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
in the flames. At Nomeny, Madame Cousin, after being shot, was thrown
into the burning building and roasted. At the same place, M. Adam was
thrown alive into the flames. Let us note in connection with him, to
their credit, an act of comparative humanity. Finding that the unhappy
man was not being burnt fast enough, they ended his misery in the flames
by shooting him. At Monceau-sur-Sambre, where they set fire to 300
houses, they confined the two brothers S. in a shed, and the unfortunate
men were burnt alive.[6]
The soldiers' diaries are filled with descriptions of incendiarism, some
of which we now quote. "Returned by Mazerulles, which was burnt as we
passed through, because the engineers found a telephone there connected
up with the French."[7] "The whole village was in ablaze. Everything
destroyed in the street, except one small house; in front of the door
was a poor woman with her six children, her arms raised and begging for
mercy. And every day it is the same thing."
_Parnx_. "The first village burnt (in Lorraine, on the 10th August);
after that the fun began. Villages in flames, one after the other."
Another note-book simply states, "Sommepy--horrible carnage. The village
entirely burnt; the French thrown into the burning houses; civilians
with the rest.
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