Beneath Hill 60 (M)

By 1916 the Great War in Europe has reached a stalemate. The two massive armies have fought themselves to a standstill. Millions of lives have already been lost. Mining engineer Oliver Woodward returns to Australia from Papua to join a secret Australian Tunnelling Company. Ordinary miners from all over the country are given just two weeks military training before being sent the Western Front. Their task is to undermine the German Lines. In the weeks before Woodward leaves for the war, the friendship that he has had with 16 year-old Marjorie Waddell turns to love and they vow to marry when he returns. For reasons he can’t really fathom, Woodward is made an officer and finds himself commanding a small platoon of tunnellers amidst the blood and carnage of the Western Front near Armentiéres, France. The Australian tunnellers are suspicious of newcomer Woodward. There is resentment too from the British Infantry, who are convinced that the tunnellers will put them in even greater danger. But after leading a daring raid across No Man’s Land to destroy an enemy machine gun emplacement, Woodward begins to win the respect of his men and the infantry. With the intensity of the war increasing, Woodward and his men are sent across the border to Belgium near Ypres. The Messines Ridge with its notorious Hill 60 is rumoured to be the bloodiest part of the Western Front. The tunnellers’ task is to defend a labyrinthine and leaking tunnel system that snakes beneath the enemy Lines. The tunnels hide a deadly secret. Directly beneath strategic sections of the German lines, the allies have crammed the largest amount of explosive ever collected in one place. Woodward’s company must protect the tunnel system until he receives the order to blow the mines. But no one seems to know when the order will be given. With constant inundation of mud and water and the endless vibrations from heavy artillery, the tunnels are in imminent danger of collapse. Woodward decides on a risky strategy to save them. The Allied Commanders are suspicious of Woodward’s plan, but he convinces them it will succeed. Disaster looms as the Germans discover the Australian’s underground activity and begin sinking a shaft towards the Hill 60 mine. The whole allied strategy is now in jeopardy. Back in Queensland, Marjorie has had no news for weeks. She fears the worst. While the bloody battle rages in the muddy fieelds of Flanders, a deadly cat-and-mouse game is played out thirty metres below between the German and Australian tunnellers. Woodward learns that being a leader in this dreadful war is not just about commanding and protecting his men, it’s also about being prepared to sacrifice them. And as zero hour approaches, he must make a terrible decision..