
The landscape may have healed but the scars of the Battle of the Somme are still visible in the French countryside 100 years after one of the most famously futile clashes in military history.

It lasted for 141 days and cost the lives of 300,000 British, French, German, Canadian, South African, Australian, New Zealand and Indian soldiers.

On the first day alone - 1 July 1916 - 19,240 British soldiers were killed after 'going over the top' and more than 38,000 were wounded.

Now a British photographer has spent 400 days in France taking pictures of the battlefield over a 10 year period will be displayed alongside old photos in London from June 1.

The Lochnagar crater (pictured) was created when miners from the 185th and 179th Tunnelling Company of the British Army's Royal Engineers Regiment detonated a 60,000lb mine under the German trenches. Captain James Young pressed the switch at 7.28am. When the dust settled the crater was occupied by a pals' battalion called the Grimsby Chums, but within hours the German artillery had started pounding it with shells

A huge artillery bombardment had failed to destroy the German positions and the infantrymen were mowed down by machine guns, having managed to capture only three square miles of territory.

On the eve of the battle General Henry Rawlinson showed an 'attitude of absolute confidence' and he maintained his wildly optimistic streak despite the catastrophic losses of the first day.

Rawlinson, under pressure from his boss Field Marshal Douglas Haig, forced his inexperienced soldiers - including many of the famous 'Pals' Battalions' - formed by old school mates, factory workers and even football teams all over England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland - to drive on for the next four months.

On 1 July 1916 tens of thousands of British, French and Commonwealth troops went 'over the top', pouring out of their trenches and running towards the German lines, confident the enemy had been destroyed by artillery. Thousands were mowed down by German machine gunners, who had hunkered down and survived the artillery onslaught. This image is a still from the film The Battle of the Somme, some of which was staged but included actual scenes from the front. When the film came out in British cinemas in the autumn of 1916 more than 20 million people went to see it, many of whom had lost loved ones during the battle

On the last day of the battle - 13 November 1916 - the 51st Highland Division took Beaumont Hamel and captured 7,000 German prisoners.

By the end the British and French forces had advanced a measly six miles across a 16 mile front.

The plan was for a 'Big Push' to relieve the French forces, who were besieged further south at Verdun, and break through German lines.

If it were not for the Lonsdale Cemetery there would be no way of telling that this hillside saw a horrific battle 100 years ago. The cemetery contains 1,542 graves, including many officers and men of the 1st Dorsets and the 11th Borders who attacked the German line at this point and stormed the Leipzig Salient, but were compelled to retire later in the day

The landscape at the Newfoundland Memorial Park at Beaumont Hamel still shows the contours of the original trenches as well as shell craters and wire pickets. The park gets its named from the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, which lost hundreds of men on July 1, 1916 when it tried to take Beaumont Hamel. July 1 remains a day of remembrance in Canada's Newfoundland and Labrador province

Although it did take pressure off Verdun it failed to provide a breakthrough and the war dragged on for another two years.

British photographer Mike Sheil has spent 400 days in France taking pictures of the battlefield over a 10 year period.

Mr Sheil, 69, from Oxford, visited the battlefield several times a year to capture it during different lights and seasons.

He said: 'A lot of photographs you see of the battle site are very sad, and often back and white. I wanted to show a different side to it. A happier side.

'The blood has washed away and the scars have healed and what is left is actually rather beautiful.'

These unexploded shells were uncovered by a plough near the Munich Trench British Cemetery and are awaiting collection by the Bomb Squad. Old ordnance is constantly being found in the area and hundreds of people have been killed by explosions since the battle ended 100 years ago. There are 126 bodies at the Munich Trench British Cemetery, which is named after a nearby German position believed to have been taken from a regiment from the Bavarian city

Mr Sheil's photographs will be displayed in juxtaposition with old pictures at the Guildhall in London from June 1.

He said: 'When we exhibited the pictures previously, a guy came up to me and say 'thank God, you're leaving. Now I can actually get to work on time.'

'Moments like that make all the work worth it.'

