In the majority of cases the looting took place from houses,
but there is also evidence that German soldiers and even officers robbed
their prisoners, both civil and military, of sums of money and other
portable possessions. It was apparently well known throughout the German
Army that towns and villages would be burned whenever it appeared that
any civilians had fired upon the German troops, and there is reason to
suspect that this known intention of the German military authorities in
some cases explains the sequence of events which led up to the burning
and sacking of a town or village. The soldiers, knowing that they would
have an opportunity of plunder if the place was condemned, had a motive
for arranging some incident which would provide the necessary excuse for
condemnation. More than one witness alleges that shots coming from the
window of a house were fired by German soldiers who had forced their way
into the house for the purpose of thus creating an alarm. It is also
alleged that German soldiers on some occasions merely fired their rifles
in the air in a side street and then reported to their officers that
they had been fired at.
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