PROFILE OF A BENGAL SAPPER

     The tradition of enterprise rooted in time immemorial, as found in the people who flourished across the great riverine plains of North, North Central and North Eastern India, was harnessed in the form of The Bengal Sappers in 1803. Although the past two hundred years have seen the weapons and equipment undergo vast changes, the indomitable spirit and courage of The Bengal Sappers have remained steady in its pervasiveness and have thus attained an unique identity of its own. The profile of a Bengal Sapper with its multifarious characteristics and habits is a matter of realisation rather than portrayal in words.

     A prolific depiction of typical ‘Bengal Sapper’ shows him as a most ardent soldiers due to his selflessness, sheer ‘josh’, infectious enthusiasm and utter disregard to privations. Combined with combat engineering skills and combative inclinations, he is a routine performer of military miracles. The instant a task is spelt out to him, he is liable to assume a frantically active disposition and takes off immediately to ‘finish’ the work at the earliest opportunity and in the most expedient manner. Some of the Bengal Sapper units have therefore, very aptly adopted ‘Chak De’, or ‘Just Do It’, as their battle cry. This intrinsic attitude of ‘getting on with it’ has manifested so deep into the character of a Bengal Sapper that sometimes, even without deliberate planning, he jumps into the fray, while mid-course he may well find that the assignment did not deserve such an overwhelming effort or it could well have commenced and progressed in a more steady manner. Shortage of wherewithal or tactical and technical hindrances never seem to impress him, as even against towering odds he displays a nonchalant ability to cope with the job at hand through sheer momentum. Concentration of force at the point of application is his preferred mode of accomplishing his task without much ado or fuss. Naturally, his most preferred tool is always the ‘sledge hammer’, endearingly referred to as the ‘hamber’, which can be wielded with all his might to hammer his way across the despised and doomed points of resistance.

     Instances of these unique attributes of a patent Soldier-Sapper have been displayed frequently wherein he does not have the patience to wait for the Infantry or Armour to provide him with a secured situation which is considered mandatory to execute engineer tasks in the face of the enemy. Instead, he has routinely preferred to assume the additional mantle of tackling the opposition with his own aggression, and having so cleared the way, to deploy in execution of the task actually assigned to him.

     The archetypal Bengal Sapper has the stamina and zeal to continue operating without indicating even an iota of need for the basic human requirements like food, clothing; and rest, over-shadowed as these are by his hype and appetite to get past the job in the earliest possible time. Unstoppable once unleashed, his leaders are hard put to chanalise his single minded thrust towards the goal, lest the end result is something very different from what was actually intended. Many a time the obsessive zeal of ‘Chak De’ with ‘Hamber’ needs to be tampered with a shower of rude expletives. As it happens with most intense peoples, occasionally when he is in the grip of inertia, this crude but effective method comes handy in breaking his obsessive trance. Leadership of such men is like controlling a flood or storm and requires a depth of matching bond between the leader and the led. Once such a bond is in place, instances of physically or intellectually constrained leadership being carried through seemingly impossible situations are common. This is the bond of soldiery which has been conferred with the maximum number of Battle and Theatre Honours through acts of collective gallantry rather than individual acts of isolated valour.

     There are other troops who may look better disposed and who would produce better quality of work, or who would manage the task better. But should you wish to accomplish the ‘impossible’, with none of the resources, against unsurmountable odds and under an un-achievable time frame, you would be wise to call for a Bengal Sapper and give him his ‘Hamber’.

He will deliver !