Today the fire continued, and the
Germans--far from trying to stop it--seem rather to maintain it by
throwing straw into the fire, as I have myself seen in the streets
behind the Hotel de Ville. The cathedral and the theatres have been
destroyed and have fallen in, also the library. The town resembles
an old city in ruins, in the midst of which drunken soldiers are
circulating, carrying bottles of wine and liquor; the officers
themselves being installed in armchairs, sitting around tables and
drinking like their own men.
In the streets dead horses are decaying, horses which are already
inflated, and the smell of the fire and of the decaying animals is
such that it has followed me for a long time."
The commission up to this writing has been unable to obtain any
information regarding the fate of the Burgomaster of Louvain, nor
regarding the prominent persons taken for hostages.
Conclusions of the Commission.
By facts which have thus far been brought to its attention, the
commission reaches the following conclusions:
In this war, German occupation of territory is systematically
followed by (and is at times preceded by and accompanied by) acts
of violence against the civil population, which acts of violence
are contrary to the conventional laws of war and to the most
elementary principles of humanity.
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