13 days. After having received
terrible blows from the butt of a rifle in his face and a bayonet
wound in his side, he continued to follow the column, although he lost
much blood and his face was so bruised that he was almost
unrecognizable, when a Bavarian, without any reason, gave him a great
wound by throwing a wooden pail at his forehead. Between Henamenil and
Bures his companions saw that he was no longer with them; no doubt he
fell by the way.

If this unhappy man was to suffer the most cruel martyrdom of all, the
hostages taken with him in the commune had also to suffer violence and
insult. Before setting fire to the village, the hostages were set with
their backs to the parapet of the bridge while the troops passed by
ill-treating them. As an officer accused them of firing on the
Germans, the schoolmaster gave him his word of honor that it was not
so. "Pig of a Frenchman," replied the officer, "do not speak of honor;
you have none."

At the moment when her house was burning Mme. Cherrier, who was coming
out of the cellar to escape suffocation, was drenched with an
inflammable liquid by some soldiers who were sprinkling the walls. One
of them told her that it was benzine. She then ran behind a dunghill
to hide herself with her parents, but the fire raisers dragged her by
force in front of the blaze and she was obliged to witness the
destruction of her dwelling.

Like Nomeny, the pretty town of Gerbeviller, on the banks of the
Mortagne, fell a victim to the fury of the Germans under terrible
circumstances. On the 24th August the enemy's troops hurled themselves
against some sixty chasseurs a pied, who offered heroic resistance,
and who inflicted heavy loss upon them. They took a drastic vengeance
upon the civilian population. Indeed, from the moment of their
entrance into the town, the Germans gave themselves up to the worst
excesses, entering the houses, with savage yells, burning the
buildings, killing or arresting the inhabitants, and sparing neither
women nor old men. Out of 475 houses, 20 at most are still habitable.
More than 100 persons have disappeared, 50 at least have been
massacred. Some were led into the fields to be shot, others were
murdered in their houses or struck down in passing through the streets
as they were trying to escape from the conflagration. Up to now 36
bodies have been identified. They are those of MM. Barthelemy, Blosse
(Senior), Robinet, Chretien, Remy, Bourguignon, Perrin, Guil