THE Wee County fell silent this morning in a tribute to all those brave souls lost on the tragic first day of the Battle of Somme, 100 years ago.

Representatives from Clackmannanshire Council and the British Legion attended at the war memorial in Alloa today as part of the commemoration event.

Provost Derek Stewart said: "A century after these events, the trauma of this battle is still strongly felt. Almost every community across the UK was deeply affected by the loss of men who had gone to fight at the Battle of the Somme."

The Battle of the Somme was one of the bloodiest battles in history and has come to symbolise the enormous losses and dreadful conditions of The Great War. The fighting took place in Northern France, around the River Somme, from 1 July to 18 November 1916.

With the French and British armies calling upon troops from the colonies and the French Foreign Legion, units from 25 nations and 50 countries were involved in the Battle of the Somme.

In four months of combat, the total number of men killed, wounded and missing reached over one million and entire nations were sent into mourning.

Casualties amounted to 420,000 for the British, 190,000 for the French and 420,000 for the Germans.

The landscape of the north-east of the Somme was completely devastated; villages were razed to the ground and fields were turned into lunar-landscapes by shelling.