**The first of 250 British and Australian soldiers whose remains were recovered from a World War I battlefield in northern France are set to be reburied.**The soldiers, who died in the 1916 Battle of Fromelles, will be reburied with full military honours in a special service at a cemetery near the site.
It is the first Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery built in 50 years.
The bodies, which were buried by German forces, were excavated from six mass graves in 2008.
UK Veterans Minister Kevan Jones and his Australian counterpart Veteran Affairs Minister Alan Griffin are attending the one-hour service in the village of Fromelles with families of fallen soldiers.
The remainder of the military burials will take place three times a week over the next month, with approximately 30 burials every day.
The battle, on 19 July 1916, was the first major one on the Western Front involving Australian troops.
Heavy losses
In total, the 61st British Division suffered losses of 1,547 personnel, who were either killed, wounded, taken prisoner or missing.
The 5th Australian Division suffered 5,533 similar losses.
The four-month excavation was carried out by Oxford Archaeology.
DNA samples were taken from each soldier and specialists in the UK have attempted to extract DNA strands to help with the identification process.
Every soldier recovered will be reburied with an unnamed headstone in the new Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery, by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
In March, an identification board will consider historical, anthropological, archaeological and DNA evidence to try to identify as many soldiers as possible.
If the soldiers can be identified their relatives will be able to add a personalised inscription on the headstone at a later date.
The cemetery is currently only 70% complete but due to be finished by July.
A ceremony to bury the last of the 250 soldiers and mark the 94th anniversary of the battle is expected to take place on 19 July 2010.