What is Hill 60?
Q: What is Hill 60?
A: Hill 60 was a man-made hill created in the 1860s from what was dug out from a nearby railway line.
Q: Who captured Hill 60 in December 1914?
A: The Germans captured Hill 60 in December 1914, giving them a strategic advantage due to its height.
Q: What did the British do to retake Hill 60?
A: In April 1915, the British began tunnelling into and under Hill 60 in order to place 5 mines beneath the hill, which were detonated to blow the top off Hill 60.
Q: Who were the men that joined the Tunnelling Companies?
A: All the men who joined the Tunnelling Companies were experienced miners with generations of mining history. Most of them had been digging since they were 10 years old and came from the coal mines in Northumberland, the sewers in Manchester, and the tubes in London.
Q: What was the death rate among the men in the Tunnelling Companies?
A: In the barbaric, secret wars below ground, the men of the Tunnelling Companies experienced one of the highest death rates.
Q: What significant battle began almost as soon as the battle for Hill 60 was finished?
A: Almost as soon as the battle for Hill 60 was finished, the Second Battle of Ypres began.
Q: What did the Germans use for the first time in the Second Battle of Ypres?
A: In the Second Battle of Ypres, the Germans used chlorine gas for the first time, which contributed to their two-mile advance on the eastern side of the salient by the end of the battle.
