, p. 28.Watson & Rinaldi, p. 65.

The company's first duties were to build breastworks rather than trenches in the waterlogged front line and to make extemporised mortars and Jam tin grenades. By the end of the month the division went into training for the planned Battle of Neuve Chapelle and the RE prepared depots of battle stores including trench bridges and ladders. 1/1st Home Counties Fd Co built a Pontoon bridge over the Lys to carry the extra traffic. The attack on 10–13 March advanced the line by about . The company then carried out preparations for further attacks at Fromelles and at Aubers Ridge, including provision of splinter-proof shelters, footbridges, mine galleries, gun emplacements, roads and approach trenches. The division's attack at Rouge Bancs was a costly failure.

8th Division was then moved north to a quieter sector. In September it prepared a limited attack at Bois-Grenier as a diversion from the main Battle of Loos. Once again 1/1st (HC) Fd Co built a pontoon bridge across the Lys to aid traffic flow. Although none of the enemy positions was held at the end of the day's fighting, the company wired and consolidated a new shorter defence line in No man's land.

Somme

Preparations for the 'Big Push' (the Battle of the Somme) began in April 1916, with the RE Sapping towards the enemy positions, preparing dugouts and assembly positions, and making gaps in the wire. 1/1st Home Counties Fd Co was not engaged in 8th Division's disastrous attack on the Ovillers Spur on the First day on the Somme (1 July), but was sent up in the evening to help hold the line. The sappers spent the night bringing in wounded, of whom there were over 3000 across the division's front.

After this disaster 8th Division was withdrawn, and 1/1st HC Fd Co was put to work on defences at Loos and in front of the Hohenzollern Redoubt. Later in July it rejoined 8th Division in the Ginchy sector. The division returned to the Somme for the Battle of Le Transloy (23–30 October), with the sappers preparing additional communication trenches before the attack. The company went in with the attack, which was only partly successful.

The company spent the winter building Nissen huts and carrying out improvements to trenches and wire. It was redesignated 490th (Home Counties) Field Company when the TF RE companies were numbered on 1 February 1917.Watson & Rinaldi, p. 61. 8th Division carried out an attack at Bouchavesnes on 4 March, and then followed up the German Retreat to the Hindenburg Line (Operation Alberich) (14 March – 5 April).

Ypres

In May the division went into reserve to prepare for the Third Ypres Offensive, the RE work including burying signal cables, building roads, forming dumps of stores, and assisting an RE Tunnelling Company building deep dugouts. The division made a daylight raid on Bellewaarde Farm on 24 July, and then participated in the Battle of Pilckem Ridge that opened the offensive on 31 July. It was then relieved on 2 August to refit and train for a renewed attack to complete the capture of the first objectives.

On the night of 10 August, just before going back into the line, Divisional HQ (DHQ) suffered an air raid, and a bomb killed the officer commanding 490th (HC) Fd Co, Maj C.C. Bryan, and wounded two other officers and six other ranks. Major D.L. Herbert took over command of the company. Zero hour for the Battle of Langemarck was 04.45 on 16 August, and 490th (HC) Fd Co laid out tapes to help the men of 25th Bde to find their forming-up positions in the mud and craters in the dark. The infantry crossed the Hanebeek stream and began dealing with enemy pillboxes. But the divisions on either flank were unable to advance as far, and 8th Division was left in front with its flanks exposed. Dangerous German counter-attacks began to come in, and by nightfall the division was practically back on its starting positions. The division spent the rest of the offensive making demonstrations without actually attacking. The sappers spent the winter in Ypres.

Spring Offensive

The German spring offensive opened on 21 March 1918. 8th Division had just come out of the line for rest, but after the initial German breakthrough it was sent up on 23 March to hold the Somme crossings, blowing up the bridges after the retreating troops had crossed back over them. The divisional frontage was very wide, and there were no reserves, so when 25th Bde was hard pressed the only troops to hand were 490th (HC) Fd Co. The sappers were ordered to take up position across the Morchain–Pertain road to act as a rallying point. After further severe fighting, 25th Bde fell back to hold this position in the afternoon. However, the river line had been penetrated elsewhere, and by 26 March the division was fighting at Rosières. After a week's fighting retreat it was relieved at Moreuil Wood on 2 April.

