The 2010 film 'Beneath Hill 60 ' tells the true tale about a group of squaddies from the 1st Australian Tunnellers controlled by Captain Oliver Woodward CMG MC and 2 bars. In the film, Woodward is portrayed by Brendan Cowell. He was a miner and metallurgist from New South Wales and hadn't joined up as many other men from the area had done. He was seen to be wanted to stay home to help the war effort and as a consequence, he'd been sent numerous white feathers. It was typical at the time for folks to give white feathers to those who they said to be cowards.
Hill 60 can be discovered in the southern section of the Ypres Salient and it was not a natural feature. The hill is made with soil dug away to produce a local railway cutting. A handful of major battles happened at Hill 60 during both World War I and World War Two. During one evening in 1915, four Victoria Crosses were granted as a German offensive was effectively fought off.
The film concerns the action at the beginning of the Battle of Messines in 1917. 19 mines with close to 500k kilograms of explosives were fired prior to the start of the attack. The tale revolves round the exploits of Woodward and his men highlighting exactly what the tunneller corporations wanted to resist, part of war that gets little coverage.
Woodward is placed in charge of a company and leads by example during the process of the build up for the attack close to Ypres. The fighting starts in the little hours of the morning as Woodward fires the mine his men have spent the prior weeks establishing and protecting.
Right after the war, Woodward goes back to Australia to get married to his young fiance who had beseeched him never to join the army.
'Beneath Hill 60 ' is a great film which tells the tale of among the most frightful facets of the Western Front. The tunnellers on both sides had to work in awful conditions knowing the enemy could be just feet away prepared to either blow up their tunnel or break in and start firing.
Hill 60 can be discovered in the southern section of the Ypres Salient and it was not a natural feature. The hill is made with soil dug away to produce a local railway cutting. A handful of major battles happened at Hill 60 during both World War I and World War Two. During one evening in 1915, four Victoria Crosses were granted as a German offensive was effectively fought off.
The film concerns the action at the beginning of the Battle of Messines in 1917. 19 mines with close to 500k kilograms of explosives were fired prior to the start of the attack. The tale revolves round the exploits of Woodward and his men highlighting exactly what the tunneller corporations wanted to resist, part of war that gets little coverage.
Woodward is placed in charge of a company and leads by example during the process of the build up for the attack close to Ypres. The fighting starts in the little hours of the morning as Woodward fires the mine his men have spent the prior weeks establishing and protecting.
Right after the war, Woodward goes back to Australia to get married to his young fiance who had beseeched him never to join the army.
'Beneath Hill 60 ' is a great film which tells the tale of among the most frightful facets of the Western Front. The tunnellers on both sides had to work in awful conditions knowing the enemy could be just feet away prepared to either blow up their tunnel or break in and start firing.
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The battles on the Western Front during World War One were awful and the area around Ypres saw some of the worst fighting
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