Editing Sapper (section)

=== France ===
[[File:Génie-béret.jpg|thumb|right|100 px|Insignia of French military sappers]]
In France, sapper (''sapeur'') is the title of military [[combat engineer]]s and [[firefighters]], both civil and military, (sapper-fireman or ''sapeur-pompier''). Military sappers fall under the umbrella of the [[Engineering Arm]] or ''Arme du Génie''. A related title is [[pioneer (military)|pioneer]] (''pionnier''), used only in the [[French Foreign Legion|Foreign Legion]].

* Sapper : title of combat engineers in most Engineer Regiments (3rd, 13th, 19th and 31st), except in the Foreign Legion ([[1st Foreign Engineer Regiment]] and [[2nd Foreign Engineer Regiment]])
* Air Sapper (''sapeur de l'air'') : title of the privates of the 25th Air Engineering Regiment, an Army regiment seconded to the Air Force.
* Parachute Sapper (''sapeur parachutiste'') : title of the privates of the [[17th Parachute Engineer Regiment]], the combat engineering unit of the [[11th Parachute Brigade (France)|11th Parachute Brigade]]
* Marine Sapper (''sapeur de marine'') : since 2006, title of the privates of the [[6th Engineer Regiment (France)|6th Engineer Regiment]], the combat engineering unit of the [[9th Light Armoured Marine Brigade (France)|9th Light Armoured Marine Brigade]].
* Sapper firefighter (''sapeur-pompier'') : title of the firefighters in the civilian fire services and the Paris Fire Brigade. 
* Sapper-miner (''sapeur-mineur'') : since the Napoleonic Wars, combat engineers specialized in [[demining]].

====History====
[[File:Sapeurs du génie de la Garde impériale, 1810_crop.jpg|thumb|right|French Imperial Guard sappers, 1810]]
The French Corps of Engineers was created under the command of [[Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban|Marshal Vauban]] during the late 17th century. Its members were called sappers if their function was to destroy enemy fortifications by using [[trench]]es or ''sape'' and miners if they engaged in [[tunnel warfare]] or ''mine''. The Corps of the Engineers was suppressed during two short periods (1720-1729 and 1769–1793) and sappers and miners were part of the Artillery regiments. In 1793, the Corps was reorganized into companies of miners and battalions of sappers, each assigned to a particular division.

Eventually, as the missions of the Corps grew more diversified, additional titles were used by combat engineers, such as [[Conductor (military appointment)|Conductor]] (''sapeur-conducteur'') in 1810, entrusted with the logistics of the Corps, Firefighter (''sapeur-pompier'') in 1810 or [[telegraph]] sapper (''sapeur-télégraphiste''). In 1814, the companies of miners were integrated into the sapper battalions, themselves organized in Engineers Regiments (''régiments du génie''). In 1875, the distinction between miners and sappers was abolished and all members of the Corps of Engineers were titled sappers-miners, though only sapper was used in common usage. In 1894, the ''pontonniers'' or bridgemakers were transferred from the Artillery Corps to the Engineers, thus creating the title ''sapeurs-pontonniers''. In 1909, the Engineering Arm of the Army Staff was entrusted the burgeoning Air Service (''Aérostation militaire''), its personal was titled sapper-airman (''sapeur-aérostier''). The titled was disused in 1914 when the Air Service took its independence from the Engineering Arm.

====Firefighters====
[[File:BSPP section Bastille Day 2008.jpg|thumb|right|''Sapeurs-pompiers de Paris'' ([[Paris Fire Brigade]]) on parade]]
{{See also|Fire services in France}}
The first fire company created by [[Napoleon|Napoléon I]] was a military sapper company of the [[French Imperial Guard]], created in 1810. This company was tasked with the protection of the Imperial palaces after the tragic fire of the Austrian embassy in Paris on 1 July 1810. The Paris Fire Service (''gardes-pompes''), a civilian institution, was re-organized as a military unit in September 1811, becoming the Paris Sappers-Firefighters Battalion. Other cities kept or created civilian firefighters services but used the military ranks and organization of the Paris Battalion. In 1831, [[National Guard (France)|National Guard]] engineers companies became the reserve components of the Fire Services and kept their military organization even after the disappearance of the National Guard in 1852. Sapper-firefighter is the common title of the civilian and Paris firefighters in France, but the other military firefighters units, such as the [[Marseille Naval Fire Battalion]], do not use the sapper title, as they had no military engineers lineage.

====Pioneers====
{{main|Foreign Legion Pioneers (Pionniers)}}
Since the 18th century, every [[grenadier]] battalion in the [[French Army]] had a small unit of [[Pioneer (military)|pioneers]], sometimes called sappers-pioneers (''sapeurs-pionniers''). They had the mission to advance under enemy fire in order to destroy the obstacles drawn by the enemy and to clear the way for the rest of the [[infantry]]. The danger of such missions resulted in pioneers having short life expectancies. Because of this, the army allowed them certain privileges such as the authorization to wear [[beards]]. In addition to their beards and axes, they traditionally wear leather aprons and gloves.

The pioneers units disappeared during the mid-20th c. century, their last appearance being the short-lived Pioneers Regiments of 1939–1944, a military public works service using the older draftees in the army. Only the Foreign Legion kept using a pioneer unit, mainly for representation duty. The [[Foreign Legion Pioneers (Pionniers)|current pioneer unit]] of the Legion reintroduced the symbols of the [[Napoleonic era|Napoleonic]] pioneers: the beard, the axe, the leather apron, the crossed-axes insignia, and the leather gloves. If the parades of the Legion are opened by this unit, it is to commemorate the traditional role of the pioneers "opening the way" for the troops. The pioneer unit is made up for parades of selected men taken in both the Infantry and the Engineers regiments of the Legion.