Seeing over the hill: the Canadian Corps, intelligence, and the battle of Hill 70, July–August, 1917

Abstract

The Commonwealth assaults against German forces on the western front during 1917 include several famous disasters and successes. Perhaps the least known of these successes is the battle of Hill 70 of August 1917, in which the Canadian Corps seized a powerful German position, inflicted disproportionate and heavy losses on the defenders, and achieved their strategic objective of pinning German forces away from the campaign in Flanders. This success occurred because the Canadian Corps developed a sophisticated and powerful system for set piece battles, in which intelligence played a key role. This article assesses how intelligence affected all aspects of this battle – from national and theatre level decision-making, down to the dissemination of information to individual soldiers. It demonstrates how intelligence worked in tactical and operational terms on the western front in 1917, and shaped battles.

Notes

1. Beach, Haig’s Intelligence, 37–9.

2. Jenkins, “Winning Trench Warfare.”

3. Ibid. The best, and good, accounts are Hahn, The Intelligence Service; and Jenkins, “Winning Trench Warfare.”

4. Cabinet Committee on War Policy, 7th meeting, 19.6.17, CAB 27/6; “Notes on the Strategical Situation- 11.6.17,” by Haig, and appendix, WO 158/24.

5. Australian War Memorial, Canberra, OAD 799, Haig to Army Commanders, 5.6.17, AWM 51/53A., Churchill College Archives, Lord Esher Papers, ESHR 4/7, Haig to Esher, 5.6.17.

6. Robertson to Haig, telegram, 13.6.17, WO 158/24; MacDonagh to Charteris, 13.6.17, WO 158/898.

7. Haig to Robertson, 13.8.17, 1/23, William Robertson papers, Basil Liddell Hard Centre for Military Archives, Robertson to Haig, O.1./126/362, 18.10.17, WO 158/24.

8. Halewood, “‘A Matter of Opinion’: British Attempts.”

9. OAD 474, “Record of discussions issued verbally by the Field-Marshal Commanding-in-Chief at the Army Commanders Conference held at DOULLENS at 11 am on Monday, 7th May, 1917,” WO 158/249.

10. OAD 291/27, “Note of Proceedings of Army Commanders’ Conference held at First Army Headquarters, LILLERS, at 11 am on the 14th June, 1917”. 15.6.17, OAD 472, GHQ to armies, 8.6.17, WO 158/189; Conference of Corps Commanders held by G.O.C. First Army. 10.7.17, WO 95/172.

11. “Note of Proceedings at Army Commanders Conference, held at DOULLENS on Monday, 7th May 1917 at 11 am,” AWM 51/52.

12. First Army Intelligence Summary (FAIS), No 875, 6.6.17, WO 157/76.

13. First Army Intelligence Summaries, No 876, 7.6.17, No 878, 9.6.17, No 881, 12.6.17, WO 157/76.

14. OAD 291/27, WO 158/189, ibid.

15. First Army Summary of Intelligence, 16th to 30th June, 1917, WO 157/76; ditto, No 901, 2.7.17, WO 157/77.

16. OAD 426, “Record of a Conference held at HOYLLE VIGH at 11 am on the 30th April, 1917,” 1.5.17, WO 158/311.

17. First Army to Canadian Corps, 13.7.17, NO G.S. 456/3 (a), Can Corps to First Army, G. 413/22-16-7, 24.7.17, WO 95/172.

18. CAB 27/6, ibid.

19. OAD 314, Kiggell, CGS, GHQ, to Third Army, 17.2.17, AWM 51/52.

20. Ferris, The British Army and Signals Intelligence, 13–4, 25–54.

21. FAIS No 890, 21.6.17, WO 157/76.

22. Ferris, The British Army and Signals Intelligence, 17–21, 171–94.

23. XIII Corps Order No 93, 12.7.17, Canadian Corps Operations Order No 165, 11.7.17, First Army Order to Corps, First Army to Corps, No G.S. 638/1 (a), No G.S. 638/4 (a), WO 95/172.

24. First Army to Corps, No G.S. 638/1 (a), WO 95/172.

25. Sheldon, The German Army on Vimy Ridge, 257–62, 287, 329–40, passim; Canadian Corps Summary of Intelligence (CCSI), No 134, 23.8, and No number, 15.8.17 WO 95/1050.

