Current Information:

Born-Clerkenwell

First DCLI Cemetery, The Bluff, Belgium

The Battle of Hill 60 (17 April – 7 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, were the Germans. In April  1915, 5th Division took over the line in front of it 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 7 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.

On 5th May, 1915, 2nd West Riding, 13 Brigade, 5th Division were holding the trenches on Hill 60 with 1st Norfolk and 1st Bedfordshire, both of 15 Brigade, 5th Division, in close proximity. At 8.45am and then again at 11am the Germans released gas against the British positions on the hill and on both occasions followed up with an infantry attack, the end result of which was that the enemy took the hill. A series of counter attacks forced the Germans back and some of the trenches were regained but the crest of Hill 60 remained in their hands. 1st Cornwall Light Infantry, 14 Brigade, were holding the line next to the Hill 60 trenches and although they were not directly attacked their trenches were hit by the German artillery. Further casualties occurred  when two platoons moved across to assist 1st Norfolk.