The advance of the German Army to the Dyle had been accompanied
by reprehensible, and, indeed, (in certain cases,) terrible outrages,
but these had been, it would appear, isolated acts, some of which are
attributed by witnesses to indignation at the check at Haelen, while
others may have been the consequence of drunkenness. But the battle of
Malines had results of a different order. In the first place, it was the
occasion of numerous murders committed by the German Army in retreating
through the villages of Sempst, Hofstade, Eppeghem, Elewyt, and
elsewhere. In the second place, it led, as it will be shown later, to
the massacres, plunderings, and burnings at Louvain, the signal for
which was provided by shots exchanged between the German Army retreating
after its repulse at Malines and some members of the German garrison of
Louvain who mistook their fellow-countrymen for Belgians. Lastly, the
encounter at Malines seems to have stung the Germans into establishing a
reign of terror in so much of the district comprised in the quadrangle
as remained in their power. Many houses were destroyed and their
contents stolen.
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