What are sappers

What are Sappers?


Sappers of the Dark Ages were often men or teams of men who worked to tunnel into keeps during seiges. They employed a number of tactics, from attempting to enter into the keep's courtyard, to simply collapsing keep walls. Often, they would tunnel under sections of keep walls and start fires there, in hopes to collapse a section of the wall above it, so that major offensive groups, such as light infantry or bucklers could enter into the keep and battle to take it. Modern sappers employ similar ideals to breach perimeters of bases, or forward posts, for purposes of military advancement. Modern sappers may also be known as perimeter infiltrators, or advanced party defense probes, though in full battle, their intent remains the same as in ancient times - that being, to open a breach in a wall or fort, so that main-body-troops can enter to overtake tactical targets.