Epic Battlefield—Hill 60

The View of Ypres from the Base of Hill 60

Overview

Hill 60 is a former World War I battlefield and now a memorial site  located about three miles southeast from the center of Ypres.  Author Richard Pyves nicely characterized it:

It wasn’t much of a hill. Although located 60 meters above sea level, Hill 60 was just 10 meters high and barely four city blocks in area. It looked more like a knoll than a key observation post that the Germans and Allied forces would contest for four long and gruelling years. It was the graveyard for thousands of soldiers, many just teenagers.

That hill is bisected by the Ypres-Comines railway line to Comines resulting in two distinct areas of raised land separated by the railway line.  The eastern area was known by soldiers as Hill 60 due to its 60 meter ASL elevation, while the western part was called The Caterpillar because of its irregular shape. These heights had been created in the 1850s by dumping the spoils from the rail line construction.  Because of this additional height, the two sections were the only sites on the southern edge of the Ypres Salient not subject to frequent waterlogging.  Fighting here was nearly nonstop from 1914 until the Armistice.

The Rail Cut Looking South

The postwar British Official History described what evolved at the site as: "...a medley of confluent mine and shell craters, strewn with broken timber and wire: and in this rubbish heap it was impossible to dig without disturbing the body of some British or German soldier." The detritus from years of battle lay everywhere. Tunnel and dugout entrances were open, and the stench of death from the many rotting corpses filled the air. Nevertheless—almost immediately—a small café opened up, offering refreshments and guided tours. It also acted as a small museum, displaying objects from the battlefield. Local guides took pilgrims and visitors into the troglodyte world beneath the small hill, enlightening them on the dark landscapes of subterranean warfare. Those early guides and tourists probably never guessed that Hill 60 would be a future battlefield in another war two decades in the future.

Aerial View of the Hill 60 Site Today

Strategic Importance

When the Ypres Salient was formed in late 1914, it was quickly discovered that the heights of Hill 60 gave commanding views of the town of Ypres and the southern half of the full salient. Hill 60 had great strategic importance and was the location of almost non-stop fighting throughout the war. The fact that the German Army held it for the majority of the war probably explains why the town was almost flattened before war's end. Yet, its critical importance is difficult to appreciate today when you stand atop it, not only due to the new growth trees surrounding you, but because receiving four years of concentrated artillery fire and mining has left the crest of Hill 60 13 feet lower than 1914 by one estimate.

German Soldiers at Hill 60, 1916

The Mining

What makes Hill 60 such a fascinating battlefield to study and visit is the relentless struggle that was waged beneath it. From 1915 onward, mining and counter-mining was carried below Hill 60 at a ferocious rate. A secret war raged underneath the hill, during which tunnels collapsed, detonators exploded, and men suffocated. On 17 April 1915, in one of the first tunneling operations by the British Army, six mines were exploded under Hill 60, which was then quickly captured with minimal casualties.

However, a German attack regained the position a month later. Naturally, the Allies simply could not  let this situation prevail. The integrity of the Ypres Salient was at stake. If that ever collapsed the entire British position anchoring the northern leg  of the Western Front was thought untenable. A new solution to the Hill 60 problem—of almost inhuman scale—was started. Not only Hill 60 would be mined, but nearly two dozen mines would be blown simultaneously along the irregular six-mile, north-south ridgeline south of the position. This plan would take a long time and a stupendous effort to bring to fruition.

Trenches, Tunnel Lines, and Detonation Points for 7 June 1917

In August 1915, 175th Tunnelling Company RE began deep-mining beneath Hill 60. The 3rd Canadian Tunnelling Company completed the task, building two deep chambers off of the Berlin Tunnel. One under Hill 60 (Mine 60a) was filled with 53,300 pounds of ammonal explosives; a second branch, under the Caterpillar  (Mine 60b) , was filled with 70,000 pounds of explosives. To try to solve the problems of the wet soil, the mines were dug through blue clay 80 to 120ft below the surface.

In November 1916, the 1st Australian Tunnelling Company commanded by Captain Oliver Woodward took over the tunnels and maintained them through the winter. Eventually there were about 8,000 yards of tunnels in the area. The Germans very nearly discovered the main chambers on more than one occasion.

My 2011 Flanders Tour at the Pillbox Atop Hill 60
Built by Australian engineers on top of a destroyed German bunker after the June 1917 detonation, this pillbox saw later action in WWII. 

At 3:10 a.m. on 7 June 1917, these two mines and 17 others, containing nearly one million pounds of explosives, were detonated as a prelude to the Battle of Messines. The effect was like that of a particularly violent earthquake. There was a mighty roar, and columns of flame shot into the air. Thousands of tons of rubble, debris, and human remains were scattered over a wide area. For almost a year, the biggest threat to the salient would be neutralized. At first, the British effort to break out of the salient in the east would be the local focus of attention. Then, the surprising German Spring offensives in 1918 would lead to the German recapture of Hill 60 and another great threat to the Allied position in Flanders.

Caterpillar Mine (60B) Today

Who Controlled Hill 60: A Chronology

10 December 1914

German troops gain control from French defenders.

17 April 1915

Captured by British 5th Division after the explosion of six mines around the hill

5  May 1915

Recaptured by the German XV Corps with the aid of chlorine gas; underground fight followed for the next two years

7 June 1917

Regained by British forces after the explosion of  two mines under Hill 60 (60A) and the Caterpillar site (60B)

Site of Mine 60A Today
Not as deep as 60B because it blew out the nearby
rail embankment laterally.

April 1918

Retaken by German forces during the Ludendorff Georgette Offensive

28 September 1918 

Final capture by British units fighting under command of  Albert I, King of Belgium

Sources:  Memorial Project–15th Battalion, CEF; Wikipedia Commons; WW1battlefields.UK; Greatwar.co.uk; "Hill 60" Military Times; "World War I: Hill 60", Military History Matters