Hosingen
On December 16, 1944, Hosingen was attacked but US control of this village was impeding the German march westward. In fact, the Americans entrenched in Hosingen were in a position to block all approaches to the locality from the east, north and south through well-directed antitank gun and mortar fire. As early as noon on December 16, US resistance by the 10.5 cm howitzers of Battery C, 109th Field Artillery and the tank platoon in the area between Hosingen and Bockholz had temporarily thwarted Grenadier Rgt. 77 drive to the Clerf River. And now the US attacks from the front, right flank and the rear were all taking their toll on the Germans.
Grenadier Rgt. 77 decided it needed Hosingen badly. Earlier German attempts to break US resistance at Hosingen had managed to get a toehold in the southern edge of the village, but so far had made no further progress. But that was not enough. Hosingen must be taken and taken quickly. The German command realized that the western exit road from the Gmünd bridgehead was the main divisional supply route to the Clerf River, and it was hopelessly blocked unless the Americans could be driven from Hosingen.
The hope of a quick breakthrough of the 26th VGD or the 5th FJD in the 110th Infantry Rgt. Sector had proven illusory. The German Infantry would have to fight for every yard they gained and pay a high price in casualties for each and every one of those yards. Hosingen only fell on December 18, 1944 after bitter fighting.
