This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1914 edition. Excerpt: ...remaining in Louvain have taken refuge in the suburb of Heverle, where they are extremely crowded. They have been cleared out of the town by the troops and the fire. The fire started a little beyond the American College, and the town is entirely destroyed, except for the Town Hall and the station. Furthermore, ...
Read More
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1914 edition. Excerpt: ...remaining in Louvain have taken refuge in the suburb of Heverle, where they are extremely crowded. They have been cleared out of the town by the troops and the fire. The fire started a little beyond the American College, and the town is entirely destroyed, except for the Town Hall and the station. Furthermore, the fire was still burning to-day, and the Germans, far from taking any steps to stop it, seemed to feed it with straw, an instance of which I observed in the street adjoining the Town Hall. The cathedral and the theater are destroyed and have fallen in, as also the library; in short, the town has the appearance of an ancient ruined city, in the midst of which only a few drunken soldiers move about, carrying bottles of wine and liqueurs, while the officers themselves, seated in arm-chairs round the tables, drink like their men. In the streets the swollen bodies of dead horses rot in the sun, and the smell of fire and putrefaction pervades the whole place." HOW THE GERMANS RUN AMOK IN A COUNTRY THEY INVADE The Commission has not yet been able to obtain information about the fate of the Mayor of Louvain and of the other notables who were taken as hostages. The Commission is able to draw the following conclusions from the facts which have so far been brought to its notice: In this war the occupation of any place is systematically accompanied and followed--sometimes even preceded--by acts of violence towards the civil population, which acts are contrary both to the usages of war and to the most elementary principles of humanity. The German procedure is everywhere the same. They advance along a road, shooting inoffensive passers-by, particularly bicyclists, as well as peasants working in the fields. In the towns or villages where they stop...
Read Less