8th Division was next in action at Villers-Bretonneux on 24–25 April, when 490th (HC) Fd Co was in action, losing numerous casualties to Mustard Gas. The division was then moved south, where it faced another heavy German attack and consequent retreat at the Aisne and Le Treport.

Hundred Days

8th Division entered the Allied Hundred Days Offensive at the Battle of the Scarpe (26–30 August). It followed up by forcing the Rouvroy–Fresnes Line (7–8 October). After the attack on the Drocourt-Quéant Switch Line on 4 October the Germans in this sector suddenly retreated and 8th Division participated in the capture of Douai on 17 October.

On 30 October, 8th Division was pursuing the defeated Germans and sent 23rd Brigade to establish a bridgehead across the Scheldt opposite Odomez. 490th (HC) Field Co constructed a light cylinder bridge by 21.00 that evening. but it collapsed, and was not fully repaired until 04.00 the following morning, so the lead battalion crossed by rafts. However, it came under heavy attack on 31 October and was ordered to withdraw. Although the bridge was again broken, all the wounded were got away.

On 4–5 November the division concentrated round Marchiennes, where the sappers were engaged in improving roads and canal and river crossings. When the Armistice with Germany came into effect at 11.00 on 11 November, 8th Division was 3–4 miles NNE of Mons. On 16 November it was relieved and went back to Tournai, then moved to the Ath– Enghien area by 18 December. Here demobilisation began, and the cadre of 490th (HC) Fd Co returned to England in May 1919 after the division was disbanded.

1/2nd Home Counties Field Company

On 2 February 1915 the 1/2nd Home Counties Fd Co was transferred from GHQ Troops at Blendiques to join 5th Division at Bailleul. This Regular division was part of the original BEF that had gone to France in 1914; it was now given 1/2nd HC as a third field company, which served with it for the rest of the war.
Becke, Pt 1, pp. 65–71.5 Division at Long, Long Trail.
/ref>Morling, pp. 31–34.

Hill 60

The company was at work in the line as soon as it arrived, suffering casualties at Messines Ridge and at Hill 60, where it assisted in the mining operations preceding its capture on 17 April. 5th Division was then engaged during the German offensives (the Second Battle of Ypres) including the battles of Gravenstafel Ridge (23 April) and St Julien (24 April – 1 May). The division was not involved in any major actions for the next year, but suffered a steady trickle of casualties as it held the line in the Ypres sector from May to July, around Bray from August 1915 to February 1916, and the Arras front from March to July 1916.

Somme

5th Division was moved south to join in the Somme Offensive and was engaged in the Attacks on High Wood (20 July – 1 August). During these actions the RE were engaged in building positions round Longueval and sections were attached to the infantry for each advance, in which they acted as riflemen as well as sappers. The division then continued in the September battles, in all of which the company suffered casualties, at Guillemont (3–6 September), Flers–Courcelette (18–22 September) and at Morval (25–26 September).

5th Division was stationed in the Béthune sector from October 1916 to March 1917. On 1 February 1917, 1/2nd HC Fd Co was designated as 491st (Home Counties) Field Company. The division was moved into position on 7 April to take part in the Battle of Vimy Ridge (9–14 April). After the successful advance, the RE made plank roads over the shell holes. The Germans knew the lost positions intimately, and were able to shell the new artillery positions accurately, so the divisional RE built deeper dugouts for the gunners and built dummy ammunition dumps to divert enemy fire. The division then took part in the attack on La Coulotte (23 April), the Third Battle of the Scarpe (3–4 May), and the Capture of Oppy Wood (28 June).

Ypres

490th (HC) Field Company was used for road building before the Third Ypres Offensive. 5th Division took part in several of the battles that autumn: Polygon Wood (1–3 October), where it was subjected to mustard gas; the advance along the Reutelbeck during the Battle of Broodseinde (4 October); the first attack on Poelcappelle on 9 October,;the second attack on Polderhoek (26 October); and the Second Battle of Passchendaele (26 October – 10 November), including the third attack on Polderhoek on 6 November.

Italy

On 23 November the division was warned that it was to be moved to the Italian Front. It began entraining on 27 November and by 20 December it had concentrated to the east of the River Brenta, not far from Padua. The divisional RE built bridges over the Brenta. 5th Division later took over part of the line along the River Piave on 27 January 1918 and the RE worked to improve these positions until the division was relieved on 18 March. During this period the sappers were involved in bridgebuilding and in revetting the trenches dug into shingly ground.

