Thread: Beneath Hill 60

It's very hard to read the closing credits against the same colour back ground but it say's the germans re-took the hill and it took along time to get it back..
I wonder how much of it was left after that explosion..

It really makes you wonder how some of the orders ever got followed, the poms certainly never made to many good decision of stratagy in WW1 from everything I've read and seen in movies..

Bet they would get a slightly different reaction these days

Cheers Ean

Originally Posted by Disco44

While we are on Aussie War movies.did anyone watch "Sisters at War" which was on the ABC1 last Sunday night? IMHO it was done in the fashion of our great movies like "Gallipoli" with some facts about the Nuns and the Australian Army nurses that I was not aware of.

I thought it was very good, and the addition the following short programme being an actual interview with the nursing sister and the nun was great. They have remained close friends following their joint experiences at the hands of the japs

Claire van der Bloom (who played the part of the young nun) is very good looking

Originally Posted by Ean Austral

It really makes you wonder how some of the orders ever got followed, the poms certainly never made to many good decision of stratagy in WW1 from everything I've read and seen in movies..

Bet they would get a slightly different reaction these days

Cheers Ean

I once was touring in Wales and a former coal mining village had a small museum. I found out there that the village had memorial services in July every year on the date they called "The Day of the Telegrams".

The local "Pals Battalion" of the Welsh Rifles took part in the first day of the Somme offensive July 1916. Some 220+ telegrams were received and delivered in one day about a week or so later advising next of kin of relatives killed in action on the first day. As wounded died and more deaths were confirmed telegrams continued to trickle in for weeks.

Here is the story of Hill 60
World War One Battlefields : Flanders: Hill 60



Baz.

Originally Posted by 87County

I thought it was very good, and the addition the following short programme being an actual interview with the nursing sister and the nun was great. They have remained close friends following their joint experiences at the hands of the japs

Claire van der Bloom (who played the part of the young nun) is very good looking

I agree if she looked like that in real life...what a waste...such is life.

Visited Hill 60 and Hooge Crater whicxh are just outside Ypres on a cold (-4 deg c) February morning about 2004. We were the only people there with a low mist making it very atmosphric.

There are some preserved support trenches near Hill 60. Also a very musty museum of artifacts.

Hooge crater(s) is also still there. When you see the size of them now they must have been huge when made. The signs explaining about Hooge crater are very good. The front lines at Hooge crater were only a metre or 2 apart which was aparently unusual for the trenches.

There was a show on TV here reciently which included the chain of explosions that Hill 60 was part of. Said when combined they are still the largest man made explosion ever. The charges were set off from one end of the ridge and worked their way along the ridge. For the Germans to be watching the chain coming their way must have been fun! TV said that 20k were killed in the blasts.

You need to see the topograpy of the area to understand it. There is a line of low hills that run in front of Ypres. With the train lines all converging on Ypres making it an important rail head. The ground behind Ypres is flat so the high ground was very important.

Have seen this movie on the shelves in the supermarket here so will have to buy and see it.

Originally Posted by Ean Austral

It's very hard to read the closing credits against the same colour back ground but it say's the germans re-took the hill and it took along time to get it back..
I wonder how much of it was left after that explosion..

It really makes you wonder how some of the orders ever got followed, the poms certainly never made to many good decision of stratagy in WW1 from everything I've read and seen in movies..
Bet they would get a slightly different reaction these days

Cheers Ean

They never made a hell of a lot of smart decisions in WWII either.

Had they not been baled out by the Yanks and others, history may very well have been a lot different to what we all know.

From what I've read over the years, most of the smarter decisions that they did take originated from lower down in the ranks, and certainly not from those at the top who claimed credit for winning the war.

But then, similar can be said of certain high ranking Yanks who were well known in the Australian / PNG areas of conflict, and I've read some interesting reports on one or two very senior ranking Australians who were not held in high regard for their "strategic thinking" either.

But back on topic - I watched Beneath Hill 60 recently as well and thought it was a good movie. Certainly gave a pretty good insight into the conditions that those blokes had to try to survive in.

I hired the movie today and tried to watch it but about half an hour was enough (where the telegram was received advising the son, was it Moffatt?, had been killed.). It was too slow and I couldn't get into it.

The sound levels were all over the place. I was constantly on the volume control.

I'm afraid I wouldn't give it many stars.