The Story of the Great War, Volume 3: History of the European War from Official Sources
History
The Story of the Great War, Volume 3: History of the European War from Official Sources
World War, 1914-1918
In the meantime, from March 15 to April 17, 1915, the bombardment of
Ypres was continued, destroying most of the remaining buildings there.
Engagements of importance had not as yet started on the British front.
The British had a supply of shrapnel, and the British and French
cannon, as well as the rifle-and machine-gun fire, held the Germans in
check until they had time to perfect their plans for a vigorous
offensive. Nevertheless the British needed a much larger supply of
ammunition before they could start on a determined campaign, which was
so much desired by the troops. One of the German headquarters,
however, was shelled effectively by the British on April 1, 1915, and
on the following day mortars in the trenches did considerable damage
in the Wood of Ploegsteert. A mine blew up a hundred yards of the
trenches that were opposite Quinchy, a village to the south of
Givenchy, on April 3, 1915. To offset this the Germans bombarded the
British line at that point. They also shelled Fleurbaix, which is
three miles southwest of Armentieres, on April 5, 1915. The British on
the same day wrecked a new trench mortar south of there. On April 6,
1915, the German artillery began to be more active both north and
south of the Lys, and the British retaliated by shelling the railway
triangle that was near Quinchy. German soldiers were slain and others
wounded when a mine was exploded at Le Touquet, on the north bank of
the Lys. One of the kaiser's ammunition depots was blown up near
Quinchy on April 9, 1915, and his men were driven from their trenches
in front of Givenchy by mortar fire.
The comparative quiet along the front was broken by the fight for the
possession of Hill 60, which became famous because of the rival claims
as to victory. The mound, for it was little more, getting its name on
account of its height--sixty meters--was of importance only because it
screened the German artillery which was shelling Ypres from the bridge
to the west of Zandvoord. British trenches had been driven close to
this hill by the Bedfords, whose sappers tunneled under the mound and
there prepared three mines. At the same time the Germans were
tunneling to plant mines under the Bedfords' trench. In this
underground race the Bedfords won on the night of April 17, 1915, when
they blew three big craters in the hill, killing almost to a man all
of the 150 Germans who were on the little rise of ground. The Bedfords
then dashed forward to the three craters they had opened up and took a
quarter of a mile of the German trenches.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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