46th Infantry Regiment (United States)
| 46th Infantry Regiment | |
|---|---|
Coat of arms
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| Active | 1917 |
| Country |
 United States
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| Branch |
 United States Army
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| Type | Infantry |
| Nickname(s) | "The Professionals" (special designation) |
| Motto(s) | Lead to Victory |
| Insignia | |
| Distinctive unit insignia |  |
| U.S. Infantry Regiments | |
|---|---|
| Previous | Next |
| 45th Infantry Regiment | 47th Infantry Regiment |
The 46th Infantry Regiment ("The Professionals") is a unit in the United States Army that served in World War II and Vietnam.
During World War II, the 46th Infantry Regiment was assigned to the 5th Armored Division. Landing at Normandy in 1944, the 46th Infantry led the 5th Armored Division in five campaigns earning the nickname "Victory’s Spearpoint".
For their repeated courage under fire, the 2nd Battalion, 46th Infantry, was awarded two Presidential Unit Citations, the French Croix de Guerre, and the Luxembourg Croix de Guerre, those nation’s highest awards for gallantry in action.
During the Vietnam War, the 1st Battalion, 46th Infantry and the 5th Battalion, 46th Infantry were part of the Americal Division. Both initially deployed to Vietnam with the 198th Infantry Brigade from Fort Hood, Texas. But the 1-46th was placed under operational control of the 196th Infantry Brigade (Light) and later became fully a part of the 196th Brigade. Though the 5-46th left Vietnam when the Americal Division cased its colors in the fall of 1971, the 1-46th deployed to Da Nang with the rest of the 196th. The 1-46th left Vietnam in June 1972.
The 1st Battalion, 46th Infantry subsequently was assigned to 2nd Brigade, 1st Armored Division at Ferris Barracks, Erlangen, Germany. It continued in this assignment until late 1984. The battalion was organized as a mechanized infantry battalion. By 1981, as VII Corps flank battalion on the movement to the General Defense Position (GDP), the battalion's initial mission had flanking units of the West German Corps to the southeast. As a result, the battalion maintained an active partnership with a panzer and a panzer grenadier battalion that had the German corps' flank mission, initially Panzerbatallion 104, Pfreimd, and later Panzergrenadierbatallion 122, Oberviechtach. Throughout 1982-4, the battalion was in the process of reorganizing to become a Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle equipped unit. The maintenance sections were consolidated into headquarters company, the infantry company anti-tank sections were consolidated into an anti-tank company, additional 2 1/2 ton trucks were received, a fourth infantry company was formed and the M578 Light Recovery Vehicles were replaced by the heavier M88 Armored Recovery Vehicles among other changes in preparation. LTC Werner Banisch commanded for much of this period of reorganization preparation with Major Thomas Rozman commanding as acting commander for several months.
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