The Saxon officer of the 178th regiment, whose evidence we have already put on record, writes that “_the fine village of Gué-d’Hossus (Ardennes) was abandoned to the flames, although so far as I could see it was innocent_.” A soldier of the 32nd reserve infantry regiment notes in his pocket-book that “_the streets of Creil were burnt down_” by way of reprisals and because the iron bridge was blown up. A soldier of the reserve named Schaulter writes: “The crack of rifle shots was heard when we left Ovela, but, in it, _fire_, _women_, and our leavings.” So common was the practice of which he mentions one result, that he did not think it necessary to give any details. Arson, pillage, sacrilege, violation, such were the solemn rites of invasion. The non-commissioned officer, Hermann Levith, of the 160th infantry regiment, 8th corps, says that “the enemy occupied the village of Bièvre,” and adds, “_We took the village, then burnt nearly all the houses_.” Another, Private Schiller, of the 133rd infantry regiment, 19th corps, writes: “It was at Haybes (Ardennes) that on the 24th August, we had our first battle. The second battalion entered the village, _searched the houses, sacked them and burnt those from which any one had fired_.” A Bavarian soldier, Reishaupt, of the 3rd infantry regiment, 1st Bavarian corps, writes: “Parux (Meurthe-et-Moselle) was the first village we burnt; after that the dance began—one village after another.” Would it not have been believed that setting fire to a country was part of the methods of attack and of acts permitted to a conqueror? What formerly was an exceptional occurrence, which remained in the memory of men as an unheard-of crime, is in German eyes the usual way of war. CHAPTER XV SYSTEMATIC PILLAGE AND THEFT. ROBBING THE WOUNDED AND THE DEAD THE GERMAN IDEA OF WAR-BOOTY The cherished idea of the German soldier is that war permits and excuses everything. Consequently the property of the inhabitants of the territory he invades does not seem to him to be immune from his cupidity. If the lust of possession seizes him, he thinks it is a brilliantly won booty, which rewards him for his efforts. Nevertheless, international law only recognises as booty what is taken from a _state_; in all other cases it is pillage, and Bluntschli, the well-known German jurist, stigmatises it as emphatically as any one.