Operation: Shear

Operation Shear was an offensive operation mounted in Nottingham, England by the British Army on July 12th 1951. The objective of this operation was to seal off the Chimeran tunnel nexus that formed under the city. In the weeks prior to Shear the Chimera had used these same tunnels to attack British Forces undetected and Captain Rachel Parker assumed that if they could be sealed off "We would at least briefly have the upper hand".

Stage One: The Fight for the Mortar Positions
Once inside Nottingham British forces moved in on the tunnel nexus from the South-West in order to neutralise the Chimeran mortars which posed a large threat to the operation if left unchecked. The Britsh forces pushed uphill through a maze of Chimeran machine gun nests and pre-invasion positions. Once at the top of the hill, the mortar positions were subdued and the operation was clear to proceed. Nathan Hale participated in the taking of the mortars and was the only soldier to come out of the building alive, showing clearly the tenacity of the Chimera and their desperation to hold on to their position in Nottingham. Once Hale had accomplished this objective Captain Parker directed him to take a shortcut through a partially blocked train tunnel which would lead him towards Lieutenant Steven Cartwright's squad, which had run into a particularly stubborn area of Chimeran resistance.

Stage Two: The Fight for the Bridges
The Chimera, desperate to protect the excavation of the Nottingham tower, counter-attacked across a pair of bridges which spanned a deep ravine created by their excavations. These forces fought to establish a foothold on the southern side whilst the bridges were destroyed. Hale arrived on the scene in the nick of time and assisted Royal Marine Commandos in holding the line. Although the Chimera managed to destroy one of the bridges, Hale and the Marines managed to fight their way across another bridge and overwhelm the Chimera on the other side. This action cost many lives but allowed for the continuation of the operation and saved Lieutenant Cartwright's unit from being overrun before even reaching the tunnel nexus. It was at this point that Cartwright realised that something was afoot in the Chimeran activity in the area. Realising the Chimera were "up to more than just digging tunnels" he immediately pushed into the excavation area, not waiting for the rest of the British Forces, which had tied up the Chimeran defence away from the area.

Stage Three: The Tunnel Nexus
The Crater in which the entrance to the tunnels was located was filled with what Cartwright termed "Pylons". These structures served as a vantage point for Chimeran defenders and as a quick means of crossing the crater but it is unlcear if these structures served any other purpose or if they were actually part of the partially excavated tower. Each pylon was linked to the others by a mass of wires and cables and each one had sentry guns mounted on the platforms for defensive purposes.

Once on the ground Cartwright and his men, along with Hale secured a foothold in the crater, bringing down a Titan and many Hybrids in doing so. Chimera continued to reinforce their positions in Nottingham through the tunnels and were holding up the rest of the force. One of Cartwright's units, H-Squad under a Seargant Saunders, was repsonsible for sealing off the tunnels one by one whilst Cartwright and the others bought them time to do so. Meanwhile Hale used the pylons to cross the Crater and secure the entrance to the tunnels single-handedly, taking down a Titan on his own and securing the site. Cartwright mentions "Getting the Northern Command lads in her to find out what the hell they were digging for" but it is not revealed if they find anything of consequence (although it is discovered later that the excavation crater was the beginnings of a Chimeran Tower).

Aftermath
With this final action, H-Squad was able to seal off the tunnel nexus and the operation was concluded. The "risky offensive operation" that Parker had masterminded had been an important victory, in more ways than were at first recognised. After Operation Shear, British troops were airlifted back to Southern Command and Parker took Hale to Northern Command in Cheshire for debriefing and analysis, given his infected condition. The victory in Nottingham was a morale boosting victory for British forces; but, as Parker had predicted, their upper hand was maintained for very little time as the destruction of first Northern, and then Southern Command would greatly damage the British resistance.