On 3 September Supreme Commander of the Allied Armies
Généralissime Ferdinand Foch outlined the future course of the Allied offensive campaign along the
Western Front. To avoid the risk of having extensive German reserves massed against a single Allied attack, Foch devised a plan for a general offensive between
Verdun and the Belgian coast. The plan called for Allied attacks at four separate points in the German line, to be launched on four successive days. Army Group Flanders under
King Albert I of Belgium would conduct the most northern operation and attack German positions in
Flanders and move towards
Ghent and
Bruges. The British First and Third Armies would attack and cross the Canal du Nord, move across the northern extension of the Hindenburg Line and capture the city of
Cambrai, a crucial German communications and supply centre. The
British Fourth Army and
French First Army would attack the Germans along the Saint-Quentin Canal in an effort to breach the Hindenburg Line between
Holnon and
Vendhuile. To the south, the
First United States Army and
French Fourth Army would mount the
Meuse-Argonne Offensive between
Reims and
Verdun, moving along the
Meuse River and through the
Argonne Forest. The Canal du Nord defensive system was the Germans' last major prepared defensive position opposite the British First Army. It was a significant obstacle as the Germans had taken measures to incorporate the unfinished canal into their defensive system. Beyond the damage done to make crossing the canal as difficult as possible, north of
Mœuvres a lesser arm of the Hindenburg Support Line, the Canal du Nord Line, ran directly behind the east side of the canal. The greater arm of the Hindenburg Support Line crossed the canal at Mœuvres and thus remained well established on the eastern side of the canal south of Mœuvres. This was supplemented by the Marquion-Cantaing Line which ran along a north–south axis one mile east of the canal and the Marcoing Line located just west of Cambrai. The attack on the Canal du Nord was to begin on 27 September 1918, a day after the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, one day before the offensive in Flanders and two days before the
Battle of St. Quentin Canal. The British First Army was operating in a framework whereby its main task was to secure the northern flank of the British Third Army. The British Third Army was tasked with securing the Escaut (Scheldt) Canal so as to be in a position to support the British Fourth Army during the Battle of St. Quentin Canal. On the British First Army front, the
Canadian Corps would lead the attack under the direction of
Arthur Currie, crossing the largely dry canal on a front of only between
Sains-lès-Marquion and Mœuvres. This narrow frontage was necessitated by the fact that the Germans had deliberately flooded most of the front opposite the Canadians, creating a bog. Currie's immediate superior Horne saw the unconventional Canadian plan of attacking on an initially narrow front, then fanning outwards in a highly complicated maneuver as dangerously risky. When Currie refused to change his plan, Horne appealed to Currie's former superior Byng and to
British Expeditionary Force commander
Douglas Haig, but Haig declined to overrule Currie. In an attempt to make the Germans second guess or question the location of the main assault, XXII Corps was instructed to engage German positions along the Canal du Nord between Sauchy-Lestrée and
Palluel. Likewise,
VII Corps and the remainder of XXII Corps were instructed to carry out minor attacks north of the
Scarpe River to prevent the Germans from moving units from that area to the location of the main attack. If the Canadian Corps was successful in its advance the intention was to immediately and quickly exploit the territorial gain with the support of the British Third Army's XVII, VI and IV Corps. ==Battle==