Hunt begins for remains of 47 Nazi soldiers executed by French Resistance

Police officers Meymac, central France, at the site where the remains of 47 German soldiers and a French woman accused of collaboration are presumed to be buried in a mass grave. © Pascal LACHENAUD / AFP

A search is underway in central France for the remains of 47 German soldiers and one French woman who were shot dead by members of the French Resistance during World War II in a mass execution that went largely unknown for nearly 80 years.

French and German authorities this week began looking for signs of a mass grave in the small town of Meymac, around 500 kilometres south of Paris in the department of Corrèze.