The remains of up to 400 soldiers buried in First World War mass graves are to be exhumed and given individual burials thanks to an Oxford company.

Oxford Archaeology has won the contract to excavate the six burial sites at Fromelles, in France, where British and Australian soldiers were buried in 1916.

The Battle of Fromelles, which took place 19 days after the start of the Somme campaign, saw a total of 7,080 Allied soldiers killed, wounded or captured.

Among the British regiments involved was the 2/4th Territorial Army battalion of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry.

Oxford Archaeology, based at Osney Mead, was awarded the contract by the British and Australian governments.

Veterans Minister Kevan Jones said: “We’re pleased to announce that work will start in May on the archaeological excavation at Pheasant Wood.

“By the end of the project in 2010 all the bodies will be permanently laid to rest in individual graves at a new Commonwealth War Graves cemetery at Fromelles. Wherever it’s possible to identify the remains, named graves will be provided.”

It had previously been thought that some soldiers from Oxfordshire could be among those in the mass graves.

But John Blakeman, the war memorial co-ordinator of the Oxfordshire Family History Society, said: “It appears the Oxford area is not really affected by it. I’ve checked and they had about 80 unaccounted for from that day and they are mainly from the Aylesbury area.

“From the middle of the war if a battalion got decimated they might bring soldiers in from all over the place.”

More information is available at defence.gov.au/fromelles