Spring Offensive

On 24 March 5th Division was warned to return to the Western Front, where the German Spring Offensive had been launched. It began entraining on 1 April and completed its concentration on 9 April between Doullens and Frévent, just in time for the Battle of the Lys. It took part in the Battle of Hazebrouck, including the Defence of the Nieppe Forest (12–15 April). After the fighting died down the division held the forest, and the divisional RE extended a Decauville Railway to bring up supplies, repairing it after frequent breaks due to enemy shelling.

On 28 June, in its first offensive operation since the Great Retreat, the division gained space clear of the forest and pushed patrols and outposts forward (the action at La Becque, Operation Borderland). Then under cover of darkness the divisional RE went forward to destroy the bridges over La Plate Becque in front of the outposts. Later they were used to strengthen various HQ dugouts.

Hundred Days

Shortly after the start of the Allied Hundred Days Offensive 5th Division was moved into the Authie–Doullens area. It took part in the Second Battle of Albert (21–23 August) and continued advancing thereafter. The Second Battle of Bapaume followed from 31 August to 3 September. The division followed up to the Hindenburg Line, attacking the outposts in the Battle of Épehy (18 September) when it captured 'African Trench'. It then played a part in breaching the Hindenburg Line at the Battle of the Canal du Nord (27 September – 1 October) and the subsequent pursuit to the River Selle, followed by the Battle of the Selle (17–23 October).

From 5 November the division slowly fought its way through the Forêt de Mormal, crossed the Sambre and advanced across the Maubeuge–Avesnes road, where it was relieved on 10 November. After the Armistice it was in reserve near Le Quesnoy. Between 13 and 21 December it moved into Belgium and was cantoned in villages between Namur and Wavre. It remained in these billets until demobilisation began in February 1919. The last troops left for England on 10 May.

1st Home Counties Signal Company

28th Division was formed in December 1914 – January 1915 primarily from Regular units returned from service in India, with support units provided by the TF. On 5 January 1915 the division was joined at Winchester by the 1st Home Counties Signal Company, which provided its communications until beyond the end of the war.Becke, Pt 1, pp. 106–116.Morling, p. 35. The division embarked at Southampton 15–18 January, disembarked at Le Havre 16–19 January and concentrated between Bailleul and Hazebrouck by 22 January. While on the Western Front it participated in the following actions:
* Battle of Gravenstafel Ridge (22–23 April)
* Battle of St Julien (24 April – 4 May)
* Battle of Frezenberg Ridge (8–13 May)
* Battle of Bellewaarde Ridge (24–25 May)
* Battle of Loos (27 September – 5 October)

On 19 October 1915 the division was ordered to entrain for an unknown destination. Units began embarking at Marseille on 24 October and by 22 November the whole division was at Alexandria in Egypt. It then embarked again for the Macedonian front, completing its disembarkation at Salonika on 4 January 1916. It spent the rest of the war on this front, where there were few major actions but the troops suffered steady attrition through trench warfare casualties and sickness. On 18 and 19 September 1918, 28th Division took part in the Battle of Doiran and the subsequent pursuit of the defeated Bulgarian Army up the Strumica Valley. On 29 September Bulgaria concluded the Armistice of Salonica with the Allies. This was followed a month later by the Armistice of Mudros with the Turks. Early in November the 28th Division was sent to occupy Constantinople and the Dardanelles Forts, with Divisional HQ at Chanak ( Çanakkale).

28th Division remained in these positions, though its units (including 28th Divisional Signal Company of the new Royal Corps of Signals) were progressively staffed by Regulars after the remaining TF men were demobilised. In July 1922, 28th Division was moved to interpose between the Greek and Turkish armies (the Chanak Crisis). After a ceasefire was arranged, the British troops were progressively reduced. On 2 October 1923 the final evacuation took place, and 28th Division was disbanded.

