Enabling Law ( March 23, 1933) throughout the night, TF39 sank a Japanese cruiser and destroyer and damaged two more enemy warships The Japanese commander mistakenly thought he had severely damaged the Americans in turn, and retreated to Rabaul In fact, only one U.S ship was damaged by a torpedo hit The battle was a rare night victory for the USN, which for the first time showed a marked improvement in night-fighting skill It was also the last significant surface fight of the Solomons campaign ENABLING LAW ( MARCH 23, 1933) “Ermächtigunngsgestz.” See Germany; Hitler, Adolf; Nazi Party; Reichstag ENDLÖSUNG “final solution.” See Holocaust ENGINEERS Military engineers in all armed forces were primarily engaged in building transport and other facilities to improve movement and combat power of friendly forces, or destroying the same facilities to impede enemy movement That meant building or repairing roads, railways, bridges, ferries, airfields, ports, and pipelines for water and fuel; or blowing up the same “Pionier” was the equivalent Wehrmacht term for specialists that Western Allied armies called “combat engineers.” Combat engineers by whatever name swarmed over all battlefields of the war, laying or clearing minefields, building or removing beach or anti-tank obstacles, converting villages and towns into strongpoints, or blowing a path through enemy fortifications All frontline or combat engineers were capable of fighting when necessary, but sought to avoid it in preference for carrying out their assigned mission Such missions might include: support for amphibious operations such as clearing beach obstacles, wire, minefields, and pillboxes or other strongpoints; laying mines; building HQs, base camps, and depots; and camouflage Bridge and road building became a key job of combat engineers as mobility was more crucial in World War II than in the more static conditions of World War I This was especially true for Anglo-American armies for which roads and river crossing had to accommodate numerous heavy vehicles in areas where the retreating enemy’s engineers nearly always destroyed both All major armies and air forces needed advanced airfields built and others repaired, with sturdier runways needed to accommodate heavy bombers In many parts of Europe, military roads and bridges were wider and better than civilian facilities that existed before an army passed through the area, while pipelines for fuel added unprecedented capacity The Western Allies also maintained and repaired numerous ports and harbors that German engineers blew apart or blocked as the Wehrmacht withdrew By 1945 the U.S Army Corps of Engineers numbered nearly 690,000 men It was by far the largest of any engineering corps, but all major armies experienced a comparable expansion of engineer troops in varying degree German engineers built hundreds of forward airfields prior to BARBAROSSA in the spring of 1941, 348