08/29/2026
Hill 70 is one of the Canadian battlefields I think deserves more attention.
Not because it is forgotten, but because many visitors know Vimy, Passchendaele or the Somme before they ever hear this name.
In August 1917, the Canadian Corps captured the high ground near Lens. The plan was not simply to take ground, but to force German counterattacks onto terrain where Canadian artillery and machine guns could break them.
It worked, but at a terrible cost. Almost 10,000 Canadian casualties were recorded between 15 and 25 August 1917. What I find powerful at Hill 70 is the contrast.
Today, the landscape is busy, with a highway close to the memorial. But once you understand what the hill controlled, why Lens mattered, and how the Canadians were asked to hold under repeated counterattack, the ground changes. It becomes less about one heroic headline and more about endurance, planning, fear, exhaustion and loss. On a battlefield tour, Hill 70 is where Canada’s First World War story becomes more complex than “victory.”
It was a success, yes.
But it was paid for by thousands of men and families who carried the cost long after the guns stopped. Follow Visit Flanders Fields for more real stories from the Western Front.
Private Canadian battlefield tours: https://visitflandersfields.com/ww1-northern-france-tours/the-canadian-trail-on-the-western-front/
