A Sturmpionierbataillon was a unit that worked with the infantry to provide the usual engineering services, including the clearing of mines and enemy barbed wire. Basically they cleared the way to allow the infantry to advance, and so were a vital if unglamorous element of many assaults.

This is a set of game pieces for the Zvezda 'Art of Tactic' game system. It consists of three poses of German pioneers as shown. Each figure can either be attached to a separate base, or grouped together on one large and uncontoured base with a large flag/marker. The first figure is holding a mine-detector (a Wien 41), the second has a flamethrower (Flammenwerfer 41) and the third is kneeling, using wire cutters. All wear basic German uniform including jack boots, so work better for the earlier part of the war, although such boots never entirely disappeared. A second sprue holds some short lengths of barbed wire fence, a very short sectional bridge (total length 39mm), some very small anti-tank traps and a bunker-like thing with a flag on top. All these accessories are out of scale with the figures - the bunker is wildly so as it is only 11mm tall. Of course as game pieces this does not matter, but they are of virtually no use to more general military modellers. See the sprue image for full details of the parts that go to make up these figures, and note that the box also contains game cards for the unit. Not a figure set in the traditional sense, but the figures are accurate and nicely done, although the accessories are not much use as anything other than game pieces.