St. Julien Memorial

 memorial, cemetery, First World War 1914-1918

The Canadians First Division holding the most northern section of the British line and the 45th (Algerian) Division holding the most southern section of the French line.[1] The German Army had 168 tons of chlorine deployed in 5,730 cylinders opposite Langemark-Poelkapelle, north of Ypres.[1] The Canadians 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.
The initial gas attack largely drifted to the north of the Canadian lines, into the trenches of the French 45th (Algerian) and 87th (Territorial) Divisions, of 26th Reserve Corps.[1] The gas drifted across positions largely held French colonial troops who broke ranks and abandoned their trenches, creating an 8,000 yard (7 km) gap in the Allied line.[1] The German infantry were also wary of the gas and, lacking reinforcements, failed to exploit the break before the First Canadian Division and assorted French troops reformed the line in scattered, hastily prepared positions 1,000 to 3,000 yards apart