Work has begun near the French village of Meymac on the exhumation of the bodies of some 47 German soldiers who were captured and then shot dead by French resistance fighters in June 1944 during World War II, Ednews informs via foreign media.
The existence of the grave was revealed by a 98-year-old former resistance fighter, Edmond Reveil, with his stated aim to be to return the bodies to their families, where still possible.
Reveil has expressed great sorrow about the shootings, which occurred when he was just 19 years old. He did not kill any of the soldiers himself by his account.
"It was a war crime. We did not have the right to kill the prisoners," he told local newspaper La Montagne in May of this year.