as a matter of duty, as though in accordance with a drill scheme laid
down and perfected beforehand.

Of course, fire once let loose, these people have to see that it does
its work completely: accordingly, at Louvain, they destroyed the
fire-engines and fire-escapes; at Namur, they stopped the firemen at the
very moment they were preparing to do their duty.

In this way they sometimes wilfully burned down whole blocks of
dwellings (Lunéville): sometimes an entire district (105 houses at
Senlis, 112 at Baccarat): sometimes almost a whole town itself (more
than 300 houses at Gerbéviller, 800 at Sermaize, 1,200 at Dinant, 1,800
at Louvain[4]). On other occasions they did not leave a house standing
(Nomeny, Clermont-en-Argonne, Sommeilles).

The complete list of buildings, cottages, farms, villas, factories, or
châteaux, burned wilfully in this way by hand, will be a formidable one,
amounting to tens of thousands.[5]

Refinement of cruelty frequently occurs. At Aerschot "women had to
witness the sight of the conflagration holding their hands up. Their
torture lasted six hours." At Crévic, the Germans began their sinister
work by burning a château which they knew belonged to General Lyautey.
The troops, commanded by an officer, shouted out for Madame and
Mademoiselle Lyautey "that they might cut their heads off."

The houses destroyed by fire were not always uninhabited. At Maixe, M.
Demange, wounded in both knees, dragged himself along and fell prostrate
in his kitchen; his house was set on fire and Madame Demange was
forcibly prevented from going to the rescue of her husband, who perished