A NEW exhibition dedicated to the Gordon Highlanders at the start of the First World War opens tomorrow to ­coincide with 100th anniversary of the start of the 1914-1918 conflict.

The event at the Gordon Highlanders Museum in Aberdeen explores the story of the regular and territorial battalions of the Regiment in the first few months of the Great War, a period unlike any other during the so-called "war to end all wars".

The regiment was involved in the major battles of these months at Mons, Le Cateau and Ypres.

Two battalions of Gordons even took part in the famous Christmas Truce that first winter when the Germans and British soldiers played a game of football.

It shows how many of the soldiers believed they were heading into a short war, before their initial fervour gave way to devastating losses.

Curator Jesper Ericsson, said of the event which runs until November 29: "Public interest in the First World War is huge, and the story of the Gordon Highlanders in 1914 is both unique and extremely moving.

"Focusing purely on the first few months of the war for the exhibition was a deliberate decision, as the Gordons were amongst the first to travel to France and Flanders after the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914, and were involved in all the major actions that summer and autumn, culminating at the end of the year in the Christmas Truce."

Highlights include a sword carried by Captain JAO Brooke who won the Victoria Cross posthumously at the First Battle of Ypres in October 1914.