26. FAIS No 953, 23.8.17, WO 157/78.

27. First Army Summary of Intelligence, 17th to 31st July 1917, 2.8.17, WO 157/77.

28. Canadian Corps Operations Orders No 156, 11.7.27, No 140, 28.7.17, WO 95/1050.

29. Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa, 2nd Canadian Division, 6.8.17, “Report on Conversations Picked up by Wireless Intelligence in 2nd. Canadian Division Sector,” RG 9/III/C-5/4438.

30. CCIS No 117, 24.7.17, WO 95/1050.

31. CCIS, 7.7. 17, No 100, No 112, 19.7. 17, WO 95/1050. Hahn, The Intelligence Service, describes in depth its sources and systems during the battle of Hill 70.

32. Hahn, The Intelligence Service, 39–51; Memorandum by Mitchell, 30.5.19, “The Service of Intelligence in the British Force in Italy,” 18–20, WO 106/1550.

33. Whitefoord, “Intelligence Lecture,” 4.26, PG Whitefoord papers, 77/2/1, Imperial War Museum.

34. CCIS, No 103, 9.7.17, WO 95/1050.

35. Canadian Corps Summaries of Intelligence No 117, 24 July, 2 No 126, 10.8.17, Canadian Corps War Diary, entry 21.8.17, 8.45 am, WO 95/1050.

36. Canadian Corps War Diary, entries 11.45 am, 9.8.17, 5 am, 14.8, 5, Canadian Corps Summaries of Intelligence, No 99, 1.7.17, No 110, 17.7, No 122, 30.7, No 123, 31. 7, WO 95/1050; First Army Intelligence Summaries, No 908, 9.7.17, No 916, 17.7.17, No 918, 19.7, First Army Summaries of Intelligence, 1st to 16th July, 1917, 18.7, WO 157/77.

37. CCIS, No 125, 9.8.17. WO 95/1050.

38. CCIS, No 99, 1.7.17, No 123, 31. 7, ibid; FAIS, No 901, 2.7.17, WO 95/1050.

39. Canadian Corps Scheme of Operations, Capture of Hill 70, G.438/25-15-1, 26/7.17, WO 95/1050.

40. Canadian Corps Summaries of Intelligence, No 99, 1.7.17, No 101, 3.7.17, No 127, 12.8.17, WO 95/1050.

41. Fetherstonhaugh, The 24th Battalion C.E.F., 153–5.

42. SS 552, “Sound Ranging, Experiments to Determine Accuracy of Results,” GHQ (Intelligence), 4.17, AWM 27/310/120-310/124.

43. FAIS, No 936, WO 157/77.

44. First Army Order No 140, 2.8.17, WO 95/172.

45. FAIS, No 936, 6.8.17, WO 157/78, passim; cf. WO 157/77.

46. First Army Order No 140, 2.8.17, WO 95/172.

47. Canadian Corps Preliminary Operations Order, No 148, 27.8.17, WO 95/1050.

48. Beattie, 48th Highlanders of Canada, 244; and Urquhart, The History of the 16th Battalion, 231.

49. Entries, 706 and 716 pm, 15.8.17, Canadian Corps War Diary, WO 95/1050; Entry, 15.8.17, Canadian Corps Heavy Artillery War Diary, WO 95/1060; Jenkins, “Winning Trench Warfare.”

50. Canadian Corps Summaries of Intelligence, unnumbered, 15.8.17, No 129, 16.8.16, No 131, 18.8.17, WO 95/1050.

51. Annexe to GHQ Summary of the 17th January, 1918, TRANSLATION OF A GERMAN DOCUMENT, Ia/44023, 16.1.18, Chief of the General Staff of the Field Army, Ia/II. Nr. 62865, 22.8.17, “Experiences in Flanders and at Lens,” AWM 252/A 244.

52. O.A.D. 602, Haig, 21.8.17, “Report on the Operations in Flanders from 4th August to 20th August, 1917,” WO 158/24; memorandum by Charteris, 9.12.17, Ia/42828, “Estimate of German Casualties on the British Front During 1917,” AWM 51/54.