Mass grave of German soldiers discovered at Villeneuve-Loubet - WWII digging

A forgotten mass grave containing the bodies of 14 German soldiers was discovered by a local student in a forest near Villeneuve-Loubet, southern France, in 2006. The bodies were exhumed in colaboration with the German War Graves Commission. A long investigation then followed to find out who these soldiers were and the circumstances of their death. This video summerizes the results of the investigation and identification process.
The German soldiers were members of Reserve Grenadier Bataillon 372 who had been killed in combat against members of the First Special Service Force (Black Devil's Brigade, consiting of both American and Canadian soldiers) on August 26th 1944, with artillery support from the 602nd Pack Field Artillery Battalion.

All the events and people from this video can be found described in much greater detail in the book "Autopsy of a Battle, the Liberation of the French Riviera", by Jean-Loup Gassend. The book contains a report of the excavation, numerous first hand accounts of the battle by 1st Special Service Force veterans and local residents, as well as some German sources about the battle.

For more information:

A Crocodile Tear Productions documentary

World War II - Operation Dragoon anvil - Champagne Campaign - exhumation - helmets - identification tags - dog tags - battlefield archaeology - forensic archaology - forensic pathology -excavation - Wehrmacht - FSSF - 1st Special Service Force - First Airborne Task Force - metal detecting detector - digging - Invasion of southern France - 1939 - 1945 - Reserve Division 148 - Otto Fretter-Pico - General Robert T Frederick - anthropology - genealogy - ancestry - ID tags - Massengrab - Canadian army - American - Erkennungsmarken - First Special Service Force - Spearhead - The Devil's Brigade - The Black Devil's Brigade - 602nd Pack Field Artillery Battalion - D-Day Invasion - August 15th 1944 - forensic investigation - Cagnes sur Mer - Roquefort les Pins - Côte d'Azur - Villeneuve-Loubet - la Colle sur Loup - gunshot wounds - shrapnel fragment wounds - WWII - F. K. Robinson Vancouver 5-2 FSSF - forensic archaeology - 602nd Pack Field Artillery Battalion - problems with German ID tag coding - decoding identification tags - DNA identification - digging up - Katowice - Kattowitz - Regiment Schlesien - Silesia Poland - Volksbund - Bundesarchiv - WASt - German helmets - miliaria collection - glider troops -

[CrocodileTear]

The full video report about the exhumation of the German soldiers can be seen on my channel: "WWII German Mass Grave discovery at Villeneuve-Loubet - Exhumation, identification, causes of death"

[Omnipotencius]

Hi. Im a 42 year old German and I would love to help you. Such an important job. 3 of my parents uncles are still missed in combat. Makes me sad that same things will happen in Ukraine in the future. Im not very wealthy but my heart is on the right place and I'd like to help. I live in Trier. Be my guest whenever you are close and I'll invite you to a good restaurant. I know a lot about Trier in WW2. I' travel to France or BeNeLux any time to assist till my hands are bleeding.

Best regards.

[jocelyneeastman]

All soldiers, no matter what side, deserve to be returned and remembered

[JackGray-echc]

Rest in Peace 🫡❤️. People may have forgotten who you were back then. But you were all brave and heroic. And I thank you for what you’ve done.

[Rose-jzix]

RIP young men. Wars are started by older men and greed. Boys & young men are the chess pieces.😭😭❤️💜💚❤️💜💚

[ascenethcardenaslondono]

Igual eran seres humanos y tienen derecho a un descanso digno y en paz. Además dieron su vida por una nación y eso no debería olvidarse nunca.

[thefatkid]

So many lives are lost unnecessarily to fulfill one hungry soul.

[christophkohler]

"Buried"? As the bodies lay in disarray, they were simply thrown into the nearest hole like trash and covered with soil. And it is also extremely significant that it took until 2006 for the mass grave to be “rediscovered” (with the help of metal detectors!). Nobody was interested or wanted to know for sure that there were still a few “Boches” buried somewhere. It may be understandable that no one in the Russian steppe was interested in the fact that there were soldiers lying dead in the holes for decades they died in, but we are talking here about the Côte d' Azure and a nation that has called himself a “friend” for decades!

[OffendingTheOffendable]

Love how YouTube made him censor a dead guy's face from 80 years ago

[markordorica]

Resurrection is coming.Jesus knows where there were buried

[hunger]

Who keep pictures of dead people as souvenirs. That is sick.😮

[scott]

The "allies" in many cases were just as brutal as the enemy they were fighting. Remember..."History is written by the victors."

[Bravox]

Photos with a dead enemy. That's just sick. What disrespect. And these are the holy veterans? No Words.

[hpharridan]

The First Special Service Force was The Devil's Brigade, an extremely talented and versatile group of men hand picked by General Frederick, regardless of whether their talents were legal or not, and their story is fascinating.

[pvtimberfaller]

So I was thinking about the unreadable ID tags.
Since they are stamped the metal was displaced so with the proper preparation it may be possible to see what is written on them. I know they use that technology to ID firearms that had the serial number ground off.

[Nohandle]

Don’t let those Canadians fool you. I’m not sure where they got the stereotype of being super nice & polite people. Canadians are the reason why they need the Geneva Convention!

[prsimoibn]

I heard about that village before, but I don't know why?

[JS-wnrb]

On the tags, are you using other methods to try to read the names other than cleaning? Seems like they have other technologies to look at the metal and determine the stamp impressions not visible to the named eye

[tinabrain]

How can you for such thing? These are people.if it was my son there I would not stop searching for him til the day I die

[MsTERRY]

A pic😮 really 😢 why have a pic like this imagine it was you how would your family feel? Just your pic and the advertisement of the website for families is enough.