This years motion picture ‘Beneath Hill 60′ conveys the real account of a team of troopers with the 1st Australian Tunnellers led by Captain Oliver Woodward CMG MC and two bars. In the dvd, Woodward is portrayed by Brendan Cowell. He had been a miner and metallurgist from New South Wales and had not joined up like numerous other adult men in the area had done. He was deemed to be necessary to stay home to support the war effort and consequently, he had been sent several white feathers. It had been frequent at the time for folks to give white feathers to people whom they believed to be cowards.
Hill 60 is located in the southern area of the Ypres Salient and it wasn’t a natural feature. The hill was made with soil dug away to make a nearby railway cutting. Quite a few significant actions happened at Hill 60 in both World War I and World War II. During one night in 1915, 4 Victoria Crosses were granted as a German attack was successfully fought off.
The dvd highlights the events at the start of the Battle of Messines in 1917. 19 mines with almost 500,000 kgs of explosives were fired before the start of the assault. The storyline revolves around the exploits of Woodward and his men showing precisely what the tunneller companies were required to experience, a part of war that receives minimal coverage.
Woodward is put in command of a company and leads by example for the duration of the build up for the assault around Ypres. The action begins in the small hours of the morning when Woodward sets off the mine his soldiers have spent the previous weeks putting in place and defending.
Right after the war, Woodward goes back to Australia to wed his young sweetheart who had begged him not to join the army.
‘Beneath Hill 60′ is the ideal film which conveys the story of one of the most scary tasks of the Western Front. The tunnellers on both sides had to work in awful conditions understanding the enemy may perhaps be simply metres away preparing to either blow up their tunnel or break in and begin firing.