67th (2nd Home Counties) Divisional Engineers

2/1st Home Counties Fd Co was formed at Brighton and Eastbourne, and 2/2nd (HC) Fd Co at Hastings in October 1914. 2nd Home Counties Signal Co was formed at Brighton. The 2nd Home Counties Division began to assemble around Windsor in November 1914 and Lt-Col E.G. Hales was appointed CRE on 12 December. There was a shortage of equipment with which to train – only a few old .256-in Japanese Ariska rifles were available. In July 1915 the units had to be reorganised as TF men who had only signed up for Home Service were transferred to Home Defence brigades (termed Provisional Brigades). 9th Provisional Fd Co, predominantly an East Lancashire unit, was formed in Kent and absorbed details from Home Counties RE units. It later became 648th (East Lancashire) Fd Co in 73rd Division. When that division was disbanded in March 1918, the field company was reorganised as 648th (Home Counties) Army Troops Company, RE, and went to join the BEF on 23 June.Watson & Rinaldi, p. 64.

The 2nd HC Division was redesignated 67th (2nd Home Counties) Division in August 1915 and the signal company became 67th (2nd HC) Signal Co. The divisional RE was further reorganised with the addition of 1/3rd Home Counties Fd Co, a new 1st Line company that had been formed at Newhaven on 21 August; it joined at Southborough on 6 November. By that time the division was part of Second Army, Central Force, and was quartered in Kent, with the other two field companies at Tonbridge, and the Signal Co HQ with divisional HQ (DHQ) at Canterbury.

67th (2nd HC) Division had the dual role of home defence and supplying drafts to units serving overseas. It was twice warned for service in Ireland and in April 1917 for service on the Western Front, but these deployments never materialised and the division spent the whole war in England. By September 1916 the three field companies were based at the villages of Broomfield, Preston and Northbourne in Kent. In February 1917 the field companies were numbered: 492nd (1/3rd), 493rd (2/1st) and 494th (2/2nd). In October 1917, 492nd (1/3rd HC) Fd Co was detached from the division and joined 71st Division, the 67th receiving 645th (West Lancashire) Fd Co in exchange.

During the winter of 1917–1918 the division moved to Essex, where it joined XXIII Corps. DHQ and Signals were at Colchester, and the field companies at Colchester and Driffield. The units maintained these dispositions until after the Armistice when demobilisation began. In March 1919 the remaining divisional RE began to disband, and the process was soon completed.

492nd (Home Counties) Field Company

In October 1917, 492nd (HC) Fd Co joined 71st Division, a training and coast defence formation that was forming a special brigade ( 214th Bde) for possible service in Murmansk as part of the North Russia Intervention. In the event, 214th Bde remained in the UK, but 492nd (HC) Fd Co did proceed to Russia as part of Syren Force, landing at Murmansk on 29 September 1918. In the closing months of the First World War, the force defended the ice-free port facilities of Murmansk and the Murmansk–Petrograd railway as far as Kem on the White Sea, against the threat of attacks by German and Finnish White Guard forces. It continued this duty during the complex postwar political and military exchanges with local Bolsheviks and Finnish Red Guards. The company joined Syren Force in June 1918 and served in Russia until at least July 1919.

Interwar

44th (Home Counties) Division began to reform at home in 1920. When the TF was reconstituted as the Territorial Army (TA) in 1921, the field companies were renumbered and the divisional RE adopted the following organisation:Watson & Rinaldi, pp. 90, 99.Morling, pp. 44–45, 171.
* HQ at 10 Queen's Square, Brighton
* 208 (Sussex) Field Co at Ordnance Yard, Eastbourne, also recruiting from Bexhill and Rock-a-Nore, Hastings
* 209 (Sussex) Field Co at 10 Queens Square, Brighton
* 210 (Sussex) Field Co initially at Harrow, Middlesex, then at Queen's Hall, Seaford, also recruiting from Lewes and Newhaven
* 211 (Sussex) Field Park Co, Brighton, absorbed into HQ Divisional RE (HQRE) 1924; reformed at Worthing 1939

The signal company transferred to the new Royal Corps of Signals as 44th (Home Counties) Divisional Signals. The Sussex Fortress Engineers began to reform on 1 November 1920, but a year later 210 Fd Co was moved from Middlesex back to Seaford and absorbed the Fortress Co.

The CRE of 44th (HC) Division, appointed on 16 February 1920, was Lt-Col H.C. Saunders, who had commanded the HC Signal Company before the First World War. He was promoted to Brevet Colonel on 16 February 1924 and after retiring was appointed Honorary Colonel on 17 July 1926. The Sussex RE found it difficult to obtain enough officers, and Saunders returned to the command for a further four-year term on 16 February 1932, before reverting to the Honorary Colonelcy.

