Battle of Hill 60 (Western Front)
 |
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2010) |
Coordinates: 50°49′17″N 2°55′54″E / 50.82139°N 2.93167°E
The Battle of Hill 60 was an Australian assault that was subsidiary to the Battle of Neuve Chapelle.
Contents |
[edit] World War I
[edit] 1914-15
Hill 60 was a low rise on the southern flank of the Ypres Salient and was named after the 60 metre contour which marked its bounds. Hill 60 was not a natural highpoint; it was created as a result of the digging of the nearby railway cutting. As such it was a strategically significant area of high ground. The hill had been captured by the Germans on 10 December 1914, from the French army. After the Race to the Sea, it became a significant strategic point coveted by both sides for the duration of the war.
One of the unique elements of the fighting at Hill 60 was an intense level of combat underground staged by the engineers and tunnelers on both sides. In the first operation of its kind by the British, the Corps of Royal Engineers specialist tunnelling companies laid six mines by 10 April 1915, which were planned by Major-General Edward Bulfin.[1]. These mines, (together with others which were unfinished), were filled with around 10,000 pounds (4,500 kg) of explosives, the resulting explosions ripped the heart out of the hill over a period of some 10 seconds. It flung debris almost 300 feet (91 m) into the air and scattered it for a further 300 yards (270 m) in all directions.[2]
[edit] Subsequent attacks
A German counter-attack re-captured the hill but the British regained possession on 18 April. Fighting continued until 22 April. During a German attempt to recapture the hill on the night of 20–21 April, four Victoria Crosses were won by Edward Dwyer, B. Handley Geary, George Roupell and Geoffrey Woolley.
Hill 60 was eventually taken by the Germans following a gas attack on 5 May 1915. The result was devastating. The front-line trenches were overrun when the forward companies were almost wiped out. In one battalion, only two officers and 70 men survived.
It was only due to a stout defence by a platoon of the Devonshire and Dorset Regiment and the Battalion Headquarters staff of the Duke of Wellington's Regiment that a breakthrough was prevented.
[edit] 1st Australian Tunnelling Company
The 1st Australian Tunnelling Company took over mining operations in November 1916,[3] led in part by Captain Oliver Woodward CMG MC.[4]
At 03:10 on 7 June 1917, at the start of the Battle of Messines, 19 mines filled with 450,000 kg of explosives, were detonated under the German lines,[5] demolishing a large part of the hill and killing approximately 10,000 German soldiers.[2] Although only 19 of the 21 mines exploded, it created one of the largest explosions in history, reportedly heard in London and Dublin.
A memorial to the Australian troops killed here during the course of the war was later placed at the site.
[edit] World War II
[edit] 1940
Hill 60 was also the site of a desperate battle between the Germans and part of "A" company of the 2nd Battalion Royal Scots Fusiliers (2 RSF) on 27 May 1940, during the Second World War. Although the hill was the scene of a tremendous mortar and artillery barrage (Coy HQ being set up in and around the famous Anglo/German/Belgian pill-box), there was hand-to-hand fighting on the nearby Zwarteleen crossroads when a fighting patrol from 2 RSF set-off to destroy German machine gun and mortar positions that had been established there. The actions of this patrol enabled the evacuation of the defences on the railway and allowed for a successful withdrawal to the canal line and a general withdrawal towards St.Eloi, Kemmel and Dikkebus.
Other companies of 2 RSF held the railway line between hill 60 and the "Entrepot" at the canal bridge. The Inniskillings were to their right and rear, on the main road 2 DSF's D company was in reserve. The 6th Seaforths held "the Dump", where Sergeant Stewart was to win the DCM (Distinguished Conduct Medal) for his actions after taking over command when all the officers had become casualties.
Although a defeat for the BEF (British Expeditionary Force), this and associated actions (including those to the west), kept the "Dunkirk corridor" open for about 24 hours longer, enabling the escape to the coast of thousands of retreating troops who would otherwise have "gone into the bag" (been taken prisoner).
The memorial plate to the Australian miners involved in the First World War possibly bears the scars of this battle.[6]
[edit] See also
- Sanctuary Wood Museum Hill 62
- Beneath Hill 60, an Australian film based on the mining operations of this battle
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.heritage-history.com/www/heritage-books.php?Dir=books&MenuItem=display&author=leask&book=heroes&story=hill60
- ^ a b "First World War.com - Feature Articles - The Capture of Hill 60 in 1915". http://www.firstworldwar.com/features/hill60_1915.htm. Retrieved 2010-03-04.
- ^ "Zwarte-Leen, Hill 60 - 'Digger' miners". http://www.ww1westernfront.gov.au/zwarte-leen/hill-60.html. Retrieved 2010-03-04.
- ^ "Upclose the man that went beneath hill 60". http://www.tenterfieldstar.com.au/news/local/news/general/upclose-the-man-that-went-beneath-hill-60/1808944.aspx. Retrieved 2010-04-27.
- ^ "Beneath Hill 60 Background". http://www.beneathhill60.com.au/background.htm. Retrieved 2010-03-04.
- ^ "World War One Battlefields : Flanders: Hill 60". http://www.ww1battlefields.co.uk/flanders/hill60.html. Retrieved 2010-03-04.
