Capturing Hill 70: Canada’s Forgotten Battle of the First World War

by Douglas E. Delaney (editor), Serge Marc Durflinger (Editor)

In August 1917, the Canadian Corps captured Hill 70, vital terrain just north of the French town of Lens. The Canadians suffered some 5,400 casualties and in three harrowing days defeated twenty-one German counterattacks. This spectacularly successful but shockingly costly battle was as innovative as Vimy, yet few Canadians have heard of it or of subsequent attempts to capture Lens, which resulted in nearly 3,300 more casualties. Capturing Hill 70 marks the centenary of this triumph by dissecting different facets of the battle, from planning and conducting operations to long-term repercussions and commemoration. It reinstates Hill 70 to its rightful place among the pantheon of battles that forged the reputation of the famed Canadian Corps during the First World War.

Genres: Canada, War, Nonfiction

306 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 7, 2016

Reviews

[Norman Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most books about First World War battles focus almost entirely on the infantry and the hellish conditions involved in an offensive. This collection of essays offers a much fuller appreciation of the battle while describing virtually none of the infantry action.

It does cover the command arrangements, the artillery, the medical service, the supply services and so on in separate chapters. I can't recall a history that devoted a full chapter to the supply services before, but it was really very interesting.

It also offers a realistic assessment of the battle from the German point of view. This was, at the time, an important battle for the Canadian Corps but it seems that the Germans recognized it as an attempt to distract them from the larger battle taking place to the north, eventually ending at Passchendaele (another important battle for the Canadian Corps).

This isn't a book for a person who is entirely new to the First World War on the western front but it is a very good addition to the literature on the Canadian Corps. Highly recommended.

[David Downer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an important addition to the studies of World War One but I had mixed feelings when reading it. The editors' stated purpose is to put the Hill 70 battle into the Canadian consciousness alongside Vimy, Ypres, Passchendaele and the 100 Days. Unlike those battles, they feel that the Hill 70 narrative has been overlooked and that this book was supposed to help remedy that. Curiously they outline the battle and its context in the introduction and then the chapters go into detail about issues of command structure, artillery, battle planning, supply, etc. While these are illuminating and useful historically, I never did feel a sense of what the battle was like, especially for the soldiers in the line. I feel I need to pursue more of the sources listed to get a sense of that. This is an excellent reference source, but it needed more of human element to capture the attention and imagination as they hoped.

[R G G Currie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently learned that my great-uncle Gordon Currie was killed in the battle for Hill 70, in August 1917. This book brings the perspective of several different historians to an almost forgotten action by the Canadian army.

[Stephen Paish · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable book. The chapter on Battle Procedure should be taught somewhere in the CAF IT system. It outlines the importance of warning orders, recces, and concurrent activity. It is fascinating to read about how staff officers operated, especially in an age where radio wasn't stable.