US soldier reunites with Italian children he almost shot during second world war

Martin Adler, 96, speaks with the three children - now age 79 to 83 - by video call in Christmas miracle'

A 96-year-old retired American soldier has been reunited with three children he almost accidentally shot in 1944 while liberating an Italian mountain village from the Nazis.

Martin Adler fought along the Gothic Line, and in October 1944 was among the US troops liberating the area surrounding Monterenzio, a village in the Apennines mountains close to Bologna.