St. Julien Dressing Station Cemetery

St. Julien Dressing Station Cemetery is a British war cemetery near the village of Sint-Juliaan, in the municipality of Langemark-Poelkapelle, a few kilometres from the centre of Ypres (Ieper). It sits on Felix Nadarstraat, a side road off the Brugseweg (N313) that connects Ieper with Bruges. It is one of many small war cemeteries scattered across West Flanders, marking the resting places of soldiers who died in the Ypres Salient during the First World War.

Why is the cemetery called a "dressing station" cemetery?

The name refers to a battlefield dressing station that operated on this spot during the fighting. Dressing stations were set up close to the front line so wounded soldiers could receive emergency first aid before being moved further back to field hospitals. Graves at such sites accumulated gradually, as soldiers who did not survive their wounds were buried nearby.

When was the cemetery established?

The cemetery was begun in September 1917, during the Third Battle of Ypres, better known as the Battle of Passchendaele. By March 1918 it consisted of Plots I and III and part of Plot II, holding 203 graves. However, the site suffered heavy damage from shellfire in the summer of 1918 — a fate shared by many cemeteries established close to the front line at that stage of the war.

What happened to the cemetery after the war?

After the Armistice, the cemetery was enlarged when the remains of soldiers found on the battlefields surrounding St. Julien were brought into Plots II and IV. This post-war concentration gave the cemetery its current form. Today it contains the graves of 420 soldiers, of whom 180 are unidentified — a figure that reflects the scale of destruction and confusion that marked the fighting in this part of the Salient.

What is the history of St. Julien itself?

The village of St. Julien (today Sint-Juliaan) remained within Allied lines from the autumn of 1914 until April 1915. It was in this area, on 22 April 1915, that German forces used poison gas on the Western Front for the first time. Despite the gas attack, the village was held by the 3rd Canadian Infantry Brigade, but a second gas attack two days later ultimately led to the Allies losing the ground. These events form one of the most notorious episodes of the Second Battle of Ypres and a grim turning point in the history of chemical warfare.

Who designed the cemetery?

The cemetery was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield, one of the principal architects commissioned by the Imperial War Graves Commission (now the Commonwealth War Graves Commission) to design war cemeteries after the First World War. Blomfield is also known as the designer of the Cross of Sacrifice, a feature found at Commonwealth war cemeteries around the world.

Frequently asked questions

How many people are buried at the cemetery? The cemetery holds the graves of 420 soldiers, of whom 180 remain unidentified.

From which period of the war does the cemetery date? It was established in September 1917, during the Third Battle of Ypres, and later enlarged after the war with graves brought in from the surrounding battlefields.

Where exactly is the cemetery located? On Felix Nadarstraat, a side road off the Brugseweg (N313), about 6 km from the centre of Ieper, in the municipality of Langemark-Poelkapelle.

Is this site linked to the use of chemical weapons? Yes — the St. Julien area was the site of one of the first poison gas attacks in the history of warfare, carried out by German forces in April 1915.