Marching with them were two groups of so-called
hostages, about 400 in all. Of these, 300 were surrounded with a rope
held by the front, rear, and outside men. The French troops in ambush
opened fire, and immediately the Germans commenced to destroy the town.
Incendiaries with a distinctive badge on their arm went down the main
street throwing handfuls of inflammatory and explosive pastilles into
the houses. These pastilles were carried by them in bags, and in this
way about 130 houses were destroyed in the main street. By 10:30 P.M.
some 200 more hostages had been collected. These were drawn from
Montigny itself, and on that night about fifty men, women, and children
were placed on the bridge over the Sambre and kept there all night. The
bridge was similarly guarded for a day or two, apparently either from a
fear that it was mined or in the belief that these men, women, and
children would afford some protection to the Germans in the event of the
French attempting to storm the bridge. At one period of the German
occupation of Montigny, eight nuns of the Order of Ste. Marie were
captives on the bridge. House burning was accompanied by murder, and on
the Monday morning twenty-seven civilians from one parish alone were
seen lying dead in the hospital.
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