. Thrilling stories of the Great War on land and sea, in the air, under the water. ew left intact. Upon these the Germanshad written in chalk in the German language: Pleasespare. Good people. Do not burn. Lying alongthe road I saw many dead horses putrefying. Therewere also to be seen pigs, goats, and cows which hadnothing to eat, and which were howling like wild 139 BELGIAN BOYS STORY OF RUIN beasts. Not a soul was to be seen in the houses or inthe streets. Everything was empty. I was then arrested when a short distance fromAerschot. There were with me two or three families from Sichem, avill
. Thrilling stories of the Great War on land and sea, in the air, under the water. ew left intact. Upon these the Germanshad written in chalk in the German language: Pleasespare. Good people. Do not burn. Lying alongthe road I saw many dead horses putrefying. Therewere also to be seen pigs, goats, and cows which hadnothing to eat, and which were howling like wild 139 BELGIAN BOYS STORY OF RUIN beasts. Not a soul was to be seen in the houses or inthe streets. Everything was empty. I was then arrested when a short distance fromAerschot. There were with me two or three families from Sichem, avillage betweenDiest and Aer-schot. We re-mained in thefields alongside theroad, while thePrussian regi-ments with theirartillery continuedto pass by. Whenthe artillery hadpassed we weremarched at thepoint of the bay-onet to the churchin Aerschot. On arrival at the church the families ofSichem (there were at least twenty small children)were permitted to continue on their way, and the non-commissioned officer, delighted that I could speakGerman, permitted me to go to my aunts In Belgium. Jean—Do you think St. Nicholas will findus, now that we havent a chimney? A TOWN IN RUINS The aspect of the town was terrible. Not morethan half the houses were standing. In the firstthree streets which the Germans traversed there wasnot a single house left. There was not a house in thetown but had been pillaged. All doors had been burst140 BELGIAN BOYS STORY OF RUIN open. There was nothing, nothing left. The stenchin the streets was insupportable. I then went home, or, rather, I should say, I wentto the house where my father had always been board-ing. You know, perhaps, that my mother died twelveyears ago. I did not find my father, but according towhat the people told me he had been arrested, and,with five other Aerschot men, taken to Germany—I donot know for what purpose. I got into this house without any difficulty, becausethe door was smashed in. I stayed there from Satur-day, Aug. 2
Size: 1618px × 1545px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., boo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectworldwar19141918
