Description

2nd Division Report — AP Dispatch by William Boni

Headquarters U.S. 1st Army — January 3, 1945 (delayed) — Associated Press

2 pages scanned

This is a different type of document — a single-page AP dispatch rather than a multi-page unit newspaper.

Names

• Boni, William (journalist — AP correspondent; author of dispatch; dateline Headquarters U.S. 1st Army, January 3, delayed)
• Hodges, Courtney H. (Lt General — 1st Army Commander; likely sender of telegram to Robertson per dispatch’s own parenthetical note)
• Robertson, Walter (Maj General — Division Commander, 2nd Infantry Division; recipient of telegram praising division’s four-day stand)
• Thomas, Lowell (famous news commentator — described 2nd Infantry Division’s stand in nationwide radio broadcast at 6:45 PM on the evening of January 3; mentioned the Second Signal Company’s men trapped in Bullingen)
• Von Rundstedt (Field Marshal — sent his armor and infantry on westward thrust intended to reach the Meuse and Liege; ordered 2nd Division’s regiment recalled from its offensive in the Lонschau forest)

Locations

• Bullingen, Belgium — vicinity from which one main route for Von Rundstedt’s thrust ran northwest through Eupen; also location where Second Signal Company had eight men trapped in a house with SS men; men escaped at dark across country
• Eupen, Belgium — route of Von Rundstedt’s thrust ran from Bullingen northwest through Eupen toward the Meuse and Liege
• France — 2nd Division trained at Camp McCoy, Wis. and landed in France two days after D-Day
• Liege, Belgium — intended destination of Von Rundstedt’s westward thrust along with the Meuse
• Lonschau Forest, Belgium/Germany — where 2nd Division already had one regiment driving well in and had captured 24 enemy pillboxes in its own offensive when recalled
• Malmedy, Belgium — east of Malmedy was the ‘hot corner’ of the Germans’ Ardennes counteroffensive where the 2nd Infantry Division made its stand
• Meuse River, Belgium — intended destination of Von Rundstedt’s westward thrust along with Liege

Units

• 1st Army (U.S.) — headquarters dateline of dispatch; Lt General Hodges commanding; likely source of Robertson telegram
• 1st Division (U.S.) — on the right of the 2nd Division during the Bullingen-Eupen road defense
• 2nd Infantry Division (U.S.) — subject of dispatch; made its stand east of Malmedy; recalled regiment from Lonschau Forest; stemmed surge of SS armored division plus two other SS armored divisions; knocked out 50 tanks, killed 700 Germans, wounded 1,080; trained at Camp McCoy, Wis.; landed in France two days after D-Day
• 99th Division (U.S.) — on the left of the 2nd Division during the Bullingen-Eupen road defense
• 9th Infantry Regiment (U.S.) — 1st Battalion stood alone for 18 hours until the regiment could be reorganized; part of 2nd Infantry Division
• Second Signal Company (U.S.) — eight men trapped in a house in Bullingen; compelled to strangle a pet dog which started barking with SS men in the house; escaped at dark across country using buzz-bombs for direction
• SS Armored Division (German) — one division whose surge was stemmed by Robertson’s troops; part of force including two other SS armored divisions