46th Infantry Regiment (United States) - History

History

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 2nd Battalion, 46th Infantry, was a garrison unit in Europe until September 1972, when it was deactivated.

In October 1987, the 2nd Battalion, 46th Infantry, was reactivated at Fort Knox, Kentucky as a Basic Training battalion, (assets derived from the 13th training battalion), charged with providing the force with disciplined, highly motivated and physically conditioned soldiers. Note: the entire 4th Training brigade during this time consisted of the 1st,2nd,3rd,and 4th battalions of the 46th Infantry. Later the 3rd and 4th deactivated leaving only the 1st Battalion ("Lead to Victory") and the 2nd Battalion ("The Professionals") as the last two basic training battalions on Ft. Knox. In 2011, 1st Battalion became part of the 192d Infantry Brigade at Fort Benning, Georgia, where it continued to service as a basic training battalion.