Caterpillar

Hill 60 and the Caterpillar Hill 60 is a slope that was artificially raised around 1850 with soils that had been excavated to build the deep trench for the leper-Kortrijk railway. As a result, the height reached about 60 meters above sea level. Earth was also raised on the other side of the railway trench, in the hunting domain De Vierlingen. There, the elevation took on a curious, twisted shape that can be clearly seen in some aerial photographs from before the mine battle. The resemblance to the articulated hull of a caterpillar gave the height its name: The Caterpillar. These strategic heights were doggedly fought over. The German army captured them from the French on December 10, 1914. The Allies wanted to reclaim the area at any cost. They dug underground passages under the German positions. Five heavy mine loads were placed at the end. They were detonated on April 17, 1915. At the same time, a massive British stampede took place on the German positions. The battle reshaped the hill into an immense mud puddle full of grenade funnels, tree stumps and fallen soldiers. The British conquered the hill. After three weeks, the Germans launched a heavy counterattack with chlorine gas. The British had to give way and lost a total of more than 3,000 soldiers. In the following years there was great activity both on and under the hill. From the foot of the slope, the British, 20 to 30 meters deep, dug out almost 500 meters long galleries: the Berlin Tunnel. The corridor split into two in the last 100 meters: one corridor under Hill 60, the other under the railway trench, under the Caterpillar. German Pioniere dug counter-passes and placed counter mines. The underground war raged here in all its intensity. On June 7, 1917, two huge mine loads of 24,267 kg and 31,752 kg of explosives exploded 27.4 m below Hill 60 and 30.5 m below the Caterpillar. The hellish British offensive that followed, supported by murderous artillery, drove the Germans back. Hill 60 and the Caterpillar again fell into British hands. During the great German offensive of April 1918, the Allies lost Hill 60 for the third time. It was not until the end of September 1918 that the Germans finally gave up their Höhe 60. The Hill 60 domain, with its pockmarked landscape, concrete bunkers, shelters, trench structures, mine craters and bomb pits, is one of the few authentic war landscapes of the Westhoek. It is freely accessible. The impressive crater of the Caterpillar can be discovered via the hiking trail that lies along the other side of the railway trench

Author: Herk