Operation Clipper, Geilenkirchen Salient, Germany
November 18, 1944
The town of Geilenkirchen was a thorn in the left flank of the U.S. Ninth Army that had to be dealt with in order to continue operations in the Roer and Hurtgen Forest regions. This salient - generally following the course of the Wurm River - formed a wedge between the British 2nd Army's XXX Corp and the U.S. XIX Corp, and would hinder further progress by either. Therefore, a plan was devised by General Simpson, commander of the U.S. Ninth Army, to remove this salient. It would require close cooperation by both U.S. and British forces, which was alleviated by temporarily assigning the U.S. 84th Infantry Division to British XXX Corp. This had the added benefit of utilizing uncommitted British armor and greater artillery ammunition stocks.
The plan was to create a two-pronged thrust against the surrounding area, isolate Geilenkirchen, and then take the town, thereby eliminating the salient. This would also have the added benefit of removing another region of the Westwall, drawing German reserves away from other regions, and create maneuvering room for the army's mobile units once the weather cleared.
On the cold, wet morning of November 18th, a sharp 15-minute barrage signaled the beginning of the Allied attack and Operation Clipper.
Although designed for our divisional WWII system Panzer Korps, this scenario can be adapted to other systems. The complete scenario is available for free in our free scenarios folder on our PANZERKORPHQ Yahoo! Group, or visit our site at panzerkorps.com.