Saint Julien Memorial
| St. Julien Memorial | |
|---|---|
| Canada | |
The Brooding Soldier
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| For the Canadian participation in the Second Battle of Ypres between 22 and 24 April 1915. | |
| Unveiled | 8 July 1923 |
| Location |
50°53′58″N 2°56′26″E / 50.89944°N 2.94056°ECoordinates: 50°53′58″N 2°56′26″E / 50.89944°N 2.94056°E near Saint-Julien, Langemark/Sint-Juliaan, Belgium |
| Designed by | Frederick Chapman Clemesha |
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The Memorial's plaque reads:
THIS COLUMN MARKS THE BATTLEFIELD WHERE 18000 CANADIANS ON THE BRITISH LEFT WITHSTOOD THE FIRST GERMAN GAS ATTACKS THE 22ND-24TH OF APRIL 1915. 2,000 FELL AND LIE BURIED NEARBY |
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The St. Julien Memorial is a Canadian war memorial and small commemorative park located in the village of Saint-Julien, Langemark (West Flemish: Sint-Juliaan), Belgium. The memorial commemorates the Canadian First Division's participation in the Second Battle of Ypres of World War I which included the defence against the first poison gas attacks along the Western Front. Frederick Chapman Clemesha's sculpture, the Brooding Soldier, was selected to serve as the central feature of the monument following a design competition organized by the Canadian Battlefield Monument Commission in 1920.
The village of Saint Julien and a section of forested land called Saint Julien Wood was at a pronounced bend in the north east sector of the Ypres Salient prior to the Second Battle of Ypres. The area was also the junction between the British and French sectors of responsibility. The Canadian First Division was assigned the most northern section of the British line and to their left, the 45th (Algerian) Division held the southernmost end of the French line. The German Army had brought forward 168 tons of chlorine gas deployed in 5,730 cylinders buried in front of their trenches, opposite Langemark-Poelkapelle, north of Ypres. The Canadians, who had been moved into their positions only a few days earlier were manning the lines for several hundred metres along a front to the southwest of St. Julien when the German Army unleashed the first poison gas attack on the Western Front on 22 April 1915.
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