The 'Bermuda Volunteer Engineers' was a part-time unit created between the two world wars to replace the Regular Royal Engineers detachment, which was withdrawn from the Bermuda Garrison in 1928.
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From 1885 to 1928, the only Bermudian units within the garrison were part-time infantry and artillery soldiers, the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps and the Bermuda Militia Artillery, respectively. Each unit had been created under a separate Act of the colonial parliament, at the prompting of the Secretary of State for War, in London. A third act had also been passed authorising the creation of a volunteer engineering unit of sappers and miners. This was intended to work with the regular soldiers of the Royal Engineers and the Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC) in tending to submarine mines anchored around Bermuda (this was only one of the activities the Royal Engineers were involved in, as they were also engaged in large scale building work). The volunteer engineers would have operated boats from the RAOC wharf on East Broadway, on the outskirts of Hamilton, however the unit was never actually raised. [1]
During the First World War, in addition to fulfilling their roles as guardians of Bermuda and its important Imperial defence assets (such as the Royal Naval Dockyard), each of these units sent two contingents to the Western Front. Numerous other Bermudians served in other regiments and corps of the British Army, as well as in the Royal Navy and the new Royal Air Force.
Large numbers of regular infantry and artillery soldiers, plus various supporting units, had been stationed in Bermuda since the early 19th Century, but the UK Government had been trying to reduce the expense of maintaining garrisons around the world, following the Crimean War, by encouraging the raising of volunteer units in the various colonies and protectorates. This had led to the creation of the two Bermudian units, and the size of the regular forces in Bermuda was steadily reduced from about 1870 onward.
In May, 1928, the regular infantry battalion on garrison was reduced to a single company, and the Royal Garrison Artillery and Royal Engineers detachments witdrawn entirely. The existing volunteer units were able to take on the duties of the first two groups, but the creation of a new volunteer unit was necessary to fulfil those the third.
The Bermuda Volunteer Engineers was created in 1930. Its original strength was one captain, one subaltern, three sergeants, four corporals, and twenty-four sappers. Its original role was to operate the search lights at coastal artillery batteries. The only battery left in active use by that time was the Examination Battery at St. David's Head, the guns of which were manned by the BMA.
The first commanding officer of the BVE was Captain H.D. (later Sir Harry) Butterfield, and the second-in-command was Lieutenant Cecil Montgomery-Moore, DFC. Both were veterans of the First World War (Montgomery-Moore had served in the BVRC before taking a commission as a fighter pilot in the Royal Flying Corps). In 1932, Butterfield retired, and Montgomery-Moore succeeded him. The new 2-i-c was Lieutenant Bayard Dill (later Sir Bayard).
The BVE subsequently also took on responsibility for providing signals crew and equipment to all elements of the garrison.
The BVE, and the other part-time units, were mobilised at the start of the Second World War, fulfilling its role to the Garrison throughout the war. Some members also were detached for service overseas with other units, including the Royal Artillery and the Royal Air Force. These included four Sappers who were attached to a larger BVRC contingent despatched to the Lincolnshire Regiment in June, 1940.
Another was Captain Richard Gorham, DFC. Commissioned from the ranks, he was detached from the Bermuda Volunteer Engineers to travel to England to train as an Air Observation Post pilot-an aerial artillery spotter. He had been involved in directing artillery fire as part of his role in the BVE, but had to transfer into the Royal Artillery for this new role. Serving in Italy, he played the decisive role in the Battle of Monte Cassino when he spotted a German division moving in half-tracked German Armoured Personnel Carriers to counter attack against the British and Polish army units which were attacking the German-occupied monastery. Gorham controlled the fire of two-thousand field guns, which fired for hours, destroying the German division. Gorham received the Distinguished Flying Cross for this action.
In Bermuda, Montgomery-Moore was promoted to Major in 1940, and Bayard Dill to Captain. In addition to his role with the BVE, Montgomery-Moore also headed the Bermuda Flying School, which trained 80 local volunteers as pilots for the RAF and the Fleet Air Arm. Volunteers were only accepted from those already serving in the local forces, some of whom came from the BVE.
The BVE, as with all of the local volunteer units, was demobilised in 1946 following the end of the war. Whereas the BVRC and the BMA maintained skeleton command structures 'til they began recruiting again in 1951, the Bermuda Volunteer Engineers was officially disbanded.