Soldiers with rope and log (6)
I believe the answer is:
record
'log' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'soldiers with rope' is the wordplay.
'soldiers' becomes 're' (Royal Engineers).
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'rope' becomes 'cord' (I've seen this before**).
're'+'cord'='RECORD'
'and' is the link.
(Other definitions for record that I've seen before include "Register - best listed achievement" , "history" , "a hole in one?" , "List" , "Note, register" .)