A British six inch gun, operated by the Royal Garrison Artillery, is fired during the Battle of Albert, the key opening phase of the Battle of the Somme. The 6 inch gun was originally a naval gun, adapted for use by the army during World War I. The British generals believed a huge 'creeping barrage' in the days before July 1, 1916 had destroyed the German positions. Their optimism was hopelessly misplaced

British photographer Mike Sheil has spent 435 days in France over 10 years capturing the Somme battlefields as they are now. His photos will be displayed next month in juxtaposition with old pictures at the Guildhall in London. He said: 'The blood has washed away and the scars have healed and what is left is actually rather beautiful'

This is part of a private collection of munitions which has been recovered from the battlefield by the owner of a garden and orchard. Thousands of tons of shells were fired during the Battle of the Somme and mountains of guns and other equipment was left behind by dead and wounded soldiers on both sides. In early October, the weather began to deteriorate and British soldiers became bogged down in the mud. Large amounts of weaponry and equipment sank in the mud, only to emerge years later

Men of the Border Regiment are pictured resting, some in 'funk holes', in a front line trench at Thiepval Wood during the Battle of the Somme in August 1916. The British and French did make some progress during August 1916, so much so that the German General Erich von Falkenhayn was forced to resign after he failed to capture Verdun

Mr Sheil took this amazing aerial shot of the landscape of Newfoundland Memorial Park at Beaumont Hamel. The trenches and shell-holes are clearly visible from the air

British cavalry is pictured passing the ruins of a church in July 1916 during the Battle of Albert, during the First Battle of the Somme. Two months later the modern cavalry - tanks - were introduced for the first time to the Western Front, but they still did not break the deadlock

Delville Wood (pictured) was a German position targeted by the South African Brigade between July 14 and 26, 1916. From a force of 3,150 they suffered over 3,000 casualties. Most of the beech and hornbeam trees which made up the wood were destroyed by shelling during the battle. They wood was replanted with oak and birch trees by the South African government

The shadows of row upon row of gravestones are caught in autumnal sunshine at the Serre Road cemetery number 2. There are 7,127 Commonwealth soldiers buried here, of whom 4,944 are unidentified

A British soldier is pictured catching up on some sleep in a front line trench at Thiepval in September 1916, his rifle propped up alongside him. The Thiepval sector is remembered particularly in Northern Ireland as hundreds of men from the 36th Ulster Division lost their lives there. Nine of them won Victoria Cross medals for valour

This breathtaking photograph of the Ancre Mill at Hamel was taken early one morning. The Ancre is a tributary of the Somme and was the scene of two bloody battles at the end of the Somme campaign in November. Many of the casualties were simply listed as 'missing', having been either drowned or blown to smithereens

This picture of the Battle of Albert was taken from the trenches during a night attack on Beaumont Hamel. Moonlit nights were sometimes chosen by officers for nocturnal attacks on enemy trenches

From the ground this field at Beaumont Hamel would look much like any other but from the sky the trenches and bomb craters can be made out clearly. On the first day of the battle almost 700 out of the 800 men of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment were killed or wounded on this field

Ministry Of Information First World War Official Collection, Ernest Brooks: The mine under German front line positions at Hawthorn Redoubt is fired 10 minutes before the assault at Beaumont Hamel on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, 1 July 1916. 45,000 pounds of Ammonal exploded. The mine caused a crater 130 feet across by 58 feet deep, 1 July 1916. (Photo by Lt. E Brooks/ IWM via Getty Images)

This picture captures the sunlight through the trees on the marshes of the Ancre near Authuille. Among those killed at the Battle of the Somme was Raymond Asquith, 37, son of the prime minister. He was shot in the chest but stoically lit a cigarette to hide the seriousness of his injuries so that his men would continue their advance without him

The 2nd Battalion of the Seaforth Highlanders take roll call near Beaumont Hamel on the afternoon of the first day of the battle of the Somme. The majority of the Seaforth Highlanders wore regiment kilts covered by a khaki-coloured apron (pictured right)

This astonishing image shows the green fields of the Somme battlefield. This week Northern Ireland's Deputy First Minister and former IRA commander Martin McGuinness announced he would be visiting the battlefield in a ground-breaking visit

The Lochnagar crater at La Boiselle on the Somme which was left behind by an enormous mine left by British Army sappers. Many of the tunnelers had worked building sewers under Manchester just before the war for John Norton-Griffiths, a Tory MP and lieutenant-colonel in the Royal Engineers. Lt-Col Norton-Griffiths died mysteriously in Egypt in 1930