36 Engineer Regiment (United Kingdom)


The 36th Engineer Regiment is a regiment of the Corps of Royal Engineers within the British Army. The regiment trace their history back to before World War II as the 36th Army Engineer Regiment. The regiment today is a general support engineer regiment provided force support within 12 Engineer Group.

History

The 36th Engineer Regiment's predecessor was the 36th Army Engineer Regiment which saw service in World War II. There isn't much information on this unit but it is known it was based in Germany when the war ended. In 1949 the regiment moved to Invicta Park Barracks in Maidstone, Kent. In 1951 the regiment moved to Ripon and had the following structure;
In 1955 the regiment moved to Osnabrück where it joined the 11th Engineer Group. Following their move, the regiment was renamed as the 36th Corps Engineer Regiment as the group, 11 Engineer Group, was tasked with supporting the 1st Corps. In 1956 the regiment saw a deployment to the Middle East with the 2nd Corps during the Suez Invasion. Upon returning from the Middle East the regiment moved back to Invicta Park Barracks in Maidstone. For one year, Dec 58—Dec 59 the regiment deployed to Christmas Island after Operation Grapple.
In January 1969 the regiment was renamed as 36th Engineer Regiment and by 1974 deployed to Northern Ireland as part of the rebuilding after the initial start of Operation Banner. In 1982 the Falklands Conflict was started and the regiment sent a detachment assigned to the 5th Infantry Brigade.
By 1992 the major Options for Change reforms hit the armed forces. As a result of these major reforms the 11th Engineer Group was disbanded and the regiment joined the 1st Armoured Division directly as a close support regiment for the 20th Armoured Brigade. In 1994 the regiment deployed on Operation Grapple 4. In 1995 the regiment took part in the camp building for the new 24th Airmobile Brigade. In 1999 the regiment joined the 5th Airborne Brigade and by 2002 supported the 16th Air Assault Infantry Brigade.
By the time that the Delivering Security in a Changing World reforms were announced, the regiment was based at Barker Barracks in the Paderborn Area. By this time the regiment still had the same role but had the following structure;
From Oct 2007 to Apr 2008 the regiment saw a deployment to Afghanistan on Operation Herrick VII assigned to the 52nd Infantry Brigade.
In 2010, the original Army 2020 reforms started and the regiment was re-titled as the 36th Search Engineer Regiment. In 2015, the Army 2020 Refines were announced the regiment dropped the "search" title and was assigned to the 12 Engineer Group. During these reforms, it was announced that the rest of the units based in Germany were to be moved back to England. As a result the regiment moved to Invicta Park Barracks in Maidstone. By 2027 the regiment is to move to a new location, but it is unknown where at this time.
The regiment now has the following structure;
In addition to these reforms, the regiment will be designated as a force structure unit and is to be paired with the 75th Volunteer Engineer Regiment.

Future

According to an answer by the Minister of State for the Armed Forces, Colonel Mark Lancaster, the 67 Gurkha Squadron is to be formed by 2021 and the 68 Gurkha Squadron by 2023.

Deployments