A Nazi World War II treasure map showing the site of buried chests of gold and jewels has been made public by officials in the Netherlands.

The seven chests are said to have been hidden by German forces in the dying days of the war.

They are understood to contain jewellery and cash worth millions of pounds looted by Nazi troops during the Battle of Arnhem in 1944.

Period eyewitnesses have spoken about German soldiers stuffing their coat pockets full of loot after robbing a bank that contained the valuables.

There had been an explosion at a branch of the Rotterdamsche Bank in Arnhem during the battle, allowing the soldiers to loot valuables from the wreckage.

According to the map, the site where much of the stolen treasure was buried is near the village of Ommeren in the Dutch province of Gelderland.

The map is one of thousands of World War II documents released to the public by the National Archives of the Netherlands for the first time.

There have long been rumours about the location of the treasure and the map is expected to start fresh attempts to find it.

One previous failed attempt involved Dutch officials bringing a former Nazi officer back into the country to help with the search.

But even if the map is genuine, the treasure could have been found decades ago by someone who decided to keep quiet about it.

It could even have been retrieved by retreating German troops as they fled.