AGF, File 320.2/32 (Armd Div)(c) "Reorganization of Armored Divisions", dated 15 Sept 1943. The 56th Armored Infantry Regiment was disbanded to form the 17th, 56th and 66th Armored Infantry Battalions of the 12th Armored Division: 1st Battalion of the 56th Armored Infantry Regiment became the 66th Armored Infantry Battalion 2nd Battalion of the 56th Armored Infantry Regiment became the 17th Armored Infantry Battalion 3rd Battalion of the 56th Armored Infantry Regiment became the 56th Armored Infantry Battalion Companies G, H and I of the 3rd Bn, 56th Armored Infantry Regiment became Companies A, B and C of the 56th Armored Infantry Battalion Coat of Arms of the 56th Infantry Regiment and derivative Armored Infantry Battalions Shield: Per pale argent and sable. On a canton embattled azure, a cross pate (sic) of the first (the 17th Infantry Regiment). Description: The shield is silver and black, the same as the arms of the City of Metz, where the 56th Infantry Regiment was engaged in World War I as an element of the 7th Infantry Division. The 56th Infantry Regiment was formed from personnel of the 17th Infantry Regiment, which is indicated in the canton (upper left corner of the shield). During the American Civil War the 17th Infantry was in the 2nd Division, V Corps, Army of the Potomac under Gen. George Sykes, whose badge was a white cross pattée on a blue (azure) background. Its first engagement was the siege of Yorktown during the Peninsula Campaign of 1862, and it suffered heavy losses during the Battle of Fredericksburg where it was pinned down on Dec. 14, 1862 behind a stone fence, represented by the embattled border (representing the top of a wall) around the cross. At Fredericksburg the 17th suffered heavy losses in the assault on the famous stone wall at the base of Marye’s Height, "For one entire day, (December 14, 1862) the men of the 17th lay flat on their faces eighty yards in front of the famous stone wall, behind which the enemy was posted in large numbers and any movement on their part was sure to draw the fire of rebel sharpshooters." The 56th Armored Infantry Battalion was entitled to bear the coat of arms of its predecessor namesake organization, the 56th Armored Infantry Regiment, which was reconstituted from the deactivated 56th Infantry Regiment. Therefore, the shield of the 56th Armored Infantry Battalion is the same as