BOOTY COLLECTED BY THE GERMANS IN THE CHURCH OF ST. CRÉPIN.
That portion of the population which had remained in the town was locked up in this church on the night before the deliverance.
The houses had literally been turned upside down, as the Americans, who entered the town with the French, can testify. Packing-cases full of clothing, linen, and all kinds of objects had been got ready to send to Germany, as the labels nailed on the cases prove. (See official photos.)
What the Germans could not carry away they broke, mutilated, or spoilt. Here was another example of their practice of spreading systematic ruin and desolation wherever they went.
To use the ex-Kaiser’s own expression, the entire region was left “a barren waste.” Special detachments of troops had orders to collect and remove all machinery, tools, raw materials, furniture, food, etc., in the districts occupied.