Black Watch Statue set for Belgium

Nadine Lee | April 4, 2013 | 0 Comments

A working model of the statue.

A statue of a Black Watch soldier is to be unveiled in Belgium in 2014, commemorating more than 8,000 soldiers and officers of the regiment who lost their lives in the First World War. 20,000 men from the regiment were injured during the war.

Set to be placed in an area known as Black Watch Corner near Ypres, the statue will overlook a battlefield where the First Battalion made a heroic stand in November 1914.

Colonel Alex Murdoch, chairman of the Black Watch Association said the site was chosen because of the importance of events that stopped the German advance. “Along with other withdrawing British forces, (The Black Watch) fought against a numerically stronger force from the Kaiser’s Prussian Guard in November 1914. The action brought to an end the First Battle of Ypres and their heroic stand was to prove decisive because it stopped the German advance to the coast.”

“If they had broken through to the coast, the war would have been over and lost.”

A clay prototype of the 4.5 meter kilted soldier was revealed in Edinburgh yesterday. The completed bronze statue will stand on a Scottish Granite plinth and depict a Black Watch soldier in a kilt, jacket and bonnet, which was fighting uniform at the time, along with a Lee Enfield rifle and 18-inch bayonet.

The unveiling will mark the start of four years of commemorative centenary events remembering the sacrifices of everyone who fought in the 1914-18 conflict. Plans are being made for 200 veterans and serving soldiers to travel to Belgium next spring to unveil the statue and pay tribute to the fallen.