Arthur Currie

Through Their Eyes book trailer

/ Matthew K Barrett / Leave a comment

A Graphic History of Hill 70 and Canada’s First World War

By Matthew Barrett (illustrator/co-writer) and Robert Engen (co-writer)

Published by MQUP, our book imagines the experiences of Canadian soldiers during the Battle of Hill 70 in August 1917 through graphic artwork and full-colour illustration.

Available from McGill-Queen’s University Press, Amazon, Chapters/Indigo

From the publisher:

By the summer of 1917, Canadian troops had captured Vimy Ridge, but Allied offensives had stalled across many fronts of the Great War. To help break the stalemate of trench warfare, the Canadian Corps commander, Lieutenant-General Arthur Currie, was tasked with capturing Hill 70, a German stronghold near the French town of Lens.

After securing the hill on 15 August, Canadian soldiers endured days of shelling, machine-gun fire, and poison gas as they repelled relentless enemy counterattacks. Through Their Eyes depicts this remarkable but costly victory in a unique way. With full-colour graphic artwork and detailed illustration, Matthew Barrett and Robert Engen picture the battle from different perspectives – Currie’s strategic view at high command, a junior officer’s experience at the platoon level, and the vantage points of many lesser-known Canadian soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice. This innovative graphic history invites readers to reimagine the First World War through the eyes of those who lived it and to think more deeply about how we visualize and remember the past.

Combining outstanding original art and thought-provoking commentary, Through Their Eyes uncovers the fascinating stories behind this battle while creatively expanding the ways that history is shared and represented.

“A powerful and moving book. This is Canada’s First World War as we have never seen it before.”

-Colonel Chris Hadfield, astronaut and four-time best-selling author

“This innovative graphic history provides a new way of understanding the complexity and carnage of the First World War. Employing vivid graphics and authoritative history, Matthew Barrett and Robert C. Engen offer multiple and diverse perspectives to reclaim the Battle of Hill 70 for a new generation.”

-Tim Cook, Chief Historian at the Canadian War Museum

This book was generously supported by the Hill 70 Memorial Project.

Pre-order Through Their Eyes: A Graphic History of Hill 70 and Canada’s First World War

The Biographer

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Lieutenant Colonel Hugh Urquhart, D.S.O.
43rd (Cameron Highlanders of Canada) BattalionUrquhart

There remains but to refer lightly to the characteristics typical of the Canadian soldier in that crisis which probed into the innermost recesses of character. This is not to claim that the Canadian possessed merits not shared by his comrades in arms everywhere; the soldierly virtues is the birthright of the true fighting man in all lands. But the soldiers of the Dominion exhibited those instincts in their own way. They were hidden under an exterior of independence, which sometimes misled the casual observer as to the soldierly spirit, potent in its strength, lying beneath this mask.

(Urquhart, History of the 16th Battalion CEF, 1932, 332)

A native of Scotland, Hugh MacIntyre Urquhart was born on 13 August 1880 and immigrated to Canada in 1909. He originally enlisted with the 16th Battalion at Valcartier in August 1914. In recognition for his courage in the field, he was awarded the Military Cross and the Distinguished Service Order. In Canadian military historiography, he is best known as the author of Arthur Currie: The Biography of a Great Canadian (1950).

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The Currie Advocate

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Lieutenant Colonel Allan A. Magee, D.S.O.
148th (McGill C.O.T.C.) BattalionMagee

“You are told that Montreal’s record for recruiting is wonderful. I tell you Montreal’s record is simply rotten,” said Lt.-Col. Magee at His Majesty’s Theatre last night in a stirring speech…

“We have tried to stir up the patriotism of Montreal but it seems as though we must give up because there is nothing left to stir.”

(Ottawa Journal, 1 March 1916)

Allan Angus Magee was a Montreal lawyer and graduate of the University of Toronto. He was born on 17 February 1881 in London Ontario. At the outbreak of the war, Magee joined the Canadian Officer Training Corps at McGill University as second-in-command. In November 1915, he was selected to raise the 148th Battalion from Montreal.

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