The Battle of Arras began on 9 April 1917 and was Britain’s first major battle following The Battle of the Somme in 1916. Although The Battle of Arras saw significant successes on the first day, it became enormously costly and eventually resulted in 150,000 British casualties. The Arras battlefield is now the site of some of the most striking memorials from the First World War.  The fighting saw the highest concentration of Scots involved in any World War One campaign. Of the 120 battalions that took part at Arras, 44 of them were Scottish.

Descendants of troops are joining schoolchildren from across Scotland and dignitaries for the commemorations at Arras.
Arras was fought from 9 April to 16 May 1917 and marked the beginning of the spring offensive on the Western Front.

The moderator of the Church of Scotland conducted a service at Faubourg d'Amiens Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery in Arras, which also saw the Royal Regiment of Scotland band conduct a Beating Retreat in the Place des Heros.  Wreaths were laid by Lord Llewellyn, the British Ambassador to France and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence as well as Prof Norman Drummond, chairman of the Scottish commemorations panel.

In a symbolic gesture, a school pupil from Scotland and one from France laid a wreath together on behalf of the UK, French, Canadian, New Zealand, Australian and South African nations who fought in the battle, while singer Amy Hawthorn from West Lothian led the singing of the national anthems.

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