The Battle of Hill 70 took place from August 15 to 25,
1917. Lieutenant General Arthur Currie had taken over command of the Canadian
Corps in June from British General Julien Byng who had moved up to take command
of the British Third Army. Vimy Ridge had been a major victory for the allies
and the true worth of the Canadian army was starting to become widely
recognized among the senior allied commanders on the Western Front. Their
reputation as “shock troops” earned in the Battle of Vimy Ridge from April 9th to 12th was first put to the test at Hill 70.  |
| Hill 70 Panoramic |
Field Marshall Sir Douglas Haig had been planning another
attack in the Ypres sector for several months now. The Third Battle of Ypres,
or Passchendaele at it is more commonly referred, was aimed at regaining a
large section of the Belgian coast to force the German Navy to relocate its
submarine bases from there. At this point in the war, the U-boats were a
serious threat to the supply lines of Great Britain and there was serious concern
that the ever increasing losses of shipping and supplies would starve the
British out of the war.
After the costly Battle of the Somme in 1916 and the
limited successes of the Battle of Arras (of which the taking of Vimy Ridge was
one of the few outright successes), Haig faced growing opposition to his
strategic plans from British Prime Minister Lloyd George and a number of members
from his cabinet. The horrendous casualty lists were fueling anti-war sentiment
in the British Isles and indeed all over Europe. With the Russian government’s commitment
to the allied cause increasingly under threat with civil unrest during 1917, it
was a dark period for the allies. The Americans had entered the war on April 6th,
1917 but it would take months for their small army to train enough recruits to
become a credible force in Europe. Some were saying that the American
Expeditionary Force might not see significant combat until 1919.
Haig needed a success and, in order to draw German reserves
away from the fighting near Ypres, he directed Currie and the Canadians to
seize the city of Lens which was to the south in France. Lens had been held by
the Germans since 1914 and an assault there, combined with French attacks in
the Verdun region, were to be coordinated with the Third Battle of Ypres. In
planning the battle, General Currie reasoned that it would be counterproductive
to try and take Lens while the Germans still had control of Hill 70 which had a
commanding position above the city. The region was held by 5 divisions of the
German 6th Army. The Canadian Corp’s four divisions were scheduled
to assault Hill 70 in late July but the attack was postponed until August 15th due to bad weather.
In the preliminary bombardment, 40% of the German artillery
batteries were eliminated and the Canadian troops took Hill 70 in relatively
short order on the first day. They held the position over the next ten days
against more than 20 separate German counter attacks. Canadian efforts to
secure the city were unsuccessful but their tactical objectives were achieved
as they inflicted a total of 25,000 German casualties at the cost of 9,000
Canadians killed, wounded, missing or captured. Once again, Currie’s tactical
prowess resulted in an impressive feat of arms, in this case against a foe with
numerical superiority on their side. Although technically an attack, it was
primarily a defensive battle where the Canadians could take advantage of their
defensive positions to counteract the enemy’s numerical advantage.
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| Currie at Hill 70 |
It was an impressive victory and added to the Canadians’
reputation as one of the best army corps on the Western Front. Six Canadian
soldiers were awarded the Victoria Cross for their actions during the Battle of
Hill 70. Despite this, the Battle of Hill 70 is a relatively unknown episode in
Canada’s storied military history. It was the Corp’s first involvement in the
Passchendaele campaign which would see them further engaged later that fall,
along with British and Commonwealth forces, in an all-out effort to fulfill
Haig’s desire for a major victory that would knock the Germans out of the war.
Some interesting YouTube videos you might like to look up
included the following:
The Great War – August 17, 1917 https://youtu.be/HZ4FbyltWnA
The Great War – August 24, 1917 https://youtu.be/AqpnfxUdEZg
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| French women selling food to Canadian soldiers |
Joe Corrigan has been Museum Manager at Lang Pioneer Village since February of 2003. He has been a lifelong student of history. His specific areas of interest are Canadian and world political, military and sports history with a particular focus on biographical works. Joe has been interpreting Sir John A. Macdonald at the Museum's Historic Dominion Day event since 2007. 
