Hill 60 is a World War I battlefield memorial site and park in the Zwarteleen area of Zillebeke south of Ypres, Belgium.

The high ground of Hill 60, south of Zillebeke, was created in the 1850s by spoil dumped from the cutting for the railway line between Ypres and Comines.

On the east side of the cutting, at the highest point of the ridge, was a third mound known as Hill 60, about 60 ft (18 m) above sea level, from which First World War artillery observers had an excellent view of the ground around Zillebeke and Ypres.

The Ypres–Comines railway ran roughly parallel to the roads from Ypres and 600 yd (550 m) outside Zillebeke, was a cutting 15–20 ft (4.6–6.1 m) deep, which extended beyond the crest of the ridge, the earth from which had formed Hill 60.

During the First Battle of Ypres in late 1914, Hill 60 was held by the Moussy Detachment (General Vidal), which had been depleted by the transfer of three battalions to Langemarck.

In mid-March the Germans blew another large mine at Zwarteleen, creating a 9.1-metre (30 ft) deep crater and damaging their own lines in the process.

[5] After the Battle of Gravenstafel Ridge (22–23 April 1915) the British planned a local withdrawal to less exposed positions, roughly 3 miles (4.8 km) distant from Ypres.

The new line was to run from Hill 60 northwards to Hooge on the Ypres–Menin road, thence to Frezenberg Ridge, Mouset rap Farm and then back to the Ypres–Yser canal.

[11] The attack began on 17 April and the 5th Division captured the area quickly with only seven casualties but found that the new salient made permanent occupation of the hill costly.

[7][a] On 1 May, after a bombardment by heavy artillery, the Germans released chlorine gas at 7:00 p.m., from positions less than 100 yd (91 m) away from Hill 60, on a front of 0.25 mi (0.40 km).

As soon the gas arrived, the Germans attacked from the flanks with bombing parties and artillery laid a barrage on the British approaches to the hill.

The German 30th Division advanced fifteen minutes after the gas cloud and occupied nearly all of the front line on the lower slope of the hill.

British reinforcements bombed up a communication trench and two more battalions were sent forward but before they arrived, the Germans released another gas cloud at 11:00 a.m. to the north-east of the hill.

[19] Maintaining field fortifications in the Ypres Salient over the winter of 1915–1916 was an endless task, as trenches flooded and collapsed, dugouts were swamped and communications were cut.

[20] An explosion at 6:00 p.m., near the end of Trench 41, blew up a bombing sap, killed 13 Green Howards and wounded another four; small raiding parties appeared but were shot down in no man's land.

For the rest of February the area around Hill 60 returned to "normal" siege warfare but preparations were made secretly to recapture The Bluff.

At 9:00 a.m. on 9 April, German artillery began a bombardment until 5:45 p.m., obliterated most of the front line, isolated the right flank battalions and blew in the entrances to the tunnel leading to the British mining system.

Other German troops broke into the positions of the 11th Battalion Sherwood Foresters and reached the Deep Support Line 100 yards (91 m) further back.

The night of 8/9 May was quiet but in the morning a German trench mortar bombardment fell on the 10th Warwicks and in the afternoon observers reported that preparations for a raid could be seen.

Scouts went forward and saw that the supporting positions were secure and the divisional artillery responded promptly to an SOS flare as rifle and machine-gun fire was opened by the British infantry.

[34] During the German Spring Offensive, the 9th (Scottish) Division lost 50 per cent of its infantry and was transferred to Flanders, to hold a quiet front while recovering from its losses and incorporating fresh drafts from Britain.

South of the canal was a reserve line of well-wired posts towards The Stables to the south-west, backed by the White Château on a commanding rise, which had been fortified.

[39] In 1920, Hill 60 was bought by Lieutenant-Colonel Cawston who later sold a half share in it to John J Calder a prominent Scottish brewer whose son Capt.

[44] Pierre Marchant and Lucien Olivier, members of the French resistance from La Madeleine (now a suburb of Lille), were shot by German soldiers near Hill 60 on 2 September 1944, after trying to escape from a prisoner transport train.

Marchant and Olivier had been driving a lorry loaded with munitions for the Resistance in their home town when they were arrested by the SS and put on a train to Belgium.

[citation needed] There are several memorials on Hill 60, that to the Australian Tunnelling Companies, that to Queen Victoria's Rifles, that to the 14th (Light) Division, and to French resistance fighters killed here during the Second World War.

The Belgian government made the hill and the surrounding enclosure a battlefield memorial site and to preserve it, far as nature permits, in the state in which it was left after World War I.

On the night of 20–21 April 1915, Second Lieutenant Geoffrey Harold Woolley and a handful of men were the only defenders on the hill and continually repelled attacks on their position.

[45] The Queen Victoria's Rifles (QVR) had arrived in Le Havre on 5 November 1914 and were one of the first Territorial battalions to serve in France; they were attached to the 5th Division.

[citation needed] This memorial commemorates Pierre Marchant and Lucien Olivier, two members of the French resistance from La Madeleine (now a suburb of Lille) who were killed here by Germans on 2 September 1944.