Current Information:

Age-23

6, Daleview Road, Stamford Hill

The Battle of Hill 60 (17th April – 7th May 1915)

Hill 60 was at the southern end of the Ypres Salient and was a man made mound from earth excavated from the nearby railway. It was an important vantage point for whoever controlled it which, at the beginning of 1915, was the Germans. In April 1915, 5th Division moved into the line there and prepared to capture it. On 17th April six mines were blown beneath it which so shocked and dazed the defending Germans that 13 Brigade was able to capture it, sustaining only seven casualties. However, holding it was a much more difficult task. German artillery began to pound the position and that night they launched three counter attacks which were only repelled after heavy losses and only after the British had been forced back to the crest of the hill. Later that evening British counter attacks retook all of the hill The next three days saw intense German shelling of the position and numerous counter attacks until it was a mass of shell holes and mine craters. Between 1st and 5th May the Germans launched a series of attacks preceded by gas and eventually after desperate fighting, took back the hill.

When the attack went in on 17th April it was undertaken by 13 Brigade. 14 Brigade were holding the right sector of the Divisional front and 1st Cornwall Light Infantry supported the attack with machine gun fire. They remained in this position until 22nd April and for these five days they were targets for the German artillery. Charles Holloway was killed here on 20th April.