4th Engineer Battalion
Vanguard
As of December 2004 the 4th Engineer Battalion was inactivated as part of the Army's transition to modular divisions. Elements of the 4th Engineer Battalion were used to constitute the newly established Special Troops Battalions.
The mission of the 4th Engineer Battalion was to deploy to execute combat engineer operations with the 3rd Brigade Combat Team of the 4th Infantry Division (M). The 4th Engineer Battalion was a mechanized, combat engineer unit tasked primarily to provide mobility, countermobility, survivability, and topographic support to the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division.
Mobility support involved breaching, marking, and proofing both natural and man-made obstacles encountered on the battlefield, and was typically associated with offensive operations. Countermobility support required combat engineers to emplace man-made obstacles or augment natural obstacles, and was usually performed during defensive operations.
Combat engineers provided survivability support by constructing fighting positions for dismounted and mechanized forces, and also performed this mission predominately during defensive operations. The engineers were recognized as the topographic experts of the combined arms team, and therefore provided the terrain analysis and topographic products required by the commander during his decision making process. The secondary mission of the combat engineers was to fight as infantry.
The 4th Engineer Battalion was originally organized on 31 December, 1861, in the Regular Army at Washington, DC, from new and existing companies of engineers as a provisional engineer battalion. The 4th Engineer Battalion's parent unit was constituted on 3 August, 1861, in the Regular Army as the Battalion of Engineers. In the War Between the States, it saw action at: The Peninsula, Antietam, Fredricksburg, Chancellorsville, Virginia 1863, The Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, Petersburg and Appomattox. It was constituted 28 July, 1866, as the Battalion of Engineers.
The Battalion of Engineers was reorganized on 26 February, 1901. It was expanded between 14 March-7 June, 1901, to form the 1st and 2d Battalions of Engineers (1st Battalion of Engineers--hereafter separate lineage). The 2nd Battalion fought in the War with Spain and the Philippine Insurrection.
The 2d Battalion of Engineers expanded, reorganized, and was redesignated between 1 July-1 August 1916 as the 2d Regiment of Engineers. The 2d Regiment of Engineers expanded betwwen 21 May-20 June 1917 to form the 2d, 4th, and 5th Regiments of Engineers (2d and 5th Regiments of Engineers--hereafter separate lineages). The 4th Regiment of Engineers was redesignated on 29 August, 1917, as the 4th Engineers, and assigned on 1 January, 1918, to the 4th Division. The 4th Engineer Battalion saw action during WWI in the following battles: Aisne Marne, Champagne 1918, Lorraine 1918, St. Mihiel, and Meuse-Argonne. It inactivated on 21 September, 1921, at Camp Lewis, WA.
Company A activated on 24 July, 1922, at Fort Bragg, NC. The unit was relieved on 15 August, 1927, from its assignment to the 4th Division and assigned to the 6th Division. Company A inactivated on 30 September, 1929.
The unit was relieved on 1 October, 1933, from assignment to the 6th Division and assigned to the 4th Division (later redesignated as the 4th Infantry Division) while Company A concurrently activated at Fort Benning, GA. It was redesignated on 19 October, 1939, as the 4th Engineer Battalion (Combat). It reactivated (less Company A) on 1 June, 1940, at Fort Benning, GA. On 19 September, 1942, the Battalion was reorganized and redesignated as the 4th Engineer Motorized Battalion. On 1 August, 1943, the 4th Engineer Motorized Battalion was reorganized and redesignated as the 4th Engineer Combat Battalion in order to serve in WWII. In WWII, the 4th Engineer saw action at: Normandy (with Arrowhead), Northern France, Rhineland, Ardnnes-Alsace, and Central Europe.
The 4th Engineer Combat Battalion. inactivated 19 February, 1946, at Camp Butner, NC.
Reactivated on 6 July, 1948, at Fort Ord, CA, it was redesignated on 5 June, 1953, as the 4th Engineer Battalion. It was under this organization that the unit fought valiantly in the Republic of Vietnam. In July 1966, elements of the 4th Engineers were the first units of the division to arrive in Pleiku to prepare for the arrival of the division. This earned the 4th Engineers thier nickname, "Vanguard of the Fourth."
During Vietnam, the Battalion participated in the following campaigns: Counteroffensive Phase II, Counteroffensive Phase III, Tet Counteroffensive, Counteroffensive Phase IV, Counteroffensive Phase V, Counteroffensive Phase VI, Tet Counteroffensive 1969, Summer-Fall 1969, Winter Spring 1970, Santuary Counteroffensive, and Counteroffensive Phase VII.
The Battalion Colors moved to Fort Carson, Colorado in December 1970, and were located in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains as part of the 4th Infantry Division (Mechanized).