Second World War

Mobilisation

Following the Munich Crisis the TA was doubled in size. Once again, 44th (HC) Division formed a duplicate, 12th (Eastern) Infantry Division, with the following RE organisation:Eastern Command 3 September 1939 at Patriot Files.
/ref>Joslen, pp. 71–72.Joslen, p. 56.Watson & Rinaldi, pp. 92, 101, 138.
* HQ at Hastings, with a new drill hall converted from properties named 'Concordia Hall' and 'Stepping Stones' at St Leonards
* 262 (Sussex) Field Co at Hastings (from 208 Fd Co)
* 263 (Sussex) Field Co at Steyning (from 209 Fd Co)
* 264 (Sussex) Field Co at Lewes (from 210 Fd Co)
* 265 (Sussex) Field Park Co at Hastings (from 208 Fd Co)

44th (HC) Division was mobilised on 3 September 1939, and the 12th (Eastern) Infantry Division became active on 7 October 1939.

44th (Home Counties) Divisional RE

Shortly after mobilisation, 44th (HC) Division formed the 'Ashdown Forest Mobile Group' as an anti-invasion reserve at Groombridge, with 208 Fd Co as its RE component, joining on 14 September. On 29 September it was announced that each of the 1st Line TA divisions would send one field company to France to build defences for the new British Expeditionary Force (BEF). 208 (S) Field Co was selected from 44th (HC) Division and made its way from Groombridge to Southampton, where it boarded the '' Mona's Queen'' on 26 September and landed at Cherbourg the following day.

The rest of 44th (HC) Division RE moved to Dorset for training under the CRE, Lt-Col R.H. Parsons, with 209 Fd Co at Bridport, 210 at Beaminster and Wetherby, and 211 Fd Pk Co establishing its stores and workshops at Larkham Hall. In January 1940 the division was ordered to prepare to embark for France in February, but the departure was delayed. The first RE parties left on 19 March, but 210 Field Company only embarked on 8 April, and 211 Fd Park Co's bridging section did not follow until 30 April. After landing at Cherbourg the field companies moved into France with their brigade groups (209 Fd Co with 132 Bde and 210 Fd Co with 133 Bde).Morling, pp. 170–172, 184, 196, 205.

Battle of France

Once 44th (HC) Division had concentrated, HQRE was established at Estaires on 1 May, where 208 Fd Co briefly rejoined. As the training of the recently doubled TA formations was still weak, GHQ instituted a policy of exchanging some of their units with Regular formations. Having already been detached during the training period, the CRE selected 208 Fd Co as the one to be exchanged, and it was replaced in 44th (HC) Division on 4 May by 11 Fd Co from 2nd Division. This Regular company remained part of the divisional engineers for the rest of the war, usually supporting 131 Bde.Joslen, pp. 39–40.Watson & Rinaldi, p. 139.Watson & Rinaldi, p. 161.

When the German offensive in the west opened on 10 May, the BEF advanced into Belgium in accordance with 'Plan D'. 44th (HC) Division moved up to the Escaut, where it was in reserve, with 11 and 210 Fd Cos preparing bridges for demolition.Ellis, ''France & Flanders'', Chapter III.
/ref> However, the German Army broke through the Ardennes to the east, forcing the BEF to withdraw again, and by 19 May the whole force was back across the Escaut, and the sappers began blowing up the bridges while under shellfire and bombing.Ellis, ''France & Flanders'', Chapter IV.
/ref> 44th (HC) Division tried to hold the most dangerous point, but the Germans established bridgeheads across the Escaut at dawn on 20 May. The attack was renewed on 22 May and the division was badly chewed up, but there was no breakthrough: it was the deep penetration further east that forced the BEF to withdraw. That night the sappers began to lay anti-tank mines and prepare the bridges over the River Lys for demolition, and next day the BEF fell back to the 'Canal Line'. 44th (HC) Division was then withdrawn into reserve.
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Cut off, the BEF fell back towards the coast, with 44th (HC) Division given the responsibility of defending the area round Hazebrouck. On 26 May the decision was made to evacuate the BEF through Dunkirk