The word sapper in Khe Sanh means this.
Mean R34: your also right, but there was no british in Veitnam.
In Veitnam the Australian and US forces called the NVA troops sappers (assault engineer). Because the they would sneek up on allied bases undetected, through mine, wire fields any obstacle. They would blow up command posts anything that was a target, these were really suicide missions.
Pretty pointless post but hey ill spread some of my knowledge.