When the fire slackened about 7 o'clock, many of the townspeople fled in
the direction of the quarries; others remained in their houses. At this
moment the whole of the district around the station was on fire and
houses were flaming over a distance of two kilometers in the direction
of the hamlet of Tramaka. The little farms which rise one above the
other on the high ground of the right bank were also burning.
At 6 o'clock on the following morning, the 21st, the Germans began to
drag the inhabitants from their houses. Men, women, and children were
driven into the square, where the sexes were separated. Three men were
then shot, and a fourth was bayoneted. A German Colonel was present
whose intention in the first place appeared to be to shoot all the men.
A young German girl who had been staying in the neighborhood interceded
with him, and after some parleying, some of the prisoners were picked
out, taken to the banks of the Meuse and there shot. The Colonel accused
the population of firing on the soldiers, but there is no reason to
think that any of them had done so, and no inquiry appears to have been
made.
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