219 14 15 16 17 18 The GreatWar in early August as the 7th Battalion prepared for its next action. “The Canadian Corps has been ordered to undertake operations for the capture of high ground north of Lens.” (7th Battalion unit diary August 1917) The Canadian Corps attacked the heights near Lens, France on 15 August 1917 to divert German resources from the British offensive further north in Flanders. The Canadian operations would be known as Hill 70. Field Marshal Haig ordered Sir Arthur Currie, commander of the Canadian Corps, to launch a frontal assault on the city of Lens. However, Currie had other ideas and instead of attacking the heavily fortified city directly, convinced Haig that a better plan would be to capture the heights north of the city, Hill 70. Capture of this dominant feature would force the Germans to counterattack at which Canadian artillery and machine-guns would destroy the German assaults. The Canadians attacked on 15 August and captured their objectives, including the high ground. Over the next four days, they then held their positions against 21 determined German counterattacks. The Canadians inflicted severe casualties on the enemy and gained the high ground overlooking the city, but at a cost of more than 9000 casualties – killed, wounded, and missing. One of those missing at the end of the first day was Sergeant Richard Musgrave. One wonders if his mother in Scotland ever gave up hope, but Musgrave’s name was among the 11,285 names of Canadian soldiers “missing presumed dead” in France etched on the Vimy Memorial. That is until recently when the identification process began with the discovery of remains near
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