Editing Sapper (section)

==Historical origin==
=== Sapper ===
{{see also|Sapping}}
[[File:No.2 Company, Bombay Sappers and Miners, China 1900.jpg|thumb|Soldiers of No 2 Field Company, [[Bombay Sappers and Miners]] on duty in China in 1900. The mule carries the tools required for field engineering tasks.]]

A sapper, in the sense first used by the French military, was one who dug trenches to allow besieging forces to advance towards the enemy defensive works and forts over ground that is under the defenders' musket or artillery fire. It comes from the French word ''sapeur'',<ref>{{Cite web |title=What does sapeur mean in French? |url=https://www.wordhippo.com/what-is/the-meaning-of/french-word-sapeur.html}}</ref> itself being derived from the verb ''saper'' (to undermine, to dig under a wall or building to cause its collapse). This digging was referred to as [[sapping]] the enemy fortifications. Saps were excavated by brigades of trained sappers or instructed troops. When an army was defending a fortress with cannons, they had an obvious height and therefore range advantage over the attacker's guns.  The attacking army's artillery had to be brought forward, under fire, so as to facilitate effective [[counter-battery fire]].

This was achieved by digging what the French termed a ''sappe''<ref>{{cite book|last=James|first=Charles|title=An Universal Military Dictionary, in English and French: In which are Explained the Terms of the Principal Sciences that are Necessary for the Information of an Officer|url=https://archive.org/details/universalmilitar00jame|year=1816|publisher=T. Egerton|page=[https://archive.org/details/universalmilitar00jame/page/781 781]|chapter=Sape|quote=''Sappe'' not only signifies the opening which is made but also the act of sapping. Richelet, Boyer, and others write the word with one p, Trevoux, and Belidor with two; but the mere spelling of a word seems not to have been much attended to, even by the best French writers.|access-date=14 March 2018}}</ref> (derived from the archaic French word for [[spade]] or [[entrenching tool]]).<ref>{{cite book|last=Brachet|first=Auguste|title=An Etymological Dictionary of the French Language: Crowned by the French Academy|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TvENAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA352|year=1882|publisher=Clarendon Press|page=352|chapter=Sape|quote=Image of [https://archive.org/details/anetymologicald00kitcgoog/page/n494 p.&nbsp;352] at [[Google Books]]|access-date=14 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180726224421/https://books.google.com/books?id=TvENAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA352|archive-date=26 July 2018|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Roman military entrenching tool|url=http://www.museumoflondonprints.com/image/78996/roman-military-entrenching-tool|website=Museum of London Prints|access-date=14 March 2018|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180315070632/http://www.museumoflondonprints.com/image/78996/roman-military-entrenching-tool|archive-date=15 March 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> Using techniques developed and perfected by [[Vauban]], the sappers began the trench at such an angle so as to avoid enemy fire [[Enfilade and defilade|''enfilading'']] the ''sappe'' by firing down its length.  As they pressed forward, a position was prepared from which a cannon could suppress the defenders on the fort's bastions. The sappers would then change the course of their trench, [[Zigzag|zig-zag]]ging toward the fortress wall. Each leg brought the attacker's artillery closer until the besieged cannon would be sufficiently suppressed for the attackers to breach the walls. Broadly speaking, sappers were originally experts at demolishing or otherwise overcoming or bypassing fortification systems.

=== Miner ===
{{See also|Mining (military)}}
[[File:Ghuznee.jpg|thumb|The fort of [[Battle of Ghazni|Ghazni]] which fell as a result of mining by a mixed contingent of the [[Bombay Engineer Group|Bombay]] and [[Bengal Engineer Group|Bengal Sappers]] during the [[First Afghan War]] on 23 July 1839.]]

An additional term applied to sappers of the British Indian Army was "miner." The native engineer corps were called "sappers and miners," for example, the [[Royal Bombay Sappers and Miners]]. The term arose from a task done by sappers to further the battle after saps were dug. The saps permitted cannons to be brought into firing range of the besieged fort and its cannons, but often the cannons themselves were unable to breach the fort walls. The engineers would dig a tunnel from the forward-most sap up to and under the fort wall, then place a charge of gunpowder and ignite it, causing an explosion that would destroy the wall and permit attacking infantry to close with the enemy. This was dangerous work, often lethal to the sappers, and was fiercely resisted by the besieged enemy. Since the two tasks went hand in hand and were done by the same troops, native Indian engineer corps came to be called "sappers and miners".