The original thinking was that Engineers would be less required in the jungle than in the desert, but early experience proved the opposite and each jungle division had a field park company, 3 field companies and a camouflage training unit.

The engineers were the only Australian unit regularly equipped with anti-tank grenades with the exception of the Commando units which carried them if the mission required.

They were equipped slightly different than the standard jungle section having only three SMG’s and a Bren Gun which was one less SMG than the standard jungle section.

The Engineers were also equipped with flame throwers and regularly used these to assist with clearing bunker nests.

The unit can also be equipped with anti-tank grenades. I use this figure to designate when the are equipped with them. The flame thrower and anti-tank grenades make it a useful close-combat assault unit that can cause problems to enemy armour.

Six riflemen.

The Bren Gun is a luxury I personally would do without for its 20pts cost.

An Engineer section has two OR’s with Owen sub machine gun. You can see the only problem I have with these Eureka miniatures. As the SMG’s are accurately scaled the barrels tend to break off too easily. Oh well – they have cut it down to fit in their violin cases!

NCO also equipped with Owen gun.

A sapper recalls is a useful read to give you an idea of the day to day life of a sapper in New Guinea and what they were going through.

I have painted 12 figures to be able to cater with the various options that are available. The standard section size is only ten.

Next Waltzing with Matilda once more.