Four thousand relatives of soldiers who fought in the battle of Passchendaele, which started 100 years ago on Monday, have joined Prince Charles, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Theresa May at Tyne Cot cemetery in Flanders to remember one of the bloodiest chapters in the first world war.

A majority of the 11,961 servicemen buried in the Commonwealth war grave were killed during the 100-day offensive to take the village of Passchendaele, also known as the third battle of Ypres. Tyne Cot, the largest Commonwealth war graveyard, lies on a former German machine gun position between Passchendaele, on high ground to the west, and the Belgian town of Ypres, visible from the cemetery a few miles away.The service will include readings of wartime poems, the diaries and letters of those who fell, including a German officer, and music from the national youth choir of Scotland, the band of the HM Royal Marines Plymouth, the Welsh Guards and the central band of the Royal Air Force, among others.(theguardian)…[+]