International Cinema Festival of India

The 2010 movie ‘Beneath Hill 60′ tells the real tale of a group of soldiers from the 1st Australian Tunnellers led 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 had not joined up as numerous other men from the region had done. He was thought to be important to stay at home to support the war effort and thus, he had been given plenty of white feathers. It had been wide-spread in those days for folks to present white feathers to men whom they regarded as cowards.

Hill 60 is located in the southern area of the Ypres Salient and it was not a natural feature. The hill was made with soil dug away to create a local railway cutting. Various important battles happened at Hill 60 during both World War I and World War II. During one evening in 1915, four Victoria Crosses were granted as a German assault was effectively fought off.

The movie concerns the action at the start of the Battle of Messines in 1917. 19 mines with close to half a million kilograms of explosives were fired prior to the start of the attack. The story revolves around the exploits of Woodward and his men highlighting exactly what the tunneller companies needed to withstand, a part of war that gets little coverage.

Woodward is placed in command of a company and leads by example in the course of the build up for the attack close to Ypres. The fighting starts in the small hours of the morning as Woodward fires the mine his men have spent the previous weeks putting in place and defending.

Following the war, Woodward returns to Australia to marry his young sweetheart who had begged him not to join up.

‘Beneath Hill 60′ is a great movie which tells the story of among the most scary aspects of the Western Front. The tunnellers on both sides had to work in horrible conditions knowing the enemy may be just feet away ready to either blow up their tunnel or break in and start firing.

The battles on the Western Front during the First World War were terrible and the area around Ypres saw some of the deadliest fighting.