tish 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.

The Germans were apparently unprepared for the attack which followed
the explosion of the British mines, with the result that the British
had to overcome little resistance, and had ample opportunity to
prepare a defense from the bombardment that followed. The next
morning, April 18, 1915, the German infantry in close formation
advanced on the hill. This infantry was composed of Saxons, who
continued on for a bayonet charge in spite of the downpour of lead
that the British rained upon them. But the Bedfords had been
reenforced by the West Kents and about thirty motor machine guns. The
machine guns raked the charging Saxons in front, and shrapnel tore
their flank. Only their dead and dying remained on the hill; but the
German commanders continued to send their men against the British
there, who were subjected to a murderous cross-fire, the hill forming
a salient. As a result of their persistence the German troops managed
to get a foothold on the southern part of the hill by 6 p. m. In