Hill 60 was a low rise on the southern flank of the Ypres Salient and was named after the 60 meter contour.
Hill 60 was a low rise on the southern flank of the Ypres Salient and was named after the 60 meter 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. The 1st Australian Tunnelling Company took over mining operations in November 1916, led in part by Captain Oliver Woodward CMG MC. 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, demolishing a large part of the hill and killing approximately 10,000 German soldiers. Although only 19 of the 21 mines exploded, it created one of the largest explosions in history, reportedly heard in London and Dublin. 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.
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Keywords: 60, battleground, bunker, centenary, crater, great, hill, poppies, poppy, preserved, remembrance, salient, sixty, war, world, ww1, ypres
