The 5^th Field Engineer Company was raised as 3^rd Schoolcompagny on 21^st October 1946 in Bergen op Zoom. After their basic training they left for Aldershot in England on 1^st November 1946. After further training they left for Dutch East India onboard the “Kota Intern” on 22^nd November 1946. Here they arrived in Batavia on 20^th December 1946.
After their arrival they were first placed as part of the Army Engineer Park. Although their first main task was to guard Japanese prisoners of wars. Until it was decided to transfer the unit to Semarang on 27^th January 1947 arriving the day after. Here they found plenty of work since they were the first Engineer Unit to arrive in Semarang. With the only other engineers making part of the infantry battalions.
When the 1^st Police Action started on 21^st July 1947 3^rd Platoon was put to work on repairing the roads along the line of advance while 1^st Platoon was receiving equipment in the harbour and 2^nd Platoon was left in the camp as reserve. During the rest of the operation they were kept busy in all areas of the Brigade. After the 1^st Police Action they were stationed in Salatiga with detachments in Moga, Pekalongan and Weleri were they participated in minor actions.
The start of the 2^nd Police Action did not bring much work to the company. Since there where only placed few roadblocks on the line of advance. And therefore Jogja could be reached on 21^st December 1948.
After the end of the 2^nd Police Action the company’s main task was to repair bridges and roads after sabotage. This they continued to do until they returned to Semarang on 29^th June 1949 in connexion with the turning over of Jogja to the Indonesians. From Semarang they were transferred back to Batavia onboard “M.S. Tjitjelenka”. Here they embarked on “Kota Intern” for the Netherlands on 3^rd September 1949 and arriving in the Netherlands on 1^st November 1949.