Some of them
were drunk--in the sodden stage, when the effect begins to wear off.
They told us we could proceed in safety as far as the station, where we
would find the headquarters of the commanding officer. Here we could
leave the motor and learn how far we could safely go. This crowd varied
the wording a little by saying that the Belgians were all dogs and that
these particular dogs were being driven out, as they should be, that all
that part of town was being cleared of people, ordered to leave their
homes and go to Brussels or some other town, so that the destruction of
Louvain could proceed systematically. We thought at the time that they
were exaggerating what was being done, but were enlightened before we
had gone much farther.

We continued down the boulevard for a quarter of a mile or so till we
came to the station. Sentries came out and looked through our passes
again. We parked the motor with a number of German military cars in the
square and set off on foot down the Rue de la Station, which we had
admired so much when we had driven down its length, just ten days
before.

The houses on both sides were either partially destroyed or smouldering.
Soldiers were systematically removing what was to be found in the way of
valuables, food, and wine, and then setting fire to the furniture and
hangings. It was all most businesslike. The houses are substantial stone
buildings, and fire will not spread from one to another. Therefore the
procedure was to batter down the door of each house, clean out what was
to be saved, then pile furniture and hangings in the middle of the room,
set them afire, and move on to the next house.

It was pretty hot, but we made our way down the street, showing our
passes every hundred feet or so to soldiers installed in comfortable
armchairs, which they had dragged into the gutter from looted houses,
till we came to a little crossing about half way to the Hotel de Ville.
Here we were stopped by a small detachment of soldiers, who told us that
we could go no farther; that they were clearing civilians out of some
houses a little farther down the street, and that there was likely to be
firing at any time.

The officer in command spoke to us civilly and told us to stick close to
him so that we could know just what we ought to do at any time. He was
in charge of the destruction of this part of the town and had things
moving along smartly. His men were firing some houses near by and he
stood