The bloodiest single day of fighting in British Military history will be remembered tomorrow at the largest Commonwealth war memorial in the world.

The names of 72,000 casualties of the Battle of the Somme with no known graves are the silent voices that remind us all of the terrible sacrifice paid by so many young men 90 years ago.

Sir Peter Squire, the vice-chairman of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, said: "Ninety years have passed and few veterans are here to tell us their stories, yet history talks to us from the ranks of headstones and the long lists of the names of the missing. We are reminded of the importance of ensuring that their names live forever."

His staff will will be presented to the Prince of Wales in recognition of their work at Thiepval.

The Battle of the Somme began on 1 July 1916 and by the end of the day 60,000 men had been killed, wounded or were missing. The battle raged on until November 1916.

A network of original front line trenches on the Somme battlefields, hidden from public view for the last 90 years, are to be opened for the first time.

Thiepval Wood, close to Britain’s main monument to the Somme, was the launchpad for one of the most dramatic assaults of July 1, 1916 and is the shelter for many unmarked graves.

The wood, which was bought from its French owners by a UK-based charity two years ago, will be opened for the first time next week to mark the 90th anniversary of the start of the battle.

Owned by the members of the same family for more than 100 years, the wood was left almost completely untouched since the end of the First World War, used only for hunting the wild boar, deer and hare which still roam its undergrowth among live ordinance.

The 52-hectare forest is also known as also known as Ulster Wood because it was the base from which the 36 Ulster Division - one of the only sections of the British Army to make any major headway against the Germans on the first day of the battle - began its assault.

Even before the fighting proper began on July 1, the wood was the setting for an act of heroic self sacrifice which earned the first of the nine VCs awarded for actions that day.

Realising that a box of hand grenades, accidentally dropped on the ground during final preparations before going over the top, would explode within seconds killing everyone around, Private William Mcfadzean of the 14th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles flung himself on top of them and was blown to pieces.

He was buried in the wood by the comrades he saved - one of scores of unknown graves under the trees of Thiepval.

Although 99 per cent of the forest is being left untouched, the association commissioned archaeological digs on a small one-acre section.

As part of the project, including professional archaeologists and an army of volunteers, a small section of front-line trench has been restored to its 1916 state employing the methods used in its original construction.

The Somme Association bought the wood and its general manager Carol Walker said: "We have tried to restore the trenches as naturally as possible, we have used regimental records and diaries to reconstruct the trenches as the soldiers themselves would have done; we never used any heavy machinery, everything has been done with pick shovel and trowel."

Modern-day soldiers have also constructed pathways for members of the public who will only be able to enter the wood escorted by Somme Association staff on regular tours organised from a nearby visitors’ centre.

The wood, which will be opened to the public from July 2, will be dedicated in a special service on Saturday attended by the Duke of Gloucester as part of the 90th anniversary commemorations.

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