Every year, dozens of WWI soldiers’ bodies are found during building work of present day

Scientists from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, based in northern France, are at the forefront of efforts to identify bodies that are still regularly found in northern France, along the former front lines.

Two unknown Scottish soldiers killed in World War One have been laid to rest in France after their bodies were found during work to build a hospital.

War detectives from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) were called in to try and trace the identities of the two men, who were thought to have died during the Battle of Loos in 1915.

They were among more than 40 soldiers whose remains were interred during a ceremony in the town, near the city of Lille, on Wednesday.

Hundreds of people, including Princess Anne, attended the burial service, organised by the MoD’s Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre (JCCC) and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC).

The battle, which saw British, Indian and French troops attempt to break through German defences in Artois, was the largest British attack of that year.

However, the attack was contained and repelled by German forces.

More than 59,000 soldiers from Britain and India died between 25 September and 8 October – an estimated 7,000 of whom were Scottish.

Ms Bowers said remains were being uncovered on a daily basis in Northern France and Belgium during construction projects.

The process of identifying the dead can take months, or even years.

The team start with the location their bodies were found, then look at any artefacts that have been found on them.

The team said it could offer families “closure” if they were aware of their relatives’ efforts during the conflict, or open a new strand to their family history if they did not know about their involvement. A representative said:

“We are looking for things like regimental shoulder titles, cap badges, bits of uniform, bits of kilt, boots to show they are British,”

“All of that narrows it down to hopefully the correct regiment. Then we look through war diaries to see that we had a regiment in that location at that time and then working out how many were missing from that regiment.

“Families either knew about that soldier and they have grown up knowing that their great-great grandfather was missing and killed in the war, or they knew absolutely nothing.

“But when they give us the DNA, they come on that journey with us for closure. I think they all become invested in the result.”