We reach next the Place de l'Hôtel-de-Ville; the town-hall has been completely destroyed.

The fire was preceded by pillage. Numerous waggons were laden with articles deemed of interest, and sent down the line. The walls of the houses were then sprayed with paraffin from hand syringes. Packets of tablets made of compressed gunpowder, and sticks of inflammable matter thrown into the burning houses, stimulated the flames. During three days the fires which died out were thus relighted. Only the houses where the officers were staying were spared. As they declared to the rector, the Germans did this from no other motive but to spread terror, and they did it systematically.

INTERIOR AND EXTERIOR OF A BAKERY

PANORAMA OF THE PASS OF REVIGNY.

1,200 yards beyond Brabant may be seen, on the left, the panoramic view of the valley of the Ornain shown in the photographs above. The river, the railway from Bar-le-Duc to Vitry-le-François, and the canal from the Marne to the Rhine pass through it, and take up the south of the depression behind Revigny. On the left beyond Brabant-le-Roi the valley narrows towards Bar-le-Duc; on the right it widens in the direction of Sermaize and meets the Valley of the Saulx. The whole constitutes what is known as the Pass of Revigny, and was the object of furious attacks by the Germans who sought to separate the Third and Fourth French Armies in this region. As early as September 6 under a violent offensive, the Fifth Corps lost Brabant and Revigny, and was thrown back on the plateau in the centre of which is Vassincourt, where the tourist has already passed. The German advance was stayed in the neighbourhood of this village, thanks to the admirable resistance of the Fifth Corps, aided by the Fifteenth.