Every conflict referred to as a war results in the horror of loss and death. This is true of any war, and the Spanish Civil War is a good example. Many people disappeared and were never found again, mainly because nobody ever looked for them. There were several counteroffensives on the eastern war front in Spain's Levante region during 1938, which, although ending in Pyrrhic victories for the Republican Army, were forgotten for years, as were the bodies of the soldiers abandoned to the elements on the battlefields. In 2014, this research project was developed to locate, exhume, and identify four graves containing the bodies of Republican soldiers found at the site of Peña Salada, Spain. The graves were found to contain five individuals, including some considered to be juvenile soldiers, aged between 14 and 20. They displayed many signs of violence, and it was possible to infer differences in injuries from bladed weapons and firearms. There was also evidence of the pillaging and desecration of the burial site. The genetic profiles of the five individuals were obtained in order to create a DNA database, which would make it possible to compare their profiles with those of potential family members who still live with the uncertainty of not knowing the whereabouts of their loved ones. This study offers the first scientific evidence of the participation of juvenile soldiers on the Levante Front, within the context of the Spanish Civil War.

中文翻译：

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在西班牙内战中识别少年士兵的挑战

每一次被称为战争的冲突都会导致损失和死亡的恐怖。任何战争都是如此，西班牙内战就是一个很好的例子。许多人消失了，再也找不到了，主要是因为没有人寻找他们。1938 年，在西班牙莱万特地区的东部战线上发生了几次反攻，虽然以共和军的惨败收场，但多年来被遗忘的士兵的尸体被遗弃在战场上的元素。2014 年，该研究项目旨在定位、挖掘和识别在西班牙佩尼亚萨拉达遗址发现的四个包含共和党士兵尸体的坟墓。发现这些坟墓中有五个人，其中一些人被认为是少年士兵，年龄在 14 至 20 岁之间。他们表现出许多暴力迹象，并且可以推断出刀刃武器和枪支造成的伤害差异。还有证据表明墓地遭到掠夺和亵渎。获得这五个人的基因图谱是为了创建一个 DNA 数据库，这样就可以将他们的基因图谱与那些仍然生活在不知道亲人下落的不确定性中的潜在家庭成员的基因谱进行比较。这项研究提供了西班牙内战背景下少年士兵参与莱万特前线的第一个科学证据。获得这五个人的基因图谱是为了创建一个 DNA 数据库，这样就可以将他们的基因图谱与那些仍然生活在不知道亲人下落的不确定性中的潜在家庭成员的基因谱进行比较。这项研究提供了西班牙内战背景下少年士兵参与莱万特前线的第一个科学证据。获得这五个人的基因图谱是为了创建一个 DNA 数据库，这样就可以将他们的基因图谱与那些仍然生活在不知道亲人下落的不确定性中的潜在家庭成员的基因谱进行比较。这项研究提供了西班牙内战背景下少年士兵参与莱万特前线的第一个科学证据。