Ex-Nazi commander jailed for Italy massacre

Scheungraber said he handed the victims over to the military police but did not know what happened to them.

I heard a scream, and that was it then. They were all dead Gino Massetti

But the state court in Munich found Scheungraber had ordered the killings in revenge for the deaths of two German soldiers by the Italian resistance.

The military police killed four victims in the street, including a 74-year-old woman.

They then forced 11 other civilians into a farmhouse which they blew up.

The only survivor, Gino Massetti, then 15 years old, gave evidence against Scheungraber at the trial.

"I heard a scream, and that was it then. They were all dead," he told the court.

Mr Massetti said he saw an officer on a motorcycle and give an order to the troops.

But he could not describe the officer and did not understand the order which was spoken in German.

Mr Massetti survived because a heavy beam and a man fell on top of him during the explosion which shielded him from the blast.