The people of a small Flemish village plan to honour thousands of Scottish soldiers who found a last resting place in Flanders' fields 90 years ago this summer at the height of one of the First World War's bloodiest battles.

The villagers of Zonnebeke hope to raise a Celtic Cross on the long ridge where the men of the 51st Highland and 9th and 15th Lowland divisions died storming German trenches and strongpoints during the four-month offensive at Passchendaele.

The action was the third phase of the fight for the Ypres salient - pronounced "Wipers" by the men in the trenches - and was aimed at driving through enemy lines to capture U-boat pens on the Belgian coast from which enemy submarines were wreaking havoc on allied shipping.

More than 300,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers and at least 260,000 Germans became casualties in the fighting.

The name of Passchendaele remains synonymous with terrible loss for generations of Canadians, Australians and New Zealanders whose forebears fell in the assault.

The Flemish developed a close relationship with the tens of thousands of Scots who fought there and now want to honour their memory and the historic ties between Scotland and that part of Flanders.

Ishbel McFarlane, the Edinburgh-based trade commissioner for Flanders, said: "The trading links between the two countries goes back to the Middle Ages and there are also close cultural and political connections.

"The Flemish people plan to erect a memorial to Scotland's war dead from 1917 to demonstrate their empathy and goodwill towards the Scots."

A fundraising campaign has begun to raise money for the Celtic Cross and there are plans for a weekend of events to mark the occasion from August 25 to 27.

This will include the inauguration of the war memorial on the Frezenberg, the highest point above the battlefield, and a dawn service on what was the British forward trenchline, accompanied by a Scottish piper playing a lament for the fallen.

Eight Scots won the Victoria Cross, the UK's highest gallantry award, between July 31 and the end of November in some of the bitterest combat seen in four years on the Western Front.