THE first day of the Battle of the Somme was the bloodiest in British military history, leaving more than 19,000 dead and 38,000 wounded.

For almost five months, the battle raged through the mud of the trenches and ended with more than one million casualties on both sides and only limited gains for the Allied forces.

One hundred years later, a major commemorative exhibition will explore the reality of the Battle of the Somme through the eyes of the people from County Durham who were there.

Somme 1916: From Durham To The Western Front opens at Palace Green Library in Durham on March 25 and runs to October 2, from 10am to 6pm each day.

A century after the battle, the popular view of the offensive remains of brave young soldiers and callous generals, doomed attacks and senseless slaughter. But is this view mistaken and what really happened in 1916?

Somme 1916: From Durham to the Western Front tells the stories of the people from County Durham caught up in the battle: the men who fought and died on the battlefield; the women who nursed the wounded and comforted the dying; and the workers who toiled in factories, mines and shipyards across the county to support the war effort.

Durham University is working in partnership with Durham County Council on this exhibition, which will showcase items from the Durham Light Infantry Museum and Archive collections.

County Durham has been officially twinned with the Somme region in France for over 30 years.

Admission charges apply and details of how to buy tickets will be announced soon.

For further information, please contact pg.library@durham.ac.uk or 0191 334 2932.