More than a million British, French and German soldiers were wounded or killed on the one day of fighting at the Battle of the Somme on July 1 1916. It would generate over 250 cemeteries in France and form a major part of the 2920 cemeteries maintained in France by the Commonwealth Graves Commission.

"Due to the use of artillery and the ferocity of fighting 90,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers killed had no known grave. The greatest British Memorial to these men is the Memorial to the Missing at Thiepval, where 72,194 names of British and South African soldiers with no known grave are recorded in Portland stone. Among this number are 342 from the Dorsetshire Regiment and 607 from the Hampshire Regiment. Recently the Dorsetshire Regiment erected an obelisk a short distance from the memorial", said Robert Wilson from Bournemouth whose relatives fought in the Great War in France or Belgium.

"The Somme battle was originally planned as a major offensive with the British in a supporting role", said Rod Arnold Vice Chairman of the Wessex branch of the Western Front Association who has done an Aspects of History talk on the Battle of the Somme at Bournemouth Central Library today.

The French contribution to the planned Somme offensive was reduced after they suffered heavy losses at the battle of Verdun. The British went ahead the week before July 1 firing over 1.7 million shells into the German defences, confident the following infantry attack would be a success. They miscalculated.

2nd Lieutenant Eric Maitland Jellicoe, 20, a Sangeen School student and living with his parents in St John's Road, Bournemouth, serving with the Sherwood Foresters, was one of three Bournemouth men killed in the Gommecourt operation intended to divert German artillery and reinforcements away from the main action. He is buried at Foncquevillers.

The other two, 2nd Lieutenant Alfred Flaxman, 36, of the Grand Avenue, serving with the South Staffordshire Regiment, and Sergeant Leonard Frederick King, 21, serving with the Queen's Westminster Rifles have no known grave and are commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.

Sergeant George Fredrick Ivamy, 34, of Cardigan Road, Winton, fighting with the Worcestershire Regiment was killed when his battalion was used as a follow-up unit at Beaumont Hamel. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.

Privates Albert Osborne, 23, of Cardigan Road, Winton, and Ernest Edward Tanswell, 20, of Windham Road, Bournemouth, were casualties when the 1st battalion of the Dorset Regiment advanced to support the attack on the Leipzig Salient on July 1. They are also at the Thiepval Memorial.

Other Bournemouth men killed during the Battle of the Somme were four from the Hampshire Regiment, Lance corporal Edward James Barnes, 22, a plumber's apprentice of Alma Road; Private Edward Walter Ragless, 24, a plumber of Wolverton Road; Private Frederick John Fish, 21, a bricklayer's improver of Josephine Villas, Branksome, and 2nd Lieutenant Lawrence Arthur Westmore, 22, of the West Cliff. Barnes is buried at Bertrancourt Military Cemetery and Westmore at Sucrerie, while Ragless and Fish are commemorated at Thiepval.

Lance Corporal Victor Frank Wills of Madison Avenue in Bournemouth lied about his age and may explain why he joined the York and Lancashire Regiment rather than a local one. He was 18 years old when he died and is buried at Blighty Cemetery, Authuille Wood.

Little is known about Bournemouth-born Private Frederick Goodwin who died serving the Royal Berkshire Regiment and is buried at Ribemont Communal Cemetery Extension.

Many of the injured returned home via hospital ships and were treated at hospitals throughout Britain.

The Royal Victoria and West Hants Hospital in Shelley Road, Boscombe, was the main hospital at Bournemouth as British Red Cross and St John Ambulance volunteers worked tirelessly on the hospital trains and platforms.

"Another eight hospitals were required at Bournemouth, including the Mont Dore Military Hospital, a former hotel and now Bournemouth's Town Hall. The Mont Dore was initially for the Indian Army and later the British Army", said Robert Wilson.

Jenny Young of Moordown Historical Society who has researched the Bournemouth soldiers who died in the Great War, blew an original 1916 soldier's whistle at the recent Bournemouth War Memorial Battle of the Somme centenary service.

She will be exhibiting her collection of First World War memorabilia, including the whistle, medals, postcards and a bracelet made of French coins listing the main battles, along with other collectors and historians, this Friday at the Westbourne Library where there will be a showing of the Imperial War Museum's digitally remastered original 1916 film 'The Battle of the Somme' at 5.15pm.