LOUVAIN AND DISTRICT.
The events spoken to as having occurred in and around Louvain between
the 19th and the 25th of August deserve close attention.
For six days the Germans were in peaceful occupation of the city. No
houses were set on fire--no citizens killed. There was a certain amount
of looting of empty houses, but otherwise discipline was effectively
maintained. The condition of Louvain during these days was one of
relative peace and quietude, presenting a striking contrast to the
previous and contemporaneous conduct of the German Army elsewhere.
On the evening of Aug. 25 a sudden change takes place. The Germans, on
that day repulsed by the Belgians, had retreated to and reoccupied
Louvain. Immediately the devastation of that city and the holocaust of
its population commences. The inference is irresistible that the army as
a whole wreaked its vengeance on the civil population and the buildings
of the city in revenge for the setback which the Belgian arms had
inflicted on them. A subsidiary cause alleged was the assertion, often
made before that civilians had fired upon the German Army.
The depositions which relate to Louvain are numerous, and are believed
by the committee to present a true and fairly complete picture of the
events of the 25th and 26th of August and subsequent days.
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