Junior defence minister Lewis Moonie said: "If the proposals do appear to affect war graves cemeteries containing British and Commonwealth graves, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission will firmly resist any plans to disturb the war dead."

Dr Moonie's comments came in a written reply to a question by shadow defence secretary Bernard Jenkin.

He said the commission had asked for fuller details from the French authorities about the airport construction plans.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said the government would back the war graves commission if it decided to oppose Paris-Chaulnes.

An anti-airport poster adorns this World War I statue

More than a million soldiers from the British Empire, France and Germany were killed in the battle of the Somme, which took place between July and November 1916.

There are only a handful of survivors of the battle still alive and they are reportedly also opposed to the airport.

It is understood the remains of 25 British soldiers and 41 from the Commonwealth would have to be exhumed and reburied if the airport got the go-ahead.

Residents of Chaulnes, who have their own reasons for opposing the scheme, say the airport will dishonour the memory of the thousands of WWI soldiers buried in the area.

The graveyard at Vermandovillers, which is directly in the path of the planned runway, contains the bodies of 23,000 German soldiers.

It is not clear what position the German Government plans to take about its fallen sons.

Germany has its own body, the Deutsche Volksbund Kriegsgraeberfursorge, which maintains German wartime graves.

David Parker, a spokesman for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, said the position should be made clear in February, when detailed plans of the airport should be presented.

But he said the French Government had a good record in dealing with war graves and had managed to build the Channel Tunnel and the TGV high speed railway line without causing significant damage to cemeteries.