Tests to identify WWI soldiers

DNA tests to identify the remains of hundreds of British and Australian soldiers killed in the First World War will begin this week.

Between 250 and 300 bodies have been discovered in mass graves in northern France, where they were buried by German forces after the disastrous 1916 Battle of Fromelles.

The soldiers’ remains are being exhumed and will be laid to rest with full military honours in individual graves at a new Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery nearby.